skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Ask HN: A new way of pricing financial software
Imagine a startup with trying to break into the financial software karket (enterprise). They target companies that are very young and can't afford the likes of Accenture or IBM.

The startup could sell the software to the company on the basis that they don't have to pay for it until the company can afford it. Obviously the term "afford it" will be defined by a lawyer so they can't make it look as if they can't afford it when they can.

Or, they could have it cost free for the first 12 months which will give them time to focus on becoming profitable. Remember, the startup is trageting startup comapanies in the financial sector.

Any thoughts?
I'd like to see more interviews like this from the 37signals team. Real people, working really hard, providing a product with real value.

Nice work guys -- to both Balsamiq and 37Signals on this one.
If VCRs and the web are any indication, robot sex will be a natural follow on to vacuuming floors and welding cars. I recommend Charlie Stross's Saturns Children for sex from the robot's point of view. And Love and Sex with Robots is on my wish list at Amazon. (Not the robot itself, thank you.)

The future is past. The bionic dick was a cure to impotence before the advent of Viagra.
As a hobbyist, there's not much you can do beyond resistor/led/transistor/motor without getting very quickly back to a programmable chip and software.

"Art project"? zzzzzzz.
Quick add-on comment: "git rebase" is a nice way for an individual developer to avoid spurious merges or clean up their history before pushing it to a shared repository. But (as Linus and others have said) it should never be used on commits after they've been pushed from the developer's workstation to the public/shared repo. That will rewrite history that other branches may depend on, and will cripple git's ability to intelligently do repeated merges between branches.
Aesthetics are generally relative; I think the iPhones look pretty ugly too, especially the ones with the silver trim. I do wish the standard G1s had the fancy silk-screen designs on the case like the Google Dev Phone, but with a choice of three colors, I really like the black phone, but my wife really liked the brown/tan model. Beyond that, they look quite a lot like T-Mobile's Sidekick models, which are a giant success, or at least where I live...
I.B.M. Unveils Real-Time Software to Find Trends in Vast Data Sets
as a starting point, "how to win friends and influence people" by dale carnegie (less weird than it sounds)
So condescending. We don't need to be told that correlation implies causality.
Five-Dimensional Data Storage
From the perspective of maximizing the economy within the current borders of the US, you are correct.

However, this completely neglects the potential cultural and political aspects. Immigration, particularly in large amounts, will dramatically change the cultural and political face of the US. We need to account for these changes before making decisions on immigration.
If this was litigable (pictures with accompanying text "defaming" people) Perez Hilton would probably get sued long before Techcrunch.
you could price based on usage somehow, assuming the usage of financial software will increase when the size of the company increases. more details on a concept would probably help to produce a more detailed answer.
2. A good way to do fingerprinting would be to use the flash player 10 API which allows you to process local files before uploading them.

3, for mouse scroll, look here: http://hasseg.org/blog/?p=138

Contact me directly if there's anything else, I think I'm clogging up this thread too much =)
I appreciated in particular the video on the Danish approach to startups.
Do you have some sources? I'm really curious about anything that differentiates between wheat and rice. I've know about paleo diet for some time, and I was wondering about ways to mix it with stuff like rice and sweet potato.
Online app to test your site with multiple text-based browsers (lynx, elinks and w3m)
I like the idea of the interviews, but not if the questions are going to read like this:

Q: What do you like about idea X of ours?
Q: Why did you decide to follow strategy Y of ours?
Q: Why did suggestion Z of ours work out so well?
This sounds a bit too good to be true, and an awfully good way for IBM to sell it's consulting services. How can a system be capable of analyzing financial data, weather system, medical information, etc. without someone plugging in all of the data sources and explicitly telling the system how to correlate the data -- of course to do that you simply pay for a large helping of consulting... cha-ching!

Maybe I'm missing something fundamental (the article was vague) but I just don't see anything really new here. I read it as marketing.
I think you've covered the important stuff here, but I'd like to add one point:

We do this because we have a requirement that we need to be able to rip out a topic branch at any time from this release

It's nice to be able to rip out topic branches at any time, but I would submit that once the topic branch is complete and its time to merge, the decision of whether to use it or not needs to be finalized. If you don't do that you're inflicting mental overhead on the developers to support the project manager's waffling. Depending on the nature of the topic and how modular and well-factored the code is, it may be more or less of a chore to maintain multiple branches, but unless both you're going to release both versions of the software, I say merge the branch ASAP and save yourself the trouble.
Introducing the Google Maps Data API in Labs
I seem to recall a ratty experiment in which lab rats had electrodes inserted into pleasure centres in the brain. They could stimulate the centre through pressing a bar. (Which is what lab rats do best.)

IIRC, the rats pleasured themselves to death, eschewing food and drink, in order the stimulate the pleasure centres.
What could be the solution? If one destroys a market, one creates a black-market (quoting Churchill).

I know I started the heroin-derivatives comparison but continuing it in this direction is fallacious. Speculative derivative contracts are like heroin in the sense of being socially destructive but they aren't like heroin, cigarettes or cocaine in the sense that they can be traded on street corners if they are not sold in corner stores.

Derivative markets depend on the legality of the contracts which are written, indeed they depend on large, public entities guaranteeing them. Consider: it is no longer legal to take out a large life insurance policy on someone you have no other relationship with - the murders got to be a bit annoying. There is no noticeable black market in such insurance policies either. Yet insurance for those who can show a need for it is still legal and available.

Regulating speculative derivatives would have relatively simple mechanics. However, it would also require that this society adopt a different regulatory paradigm than the present belief that Casino-like-speculation benefits the economy and society as a whole. This dovetails into the things Paul Krugman said recently.
http://www.clarityaccounting.com

http://www.blinksale.com

http://www.freshbooks.com

Now, more importantly:

The startup could sell the software to the company on the basis that they don't have to pay for it until the company can afford it.

Dude WTF? Not trying to be harsh, but this is known as guaranteeing the failure of your business. Most businesses fail. That means most businesses will never be able to "afford it". Ergo, you will never realize a vast majority of your potential revenue.

Further, your suppliers won't be as charitable as you are with your clients. You'll be paying bills to support clients that aren't giving you any money. You won't have income. You'll have increasing expenses. You'll have a disincentive to actually trying to growing your business. Disaster all around.

The goal of business is to make more money than you expend. If you want to be nice, found a charity - even then you'll need to brake even one way or another.

An overall better option would be to do as my linked examples have, and provide less of a product for less of a price. Most startups simply have no need for Accenture style services hence, they can purchase something that better fits their needs.

Do yourself a favour though and drop this "pay me when you can" idea forever. You'll have more than enough risk in managing your own profit levels, don't take responsibility for everyone else's too.

I know I'm being very direct here, but this aversion to making money is something a lot of people have, and it kills businesses every day. It's important for not just you but all of us to avoid this position whenever possible.
"...where most of your work consists of routing around other people's idiocy..."

-1 for bad attitude

+2 for a good laugh

+1 net score

Thanks
I am less consistent on the internet.
What does "real-time" mean? Oh yeah, it means "faster than our competitors." And "stream" means "the Cell marketing team encouraged us to use the word 'stream' a lot."

Factor out those two buzzwords, and you have an article about IBM releasing some software that analyzes data really fast and helps you make decisions based on that data.

If newspapers are in such dire financial straits they really need to start charging for stuff like this.
Yes, definitely. No software is going to make it easy to rip out any of five or six branches late in development. With five branches, this means that you might ship any of 2^5 == 32 different products, and you don't know which until right before it's released.

Merging late optimizes for the case where no branches are included, but as you've learned it makes it painful for the normal case where all (or most) do ship. Merging early optimizes for the case where all (or most) branches are included, but yes it makes it harder to remove a branch later on. Or you could always maintain each of the 32 possible release branches, and merge each topic branch continually with 16 of them... :)

As a compromize, you can merge frequently from master to topic, but then merge topic back to master only when you are fairly confident in it. (Hopefully this will be early for at least some topic branches, so that any conflicts with other topics can be resolved early.) And I totally agree with the other commenters who suggest shorter iterations and continuous integration.
There is also:

http://browsershots.org/

To try your site against multiple browsers..
The link doesn't seem to be working but (if you're talking about what I think you're talking about) that isn't Joel's idea. It's Apps Hungarian notation which was invented in the 70s at PARC.

Although, IMHO, it's just a poor attempt to compensate for a weak type system (Type Synonyms, etc. are a much better fix, since then your compiler can guarantee that you are doing the right thing).
Is this [really] the solution for building cross-compliant applications for web-browsers?

When you program in Cappuccino, you don't need to concern yourself
with the complexities of traditional web technologies like HTML, CSS, or even
the DOM. The unpleasantries of building complex cross browser applications are
abstracted away for you.

[http://cappuccino.org/learn/documentation/]
Could this mean a CDMA iPhone?
With all sincerity, if we could have a button to induce sexual pleasure, would we want it? The root of this article is the promise/expectation/hope of quick, easy, sexual pleasure through the use of technology.

For a quick analogy of what might happen think about what cheap, easy calories are doing to us as a species. Now think about how much more emotionally powerful an orgasm is vs. say, a piece of chocolate...
One of my favorite Wikipedia pages: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_alphabet
All I can say is nope! :)
A quick look at the network provider on wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecom_New_Zealand

Points to this being a CDMA provider, meaning this opens the iPhone to many more carriers in North America.
Just wondering (and maybe I'm off base here -- being new and all) but how is this related to hacking in any way?
I share that sentiment. They are writing to their audience, their customers. Individuals who focus on simple things and want simple products. A lot of people will be successful on that path.

Imagine if everyone built companies selling trips to the moon. Most of those entrepreneurs would give up before they succeeded. I would rather see lots of small successes than lots of big failures.

I've heard the analogy, you win the game with lots of base hits, not one home run. They and their customers tend to focus on the base hits and that appears to be the surest route to success. Unlike the carsforadollar website they were on the cover with yesterday.

Honestly, I'd prefer their blog posts weren't on HN at all, but if they are, I prefer posts like this one over the lottery winner post from yesterday. That was my point.

But I agree with you too.
To be clear, System S is a framework and programming language for building streaming apps; it doesn't actually know anything about finance, weather, etc.

For the technical research underlying it, see http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm/research_projects.nsf/pa...
Arrington on getting press for your startup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbUnatPfSgg
Wiping Data Hits Flu Predictions
Way to prey on people's fears google.
This device isn't real, it's an ad for NovaScotia... huh?
Not if we're only accepting 'above-average' immigrants. If we have cultural or political aspects that can't survive the arrival of more highly-educated, self-sufficient, productive, law-abiding residents, we should eagerly discard such parochialisms.
Hence "I am the Alpha and the Omega."
Yes. Of what I read most sources point out the advantages of even unskilled immigration.
This falls in line with common wisdom doesn't it? Specialists do better in the work force than generalists do...
Who is this idiot? Why do we care about a random stupid blog rant?
The alphabet is irreversibly and tautologically in alphabetical order. This article was actually answering "Where did the order of our alphabet come from?"
Web 2.0 deadpool in visual format
Microsoft kicking Apple's butt in the living room
If they truly are at the top of their fields, why require a degree? Would it really make any sense to deny a modern day Edison or Hemingway over a degree?
I've learned a lot from www charismaarts com

I highly recommend it. It may change your social life forever.

It's more about conversation than pickup. Peruse the forums. It's not about technique, it's more about intent. It's not about seeking approval, it's about giving approval.

I'm not going to rehash what their philosophy and conversational techniques are but if you were to search my previous comments on mingling and small talk - much of it is sourced from them.
Or Mexican billionaires who made his/her wealth not from drug business and wants to leave his/her estate to be taxed by U.S. Government?
Does Twitter Hate Advertising?
It says it is in SSH 4.7. I just checked and I'm already up to version 5.1. on a 2.6.26-1 system. How dated is this problem?
> Straight out of the engineering department at blueTunes, try our next generation uploader (patent pending)

seriously??
Google result-manipulating Gumblar exploit picking up steam
a few things are broken around the website:

-in chrome the pricing for adding song storage isnt working

-the job form doesnt work

thought: maybe have a default 1 song for everyone(that is no longer copyrighted), so that people can see how easy it is to use

also you have the iTunes logo on the front page, but I cant seem to find where to stream to itunes; my guess is that you are working on this currently and its not ready yet.
Dajax: An easy to use ajax library for Django
I know I shouldn't, but...

What does "real-time" mean?

It means that data is processed at the same rate that it is produced. (Or as Wikipedia says, "originally it referred to a simulation that proceeded at a rate that matched that of the real process it was simulating.") A side effect of real-time is that RAM can be used for buffering rather than using disk for storage.

And "stream" means "the Cell marketing team encouraged us to use the word 'stream' a lot."

Wikipedia defines a stream as "a succession of data elements made available over time" and stream processing as "the quasi-continuous flow of data which is processed in a dataflow programming language as soon as the program state meets the starting condition of the stream". I don't think System S even runs on Cell.

While "real-time" and "stream" are too frequently used as buzzwords these days, IBM is actually using them correctly in this case.
yes of course. personal input should be expected.. There can always be mitigating circumstances
Doesn't freemium solve this problem?
On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity.

Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or egregiously offtopic, you can flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link.

http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
In Pursuit of Elegance: 12 Indispensable Tips
read it, enjoyed it, but had to flag because it's OT. Sorry.
Thanks.

I assume the meaning of alpha and beta as first and second comes from their place in the alphabet.

It's strange for me to imagine it the other way round.
What is it they say, "money rolls uphill"?

It's very true that when you don't have funds to make financial investments that pay off over time you end up even deeper.

I guess this is why I think progressive taxation is "fair", people with higher incomes can leverage it so it makes more difference than the apparent income difference would indicate.
This is a flaw in the SSH standard itself, not in a specific version of software. Countermeasures have been put in place to mitigate the flaw in OpenSSH however.

"They've fixed [OpenSSH]; they've put countermeasures in place to stop our attack," said Patterson. "But the standard has not changed."
While a lot of people in this discussion seem to like the design, I have to say that I don't like it. It feels unprofessional and looks like design for game money, or... Web 2.0 money? (I'm not talking about cultural thing, purely visual.)
Seven Tips for Making Good Conversation with a Stranger.
Ok, you save a dollar on a gallon of milk, but how much does it cost to own a car?
Twitter Shies Away From Advertising…For Now
Yes, at a minimum it needs to contribute to the discussion. If it doesn't do that, it should get voted down. There are other factors at play that will make people vote something down also; there was a topic/entry here with some interesting suggestions about multi-dimensional ratings (that I can't seem to find the page for it now).
It doesn't need to be serious and business-like, but it does need to contribute to the discussion.

Well, without being serious it's really difficult to pull off contributing to a discussion, especially in a way that would be deemed acceptable by you, for example.

My point was that the post up there did not contain leet speak, fanboi terms or first post claims, and did not really deserve eight downvotes worth of punishment only for not contributing.

You could say its contribution was to cheer Cappuccino on.
By the way: What are Minutemen?
Yes, but that just means they aren't fulfilling their purpose.
While I understand that this is just an exercise/whatif/fun, it seems that these exercises favor the pretty over the functional. There are some niceties in the design, like the braille. But beyond that, fundamentally, currency should not be easily copied.

There doesn't seem there was much thought about that in the designs, other than the wavy web-like background. I think that would make for a much more interesting (to me at least) case study in design were that the case.
As an introvert, I really, really (really) hate being on the receiving end of this endless follow-on questions type of 'conversation' (can it be a conversation if your only participation is to crowbar more words out of me? (I digress...)).

"The only thing a true introvert dislikes more than talking about himself is repeating himself," as an article in The Atlantic once said. So be careful about using this Rogerian Therapy on shy people, and please don't use it on me.
What's with all the sexytime on HN today?

Couldn't it wait until after 5? =]
Is Twitter To Facebook As Google Is To Yahoo?
All you need to do is look for the other persons interest to perk up at specific topics and ask questions in that direction. Keep them talking about things that interest them, tell them how cool what they like is, etc. Make sure to have your own insights and be able to BS about any topic, but the most important thing is to keep THEM talking. People are more interested in what they have to say than what you do.

/sad truth
That's a very good question, but if you take into account that you can work 2h more per day because you don't have to wait for the bus, it might pay off.
Why must the alphabet have a "canonical" order? It seems like the alphabet has an order for recitation purposes and for convenience when ordering things.

Recitation seems unnecessary in teaching alphabets and as long as numbers are well-known and are distinct from letters, then they could be used to order items in daily life.
The thing you have to remember is that most people love to talk about themselves. This isn't a bad thing, it's just human nature. You can leverage this, however, for small talk. Ask the other person about themselves, and they will often talk for hours. You can keep it going by just asking follow up questions: "Oh, you went to College X? What made you choose that over Y?"

The trick with this is to not come off like you're writing a novel. The line between interested and creepy is pretty fine. The best advice I can give you here would be to avoid getting /too/ personal. Keep it general.
Everyone should read this link by John Scalzi, as well, as a companion to this article. Being Poor:

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/
Zzzz...the first article I read like this was written in the 1970s. I am so tired of this formula...

Thought you'd seen it all when (someone) did (that thing) (within the last year)? Think again, because (specific technology) is changing the way we (do something) faster than ever before.

Imagine a world where (well known person) does (the same thing with technology). Or where (those kinds of people) do (something else with technology). Or even (well known event) is (different with more technology).

But will things be better or worse? (something) would be awesome. But maybe (something we value) would disappear.

One thing's for sure: before long (repeat half of first paragraph) will seem like (some old example of technology chaning something). And maybe we'll (have some emotion) while we (do something familiar with new technology).

The best (or worst) example I've seen of this kind of lazy journalism was an article in the Economist speculating that musicians might one day take performance-enhancing drugs. You don't say.
The awkwardness of your 10s silence is entirely in your head. They might have the same problem, but you wouldn't notice if they didn't. Familiarity is about being able to be in someones presence without it becoming awkward.

A lot of attractive girls are boring because the guys always make the conversation, if you let her take the lead you will bore her by default. Try mentioning something she might be interested in and see if she latches on: then you can take the lead and make yourself interesting.
Why is Google rewarding rote memorization?