skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
It's all kind of vague to me as well, but from what I understand a few months ago a group of designers met for a 2 week brainstorm session on something to in the community in Alabama. They came up with PieLab, and within those 2 weeks found a storefront, etc. Now they're selling pie in Alabama and integrating into the rural community. I'll see if I can round up any more definitive answers for you.
No the real question is not "Why US automakers don't make competitive small cars". The real question is "Why is the government forcing a business into making products it is bad at making?"

The US automakers turn a profit on the manufacture of trucks. They make great trucks and sell them at decent prices and competitive MPG ratings. It is a viable business on its own if they were just allowed to do that.

Why can't the government just say an X # of pound vehicle must get over Y miles per gallon to be sold?

THE PROBLEM WITH CAFE IS NOT THE ENVIRONMENTAL. The problem with CAFE is that it forces them into making cars they do not want to and are not good at making because the law is for some asinine reason based on the average MPG of all the things you sell totaled.

My father was the CEO at a chemical company for a long time. He had to deal with the EPA everyday. They would constantly give them new regulations to follow and the company would go and reformulate everything and make it work. Never though did the EPA come in and say hey, we don't like the pesticides you guys are making can you start selling bird seed too? Just to even it out you know?

That is what CAFE does. They are telling the businesses what products to make - not what constraints for a certain kind of products are.

The issue of them making bad cars is totally moot because if they didn't have to make those cars then they would have just been killed as failing product lines are in any rational business. But faced with irrational legislation the companies had to continue making seemingly irrational decisions.
He doesn't mention the overly restrictive DRM that most digital purchases come with, mostly movies and TV shows (music is getting better).

It's simply more convenient for people to pirate material that they can use hassle-free - no software compatibility hassles, bizarre hardware restrictions or archaic region coding.

As soon as someone decides to make their catalog of movies available, DRM-free, they'll reap the profits from the average consumer who just wants something simple.
Chrome Shorts
I'm imagining it will be quicker than that. There are a lot of schools that use licensed, photocopied "readers" along with or even instead of the actual textbooks. Universities could do much better margins by making these types of texts digital and authors/professors would be able to publish and update at much greater frequency.

Publishers would be much better off building a business model now rather than repeating the RIAA's mistakes.
Not saying they aren't, just that the article glosses over the fact that the customers are taking on the risk that a VC normally would and not getting the reward. If the customer needs your product enough that they are willing to take that risk, it doesn't seem like such a bad idea.

(I worked for a company that got started this way. Although they went on to take VC money, they were in a good position by the time they needed it.)
The last place we had to spend money before we could launch our very first version was on legal advice.
Terms of use, privacy policies and refund policies all needed to be reviewed by a expert.

You most likely don't even need that, just copy paste stuff from other websites
Actually I do use MythTV - and it is from it in part that the idea was born. Doing it manually (as I have been doing a little) is just too time consuming and complicated.

As you say it can be done in part by extending and rewriting existing DVR software - but to do it properly you need licenses with content providers etc. to provide on-demand content with which to build your channels.

It's a good niche for a startup I reckon (rather than just clone Hulu)
What MySQL Founder Michael Widenius said about Oracle acquiring Sun
Something missing from this article and the commentary: B & H specializes in professional a/v equipment. Sure, they sell to the general public and they sell many consumer-level items as well.

But go look at their web page: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ "The Professional's choice' - lots of high end cameras and camcorders, and so forth. A majority of their customers are highly knowledgeable as well, and they have a long-established reputation in the pro film/video community as a reliable supplier. That means they can sell a lot of items with a huge markup, because the customers are not looking for the best deal, but are willing to pay more for both customer service and equipment with lots of features. Although B&H caters to the general consumer, they probably don't make their biggest profits in that sector.

This is a very significant difference, and rather undermines the analysis in the article. It's like comparing a Ferrari dealership with a Ford one, or a professional medical supply business with a drugstore chain. There are useful lessons to be learned, but they're very different business models which (as commented) don't necessarily scale to different markets. If B&H were primarily targeting the general consumer, the overhead costs of educating every potential buyer would skyrocket.

Incidentally, the bit about the item being delivered to the counter where it is inspected, and then delivered to the point of sale etc. gave me quite a chuckle. Minus the high-tech and conveyer belts, this was exactly how department stores in the Soviet Union operated when I visited there in the 1980s. In fact it was one of the things you'd find in guidebooks - 'those crazy commies - they hate capitalism so much that they make the process of buying something wildly inefficient!' I would never have imagined I'd see this model praised in the pages of Inc.
Everyone thank pg for adding the scroll bar to long quotes
24 hour turn around
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=591894
You might be a developer...
Wishful thinking. Until it becomes at least as hard to copy digital content as it is to, say, shoplift a DVD, the so called "high profile piracy" will rage on.
Chrome isn't open for plugin development AFAIK, is all. And I quite understand them not bothering with IE. I didn't mean to suggest that the Ubiquity team were trying to tether anyone.
I've been noticing this is par for the segment, regardless of OS.

I'm not surprised at it, I'm just (continually) surprised that the netbook boosters are so blind to it.

They go on and on about the 'desktop OS' and keyboard, frankly, as if they'd never actually used one before.
Ask PG: When I login via OpenID, why does HN look at my contacts?
I use the Google OpenID method, and every time it makes sure I'm okay sharing my contacts. Is this just unavoidable when using OpenID with Google?
Well, I think I can relate to the part about having other people make me feel tired. But that might be just because I was introverted years ago.

In any case, I think I can get along fine with introverts as long as they're polite. But when my introverted brother interrupts me in mid-sentence and says "Sorry, I'm not really interested in talking about this", that's a bit much. I humor people when they want to talk about things I'm not interested in--is it really that hard?
What's irresponsible about it? Loans are how banks make money, late fees are how video stores make money, maintenance fees are how software companies make money, why should selling cars just be about the selling price?

Learn to be creative in your business models if you want to be successful in business!
And I always question this "US automakers don't make competitive small cars". Go drive an Altima, a Corolla, an Accord and a Mazda 6. The Mazda beats the pants off the other three easily and costs less. It is faster, shifts better, accelerates more smoothly, gets great gas mileage and has has better handling. Open the hood and read the nameplate on the motor, transmission, and most of the parts - Ford Motor Company.

This stuff is such FUD. Have you driven a 2009 or 2010 US car - Dodge Charger, Dodge Nitro, Chrylser 300, Chevy Camaro, Chevy Mailbu (underrated by a LOT - go drive one) Ford Fusion, or Ford Mustang - they are great.
This might do what you want: https://www.yammer.com/
That's what I used to think but then I read a study, and now I can't track it down, about apple farms in England. The conclusion was that when you do organic right you end up with just marginally higher costs and the same yields.

I think doing organic right involved extensive soil preparation and complex natural pest control, and using the same high yield apple varieties. But that was just one study, about apples in England, and I can't even track it down now.
I think he was right on about keeping a dark bedroom, but his ideas about exercise are off:

"Exercise is important too, although, says Lipman, this should be restorative rather than exhausting - he doesn't think we are built to run marathons or spend hours on treadmills.

Instead he promotes moderation, focusing on yoga and simple programmes designed to retrain our bodies to rest and recover..."

Not only are human bodies remarkably well-built for running, but it was key in our evolution. Yoga was not.

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/daily/2004/11/17-running...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4021811.stm
How can I make my iphone/ipod touch app look more professional?
I think in general facebook_friends > twitter_friends in terms of more likely to be close real life friends etc. Which means there's more of an incentive to reply, comment, etc (Also obviously the fact facebook has comments inline, no char limit etc helps)
I think it's popular because people love to promote themselves. Low level of required engagement feels secondary to me.
Couldn't agree more. Macs are just about design, that's it. It's just a brand.
Nice try, but I'm not feeding this troll.. Okay then, two comments:

1. Why buy a Mac if you're only using Windows software (and not looking for other alternatives)?

2. "I didn't like this website, so obviously Internet is a crappy place."

EDIT: Still, there might be many another crappy websites out there. You're never uniq.
Are you the one complaining about the 'godawful red'? :)

Anyway, suggestions on how to generate some buzz around this concept?
"An example of a common lie would be to give the user the impression that some of their data is visible to others while this is not actually the case."

Reddit really, really angered me this way. I continued writing comments for about a month before realizing they were invisible to everyone else. While I was logged in, though, the site displayed them. I was absolutely shocked at the level of deception and dishonesty.

How many others were similarly tricked into thinking they were actually communicating with the online community?
I'm thinking about buying a Mac (currently a Linux guy, but I like the Mac hardware).

Is this article accurate? Seems like many, possibly most, computer science people use Macs and have much love for them.
I think a more accurate analysis is as follows:

The reason more people update statuses (Facebook, Twitter, etc) than maintain blogs is because there is little guilt in slacking on the former.

If you fail to blog for a week you typically hate yourself. If you fail to tweet for a week you think nothing of it. People prefer things that don't make them hate themselves.
My office has iMac computers used only for testing. Out of the 7 in the office 4 have died. One started smoking and made a very loud noise before dying out. None of the 40+ PC's in the office have died. Sample size of 1 office but it's enough for me to steer clear of their hardware. After all these problems its been a running joke in the office "I though Macs just worked?!"
sure, the poster seems to be under the impression that lying to get business is something new in web 2.0, and these black hat SEO strategies, teasing consumers, puffing up businesses to look bigger than they are etc are something unique to web 2.0. i posted to share that this is not a web 2.0 phenomena, and once again it's just the net reflecting existing things.
As recent switcher, I have to say I mostly agree. Macs still freeze and lock up and do weird shit, but at least you don't have to run on the antivirus/antispyware treadmill like you do with Windows. That alone makes a Mac worth it for me.

Of course, I scooped up mine when it was a deal on Amazon. I could never justify paying full sticker price...
If you run Windows 99% of the time, then maybe a Windows laptop is what you need? Seems like common sense.

Even outside of that, though, it sounds like this guy is basically a n00b. I've owned Macs for about 10 years now and never hit these issues (I know, I know, anecdotes, blah blah blah). I mean, come on. Worms? Seriously? What is he doing? Sitting on public wi-fi with his whole hard drive shared?

And his hardware problems would be fixed...had he gotten the extended warranty he whined about. That's standard for any laptop vendor; computers break, that's what the warranty is for.

Apple's not perfect by any means, but it sounds like this guy got two lemon laptops or he simply doesn't know WTF he's doing.
Biggest Danger on Social Networks Isn’t Hackers, It’s Dumb Employees
Very interesting and clear article.
Couldn't disagree more. Macs are about function, that's it. It's just about working right with less hassle.

This is my personal experience anyway. All day at work on Vista, crashing, stuttering, awful. Mac OS X at home.

If you already use (and are happy with) Linux, you probably won't gain much from a switch to Mac. I never wish I was on windows. I don't even have it installed in VMWare.

Our experiences are our own though. Hasn't this conversation been done to death?
Verbatim quote from the middle of the post, not aligned to paragraphs, not that that would matter:

[...] [WTF firefox why u so slow on a mac?!]

But. If you JUST install Microsoft software on a windows machine u can say the same thing about stability. Oh yeah, duh, games. I don’t really play games like I used to anymore, but srsly. Games.

So… Don’t get a mac just cuz everyone else is doing it. [...]
I think that's OK and even consistent with Fravia's character. Why should there be _one_ site with all the relevent information?

OTOH, I wonder what will happen when more and more people, events and... stuff will be relevant only online in blogs, forums and not necesarily press sites. Do you think Wikipedia will change its ways?
Previous discussion worth checking out: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=515925

Many argued that mailing lists have provided the same features. However, I agree that twittering wouldn't have the same importance as email messages, and that's a concrete benefit for using a new medium.
My brother is a big fan of his MacBook Pro he uses for work and it's mainly because of his Unix admin background. When I look over his shoulder its all log files and terminal windows. Personally I've had too many issues to warrant a change of OS/Hardware for something that looks snazzy and has a pretty interface.
Presumably you also use a door propped up on cinderblocks for a desk, you listen to music on a Coby stereo, you carry a Zune, you drive a Kia instead of an Audi, you buy your clothes at Wal-Mart, and you drink wine out of plastic cups.
Design Decisions: The New Backpack Marketing Site
I don't like to get in the middle of these PC vs. Mac threads. But I couldn't resist the perfect opportunity to post one of the greatest videos ever put on youtube (imho)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clYOR8vLgE8
But she is a Designer/Writer, surely - being a hacker - you understand the need to turn trivial, already-solved tasks into Projects. More efficient, maybe. Fun? Nope!
It's quite difficult to fall asleep an hour earlier than normal for most people.
Sometimes I wonder whether electricians spend this much time and effort debating which screwdriver manufacturer makes the best screwdrivers.

Computers are tools. By all means, feel free to explain to the rest of us what's so great about your tool of choice, if you have reason to believe that we're missing something that could improve our workflow (the chances are that we're just trying to do different things, or prefer a different way of working). But please, do not get upset when somebody else chooses a different tool. It is not an attack on your worth as a hacker or human being, so there's no need to get defensive.
This seems like the path languages will come to evolve in. Especially with the advent of "cloud computing", I imagine a compiler which distributes processing among a remote resources can use a combination of a large company's internal code base and open source code to train ML algorithms can either provide either great code completion or build entire "ambiguous languages".
Agreed. People are still human even though that they may try to follow a principled life.

Think about yourself. You have certain principles which in moments of weakness are violated.

I, in principle, go to sleep early. Here I am posting at 10:17PM (South African time) on Hacker News. Principle violated. People are only human.
Do you ever sleep?
I recently bought my wife a MacBook - she's previously only used Windows. For the most part, Mac OS X "just works", but to be honest, when it it DOES NOT work, it can be a real PITA to figure out a workaround. For example - why can't I resize a photo for emailing within iPhoto? This is something my wife does a lot, and having to "export" the photo to resize it is simply stupid. There's other little "issues" like that that have really frustrated her so far, so I can understand where the author is coming from.
As a long time PC user I bit the bullet about 5 years ago and bought a Mac. I was very familiar with PC's and a long-time linux user. I figured it was unix-based and had a nice UI. I didn't have any serious problems like the author of this post, but my major gripe was the continuous cost of OS upgrades. It seemed like every year you had to pay another $100+ for panther/leopard/etc. When I began refusing to do this and stay at the level I was at, programs stopped working. At least if you buy window XP you can run that software for the life of the machine. I haven't paid for the upgrades to my OS in a couple of years and now any software you try to install fails to run because my OS libs are out of date.
i believe that's because they get to run their -nix apps and rich apps (OS X/Cocoa) - mix in some Parallels and they got their windows apps too. that said, i have no interest in owning an apple machine because [1] i can run -nix apps on my servers and virtual machines, [2] i have no interest in OS X native apps, and [3] for value i get / costs, apple always loses out to machines i build for myself or laptops from dell
Discovery-driven Growth: The Only Plan Is to Learn as You Go
I think we can all agree that we should buy a computer that suits our needs. If you mostly use Windows in a VM on a Mac, then it's your own fault for buying a Mac. You probably should've bought a Windows PC to begin with, since really the only difference is the design aesthetics. Macs use basically the same hardware as the PCs (with some exceptions), but the way it's put together is different. I'm perfectly happy with my MacBook Pro. In fact, I've never been this satisfied with a computer, and I've been working on them since I was 4. But, that's my own personal experience. OS X fits my needs better than does Windows or Linux (and I've used both as my primary OS), but will the same be true for everyone else? Probably not.
Nothing is perfect (I mean, it's still more or less typical commodity hardware and who knows better than us that there's no such thing as bug free?) but... no, this dude is totally crazy. I've never looked back. Further, I've switched most of my family and friends, they aren't looking back either.
Sure, if you can't afford the real thing. Otherwise, having a pro do it is a good idea.
1. The Mac advertising and constant "It just works" mantra can lead many people to think they would work better on a Mac. The answer that you can just run Windows apps in VMWare when you need them gives people on the edge more of a reason to check out what all the fuss is about. It's been built up to be a bullet proof system from the OS to the hardware but like all systems it isn't perfect. When someone hears million times that this is perfect you should use it and they end up disappointed should you really be waging a finger at them for being an idiot because they listened to the advertising noise?

1.a (short): People buy macs to look cool or feel a part of the group of the "in crowd", even if that means they use nothing but windows on it.
Why aren't there any women's t-shirts on the site?
Looking at your other comments there seems to be the typical number of 1's - are you sure it's not just showing for you? Try logging out and finding one of your comments.
> Yup. And then that thing will become available to the poor. Do you really want to argue that it's good to slow down that cycle?

To an extent, yes - we've gone over this already. As mentioned, the very fact of this imbalance can cause a society that is overall less happy.

> Actually, you weren't. You explicitly stated "the society where the cure does not exist at all, and all are in the same boat". Even if we rewrite that to "no availability short of universal", we end up with "no progress" because you can't start with universal. You have to start with expensive and rare and grow from there.

Whew, way to quote out of context. Yes, I stated that the society where such a cure was unknown is likely to be happier. This is not the same as advocating zero advancement. There is a suffering generated by partial availability of such a cure, and a suffering generated by the total unavailability of such a thing - and my point is that in the US and UK the latter is neglected.

quoth me: "No, I am not a commie, and I am in full favour of some income disparity as a motivator towards useful output".

You've set up a straw man. I could do the same to you - I could imply that you favour a society where the richest 1% have 99% of the wealth, can afford genetic manipulations that make them vastly physically and intellectually superior to the rest of society, while the rest have little more than they do now. Really, though, in the end we're talking about a matter of degree, not absolutes.

> Me - I'm glad that rich people are willing to pay to be alpha testers.

Poor analogy, implies that there's some kind of cost/downside to the rich in this role.

> Actually, it's largely a construct of an envy campaign. Telling people that they have it bad has consequences.

So the fact that people know they're massively less well off than another segment of society (despite working 63 jobs and getting hardly any time off) makes them unhappy? Sounds, well, kind of like what I've been saying.

> Do you really think that "happy, brutish, short" needs no justification? (Not to mention that "happy" is overstated.)

You're right, the lives of western european nations are happy, brutish, and short, thanks to their smaller income disparity. Have you ever visited? They tend to be happier, have longer lives, and experience less suffering. Class mobility is vastly higher than in the US. It would probably be a stretch to call them brutish, although those who spend much time driving in Paris may disagree ;).

> Look. You've accused ME of lying. How about some actual evidence.

shrugs I have none. After all, I can't see inside your head. That's why I said 'I think'. It's not so much of a stretch, though - it's in the interest of the wealthy to advance justifications to support their position, whether they're reasonable or not.