skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Has anybody looked at Wcities?
Before the recession, I was considering a travel website to compete with travel.yahoo.com -- I believe that their trip planning system could be done much, much better, from watching how my friends and I actually use these sites. I've noticed that most here people are depending on geocaching and user entry to develop their database. I was considering Wcities at the outset, though they were asking for an email for prices. Has anyone considered Wcities, and were the prices just way out of line? What experiences do people have with their system?
You only need to capture %0.05 of a $100mm market to be ramen profitable.
I know a fair number of newly-minted laywers, and my understanding is that most of the concrete material tested in the bar exam is taught in the summer following graduation from law school. Law school is largely concerned with abstract concepts that are important, but more difficult to test.

I sympathize with your frustration, but the reason for the prerequisites could just as easily be that they don't believe they can create a test which properly encompasses everything a lawyer should know.

Also, at least in San Francisco, the job market seems to be saturated with lawyers, even before the economy went south.
How To Calculate Distance With Javascript And Google Maps API
Good job.

Don't know if it's been said but I get an error message (from Mal the duck) when I click on the link to your blog.
Meta. Points are interesting:

It was skmurphy:1 and cubicle67:3, until the two clarifications. It's now 6, 3, myself:6, patio11:9. Why did skmurphy's score go up by 5 points.

It seems that some comments become substantially more useful due to others that follow them, which is interesting.
I would say that Atmosphere goes with Team but not necessarily Environment. I would see "environment" as the office, your equipment (computer, desk...), etc.

For example, Fog Creek's offices look awesome. But if you don't care much about Joel, the atmosphere might not work for you.

Looking at the rest of the options, that's what I think at least. If that's not the intent for "Environment/Atmosphere", something like that should be added then, because that can play a big role. A spacious office with views and Aeron chairs is always better than a small windowless room sitting on a pizza box, everything else being equal.
the author speaks of this like if we dont send the money to the middle east we can immediately use it on renewable resources. but, economically there is a reason for the money to be going there, and that's because it is cheaper to use oil. until research can make renewable fuel cheaper (or oil runs out), it will not be economically viable regardless of whether or not the resources and tech exists.
Why are you asking, btw, out of curiosity?
I learned the hard way back in high school: Don't let anyone see you using a command prompt because the next time something gets hacked, you will be suspect number one.

It's sad to see nothing has changed since the 90s.
Income from ISA
?? I thought Skype was being sold back to its founders?
FYI, Cullen's new book started out as this Salon.com article here:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/09/23/columbine/

And here is Salon's review of the book:

http://www.salon.com/books/int/2009/04/06/cullen/index.html
Control our pc with your smartphone Windows Mobile
This is a video who will show you how to use Bluetooth Remote.

It's a freeware who allow you to control your computer with your Windows Mobile Device. You can take the control of application such as: Winamp, itunes, Windows Mixer, PowerPoint, Media Player Classic, Power DVD and even Windows Media Center.

Off course if you got an incoming call it will mute your music during the call and play the music when it's finish.

Be careful, Bluetooth Remote requires .Net Framework 2.0 and the Service Pack 2 if you are under Windows XP
Testing MacBook Pro’s 8-hour battery life
I can has LOLCODE?
"If these intuitions did not exist, there would be no axioms from which to deduce other moral actions."

It is mistaken to deduce morality from emotions, because (for one thing) emotions are largely a product of random chance. Emotions haven't been "validated."

Rather, we should deduce morality from reason and reality. We /ought/ to do what /is/ good for human life. (This isn't self evident, but I do think it's true.)
Yep. Especially when the content is the longer kind.
I actually had a police car drive up to my car when my wife and I were resting during an evening cross-country road trip in what happened to be a bank parking lot. The local police did think it was suspicious for a car with out-of-state plates to be be parked near a bank after banking hours. But we just explained that we had been driving for a long time on the nearby Interstate in very bad weather, and were too tired to drive farther until we rested for a while. No big deal, but an illustration of one kind of innocent behavior that can look suspicious.
Unfortunately, at this point in time, I feel very strongly that these suggestions will lead you to do good science and end up without an Academic Research position...at least, not initially. Personally, I think we need a revival of Franklin/Jefferson/Priestley/Watt type science, where the science is pursued for fun and interest, instead of for profit. The current petty competition for publications and grant money is the worst thing to happen to science.
EBay plans IPO for Skype
Consider that Arthur's software sells for 25K per core and 8 cores is pretty much a minimum. And that the sole executable is < 300K. Now re-read the article :D.
There are very few (if any) industries that only have room for one player. If you love the idea, you owe it to yourself to at least try. If your competitor is just starting, they havent captured all the available audience, there is space for competition. If the idea is that great, your real fear should be who else is going to try and play.
Interview with Mike Reid of Frog Capital (audio)
Not that I'm necessarily advocating this post - but quite a few hacker communities (Slashdot, chiefly) had much discussion about Columbine due to the popular image in the media of them being bullied, outcast nerdy types. In some areas, there was also quite a backlash from both school officials and the kids themselves against individuals who came close to the Columbine stereotypes - trench-coats were banned, kids were forced to go to counseling for admitting they played Doom, etc. - which further concerned those communities.

But, you're right - strictly speaking this isn't really Hacker News... personally, I'll abstain from voting either way.
Wow, not too bright are they?
It's not a case of when oil runs out, but when it starts running out. As that happens the price goes up, and things like cars and aeroplanes get more expensive to run.

It's currently a lot cheaper to run an electric car from the domestic electricty supply than it is filling it with petrol, and has been for some time.
What I'm going to learn from it. How I feel about the people. Ability to use functional languages.

Pay matters only as a signal.
Back in college, we were required to take an introduction to computers course - no way to test out of it. It involved labs like, "create a folder with two text files in it." I spent the time configuring a new debian server via ssh.

When the teacher caught a glimpse of PuTTY: "OH! You know DOS??!"
Sounds like Lucifer's "non serviam".
Academia vs. Industry: The Difference Is in the Punctuation Marks
The problem being Bell is wanting to cap all the other providers.

Currently here it is the opposite - it is cheaper from other providers than from Bell directly. Now, it wants to be able to also cap those other providers to prevent them from offering unlimited services.

Bell wants to do what it does in the mobile space and nail everyone with massive overage fees after the tiny limits are exceeded. Until mid 2008, the largest cell phone data plan you could get from Bell or Rogers was 5 MEGS. They charged by the kilobyte after that.
Giles has been in this thread, but his comments are being deleted because he's an asshole.
thanks for the advice, everyone. Wordpress it's going to be, to begin
Startups or applications?

Scanning the list I see twitter, bit.ly tags, and firefox plugin.

These might be experiments in creating products but I don't see any concrete businesses.
Sony Ericsson W595 Walkman Blue Unlocked
Sony Ericsson W595 Walkman phone is a Jungle Grey and Lava Black. With crystal clear sound quality and a dramatically richer bass, take in 3.15 MP camera, Share jack and stereo speakers Sensor and so on. supports 3G Network.
I think it's part of an evolution. Some web-designers are discovering the (long established in traditional printing) grid systems but not all of them really know how to use it or really what to do with it, besides the fact that it's a tool that they should probably use. They end up using it more prominently than they should because it's new to them.

To me, it feels like it's the result of learning the domain backwards, where you have a finished product and then learn about how it's usually done, so you correct here and there some aspects. And it shows.

To be honest, I'm saying that without knowing either how to properly use grids. As many others, I have seen many descriptions of it and how, for some designers, it's the ultimate thing and for others, a tool that they don't want to stick to (e.g. as presented in the documentary Helvetica.)

In the end, do you feel that it's better or worse that people with no "proper" design background apply the grid systems "too much" rather than not paying attention to it at all? I believe that it's good that that kind of knowledge gets spread out, even it misused at first.
Confirmed. I've gotten a few e-mails about this talk; it's definitely this year.
It looks like Illinois bribed someone to inflate their wind numbers.

(For those outside the US, it is the suspiciously yellow state below the flacid red lake and is well known for corruption in government.)

Interesting rule of thumb: The solar power delivered to a typical house's roof is about equal to the electrical demands of that house even at 20% or so conversion efficiency. (Rule breaks in the dark and cold of winter if you try to heat with it.)
Waking up every morning and looking forward to the challenges instead of wishing you didn't have to go to work.

Oh, and lots of money. That'll take the edge off of horrible work any day of the week.
isnt this same as plazes ? or am i missing something ?
Non-medallion car service is legal in Manhattan, but is only allowed to respond to telephone dispatch (not that that stops them, especially near Water & Wall).
Audi, BMW Chess Ad War on Santa Monica Blvd
Interesting rule of thumb: The solar power delivered to a typical house's roof is about equal to the electrical demands of that house even at 20% or so conversion efficiency. (Rule breaks in the dark and cold of winter if you try to heat with it.)

Nice... combine that with solar passive design, and you become a net producer of energy.
let's also point out that in this example, the police did exactly their job.

had they seized your car and belongings...
Hahahahahahahaha! Thank you.

Linux destroys the surface of your hard drive... oh so great.
Finland's top tech, economics and design colleges merge to create "innovation seedbed"
Mobile Web Calendar for iPhone and Android, now with event management
This comment seems to disregard the point of PG's essay. He's describing a network effect. Just as it's hard to create a startup community (not a single startup, as in your examples) you need the types of people who build startups present or on their way. The valley is full of people who are interested in startups and work with them to some capacity. It would be difficult to attract someone interested in startups to move to New Haven when there is already so much attraction to the valley. It's true, you could start a startup anywhere. It's probably going to happen in the valley.
Puzzle: Sort Vector
RL Water JetPack - Flies for 186 Miles
AdTech is coming up next week: http://www.ad-tech.com/

Tickets are prohibitively expensive, but you can get an exhibition hall pass for $35. Obviously focuses on digital marketing.

Do you think might be worth a visit?
"Bookmark your favorite places, and explore places your friends like to find new favorites."

Bookmark your favorite places. Explore and find new ones.

Bookmark your favorite places and find new favorites by exploring.

Bookmark your favorite places and find new ones by exploring.

Bookmark your favorite spots. Explore and find new ones.

Share your favorite spots. Explore and find new ones.
"People are dramatically more productive as founders or early employees of startups—imagine how much less Larry and Sergey would have achieved if they'd gone to work for a big company—and that scale of improvement can change social customs."

I question this assertion. I'd bet a single Google engineer who makes a 1% improvement in adsense targeting can create more economic value than most startup founders.
which makes polls like these a bit pointless really

I think you need to look at it relatively. Given an average job, would you rather get an extra $10,000 a year or have a corner office? Would you rather have two of your friends in the team or work on Ruby-on-Rails rather than Java? (in your case, I believe it would be odd for you to accept a Java job in the first place...)
Then again, you can argue that it depends on how much more money we're talking about.

But I don't think it makes the poll pointless. It still gives you an idea (vague, granted) of the community. (even though I'm surprised that compensation comes first so far)
> 1. Delete redundancies. Say it once. That's enough.
> If you're repetitive, the reader will stop reading
> and start skimming. (Like you probably just did.)

I stopped reading at this point because it's blatently wrong. Intelligent geeks hate things repeated, but I've found that in the business world if you don't say something at least 6 times it won't get heard.

Know your audience. Decide whether repetition is required. Don't follow overly broad advice blindly.
There was a guest lecturer at my university who gave a talk on distributed development who claimed there's been studies that have shown developers don't tend to get happier the more they are payed as long as they aren't payed too little. Instead they seem to value things like training or just staying challenged as opposed to money.

I'm sorry I don't know exactly what studies he was referring too, but I'm highly inclined to believe what he was saying and it would agree with what you are saying.
Simple analysis shows that any commodity that follows a linear price/sales response has space for two major players.

http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/OptimalPricing.html?HN

Go for it. Learning from their mistakes lets you travel faster initially, and if you're skilled, you can probably catch up.
Korma - a git based blogging engine
Honestly I have no idea how I could have inverted the 3 adjectives (english isn't my primary language) and I confess I went too far trying. But this isn't the first time I am corrected, and hopefuly won't be the last, since it makes me learn :)

I guess that's why I put the phrase after "the opposite ain't true"... anyway thanks everyone.
Stem cells free diabetics from insulin treatment
The most important thing is the team you are working with. Always try to get into a team where you are the most stupid team member.
KEEP GOING!

Look at your 'competition'. Do you want your product more than theirs? Can you see areas where your product will be more appealing? If either of those is yes, don't stop.

There will always be competition. I'm working on something (with a partner) that has LOADS of competition, and a lot of that competition is good. But we think that we can do better, because even though other people have written similar things, our product solves our particular needs (and desires) much, much better.

Also, keep in mind that somebody in that market segment, who is making money, validates that your idea can make money.

So get to it, and don't worry about the Joneses!
Yeah it raised an eyebrow for me, it's an interesting cultural phenomenon. As a Sweed I've never had to think about healthcare, it's just there and I take it for granted. Maybe I should start appreciating it more. :)
Steve Wynn on the Design Process
Literally Random Pricing on Thawte Certs Right Now?
Thawte.com for SSL certificates is either going haywire or is split testing prices as we speak. Literally, in the same 30 seconds, I was able to see a multitude if different price-points and claimed 'XXX off' discounts.

See these pics:

http://picpaste.com/high.png
http://picpaste.com/lowest-low.png
http://picpaste.com/lowest.png

Or check it our for yourself:

https://www.thawte.com/ssl-digital-certificates/buy-ssl-certificates/index.html?click=main-nav-buy

Anyone get an even cheaper rate?
No, my comments are being deleted because I don't have any respect for this community. That's different from being an asshole. If you're nice to somebody but you don't show them respect, then you don't respect them but you're still not an asshole. I think I've given everyone here a nice little present. You might not want it, but you don't have to use it if you don't want to. You perceive me as an asshole because you believe your community is entitled to more respect than I believe it has earned. I don't think that has anything to do with me being an asshole, although if you had said "rude," I would have had to concede that point right away.

If HN's community had saved my life, or you had made incredible sacrifices for my benefit, or something like that, then my not showing the discussion much respect would have been an asshole move. But I like this site, sort of, and I'm doing something to make it better. In my own way I'm doing something to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of discussions here, by making it harder for me to get in them.
It's a second and third time that may get embarassing though.

You still have not seen this person enough times, but everyone around already knows that you've been introduced. And then you need to call this person by the name. Ugh! Hate these moments. :)
It depends on how much staff you need to get that one percent of the market. One percent of a hundred million dollars is still a million dollars... for a 1-4 person software company with minimal costs, that would be pretty damn reasonable.
"EBay plans IPO for Skype, citing limited synergies"

http://www.physorg.com/news158949373.html

Captain Obvious called, wants his headline back.

I'm surely not the only one who thought the Skype acquisition by eBay was a huge WTF. Now they are forced to admit it.
Gary Vaynerchuk takes on Absinthe
I tried with a FF3 on OSX and then in a VM with IE8 - got two different prices.
Inflation, thus Real GDP Growth, Much Worse than Reported
Especially nowadays, with the direct costs of a web-based software startup approaching zero; there is no reason for fincanciers to be the bottleneck. When three motivated people working out of their homes can build a fully functional site; the direct costs to the founders aren't that different from their living expenses and there is no need for large amounts of capital until after product development is completed.

The main advantage of regional hubs is that of social density; easy access to expertise and enough demand for experts that they can survive and thrive.
Caps are perfectly fine as long as they are sufficient - but what happens when the ISPs want to better utilize their bandwidth, and decide to lower their limits, rather than increasing their capabilities? There's no regional competition to worry about, so there would be no incentive to add capabilities when the alternative is basically free.
For those interested in the subject: Ernst Weizsäcker, former Dean of the Donald Bren School for Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, has some interesting articles on resource productivity on his website: http://ernst.weizsaecker.de/
Indeed. I saw a talk by Chris about Gazelle, and the numbers put it far behind IE8 in terms of performance (it is based on IE8, so that acts as a lower bound).

Starting from your own core, it might be possible to keep separation of concerns while not sacrificing performance so much. As an example, c.f. L4, which proved that microkernels are not necessarily slow.
so i guess he's saying academics are a lot more annoying and a lot less productive??
Practical intro to lambdas in c#
I may be working on a similar business network here in the US (as a contract Rails coder), but with features tailored to a specific market. Even though I'm just doing this as a contract gig (no equity), I genuinely think they will succeed. They are tightly focused on a market that is willing to spend money, can get some good initial traction through personal contacts, and the market they are going after needs features not present in 'generic' sites like LinkedIn or Facebook.
I know of at least one factory going up in Wisconsin. And the possibility of another. I mean just in not so windy Wisconsin we've got a couple places with fields covered in these things.

This exact time last year there were none. I don't know the power they put out but I know they exist.
The article itself seems to specifically differentiate between shyness and introversion and is more speaking to behaviors while with other people rather than trying to make excuses for avoiding others. In other words, it's not that an introvert avoids social interaction, just that an introvert's behavior during social interaction is different than an extravert's.

At least, that's the way I interpreted it.
Well, if the bank robbers had left a note with their name and address on it, they would have been justified.

D-bag kid's forged emails were traced back to his IP address, which then led to his SMB name and MAC address. It'll be hard to get out of that.

Plus, unless I'm mixing up the censor squares, it's his roommate that made the accusation in the first place.

So it's not really like they just picked on a random kid with bash skills.
Here's instructions on how to run it on an ARM beagleboard:

http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntu

http://beagleboard.org/
From Europe, whilst many elements of our culture are less conducive to entrepreneurs than the US, these examples are not among them (except I don't know about the legal docs thing - I agree with earlier replies that critical information providers need to have rigorously maintained qualifications). My mate set up an internet wine company here without any problems, it's easy to pay directors of a company in equity [but non-directors get minimum wage protection], and the real estate industry is 'self-regulated' here in the UK. Oh, and we have free universal healthcare.
All that said, I still believe the next game-changing startups will come mostly from the US - which is still the destination of choice. And I agree with your central argument that 'big government' generally stifles innovation.
You take a job for the compensation, the benefit and the technology.

You stay in that job for the team, the environment (not sure how those two are different) and the product (it's your baby by now).

You should leave when the work is no longer challenging.
We should have an incompetency-of-the-day world map. Just to point out the more numb places. Or where not to go to.
But, see, you claim it would harm a great many other people. We claim, on balance, it will help many more people than it hurts. Down with guilds!
We've funded lots of startups and we hardly ever see cases where they're crushed by big companies. The biggest exception is music. But though the record labels have certainly captured congress, their lawsuits tend to destroy startups before government regulation does.