skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I completely agree with mixmax - webapps are just beginning to garner interest in a variety of different niches.

Most of the webapps you see are geared towards tech minded folks, but there's still a world of opportunity in other sectors.

For example, my startup provides real time analytics data for universities regarding their student enrollment. Nobody in this space is using a cloud hosted solution. Our competition has to install servers, go through the university IT department, and batch process reports... we're blowing people out of the water.

Another example is Woobius, which is basically providing a Basecamp for construction workers.

I believe that webapps are only going to get more popular as the younger, more tech-savvy generation is moving into the decision making roles in the workforce.
In lambda calculus, where the term "lambda" comes from, lambda expressions can close over free variables. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambda_expression

I think about it as a three-way distinction rather than dichotomy. Here goes:

1) Anonymous functions that don't close over variables in their scope. Example: summing a list by passing "plus" to "fold". Doesn't require much runtime support beyond C, only a syntactic extension.

2) Anonymous functions that close over their environment but can only be passed down the stack - "downward funargs". Example: enveloping calls, like Ruby's File#open. Basically we encapsulate file I/O in a function that works thus: open the file, pass the file descriptor to an anonymous function received as argument, then after it completes work (or upon any exception) close the file.

3) Full closures that can outlive the context they were created in. Example: an event handler that we attach to a button in JavaScript. This case often requires that stack frames reside on the heap and be subject to garbage collection.

Re buffer overflows: if the language support is implemented properly, a closure created in a certain scope has exactly the same potential for buffer overflows etc. as regular code executed in that scope. EDIT: see the comment by limmeau nearby.
the programming contest will get easier as higher level abstractions hide the tricky stuff, but the idea contest will also be liberated. Imagine a world where you could for example launch FMyLife.com without worring about IE6.

lightweight interfaces will be able to power sophisticated implementations, and someone has to write those.

the market size will increase. dogs will be able to understand complex event loops, just as before.
How to Load a Resource from Your Application Bundle in Mac OS X
Same in Poland and Germany. Information that it's different in US surprises me greatly - how can you have any kind of meaningful entrance exams (or other criteria) for entire university that would work no matter what you want to study? Someone who would be good at electrical engineering might suck badly at gender studies.

Occasionally for practical reasons entrance exams are shared between similar degrees - for example University of Wroclaw has a single entrance exam for mathematics and computer science degrees - but you need to decide before the first term anyway, and switching it later is complicated (but somewhat common, as is doing both degrees simultaneously).
The interesting idea that Eric introduces here is the concept of deploying plumbing for big new features continuously. This lets you work and small batches while making big changes.
Agreed. Given the choice of logging or unit testing, logging is probably 100x as important in finding and fixing bugs.
That's pretty fascinating. Imagine being able to move your mouse cursor just by thinking!
You mean there's not enough evidence either way. Which is why it's useful to investigate if fingerprints do have a benefit. If they do, then that's a compelling reason that they are an adaptation.
Experts Say Chinese Filter Would Make PCs Vulnerable
sure, but isn't that the case for all fields, not just the ones where a supposed labor shortage exists? How is nursing or software development any different from working on an assembly line, cutting hair or mowing lawns? Hard to believe that we couldn't bring hundreds of thousands of new workers to the US in these fields - the difference is that congress hasn't been convinced that a labor shortage exists.

So in this case, my objection that we're enforcing these "artifical restrictions" very unevenly, based on whether congress declares a "labor shortage" in a particular field.

And ultimately, the only way to truly remove the "Artifical restrictions" you're talking about would be unlimited immigration on a global scale. I actually love the idea as a long term goal for humanity, but for the moment, I think it would be insane for the US to pursue open borders, and even more so if the rest of the world doesn't reciprocate.
This appears to be a configuration issue, as the relevant hardware is the same as the previous models. Performance only appears to be effected on high-end aftermarket SSDs, not on the drives Apple ships.
I would love to do this as well. I think the real challenge is finding a source of income you can do 20 hours a week over the internet that can still support you.

Some useful links on the subject: http://locationindependent.com/
http://www.workingnomad.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technomad
A commodity is something that has no or very little qualitative differentiation. All items are basically the same, and suppliers therefore compete only on price. So what is that uniform quality of all web apps that makes them completely interchangeable? If you can name it, I would say yes, web apps are commodities. Otherwise they are not commodities and it is irrelevant that they are easier to make than a few years ago (if that's actually the case)
Ask HN: Where to begin programming?
Hacker News: I'm mostly a lurker, I don't program, but I'm fascinated with the programming mindset and the thought process that results.

I do a fair share of writing and I'm quite frankly enraptured by the precise and complete nature of the comments on this site.

I'd like to start programming. What starting points, things to keep in mind, etc. would you give me, just starting out?
Great point. You're spot on with this.

But... back to the original question. Yes, of course. Web apps are commodities. For the most part, all the apps I have ever created have been made 10-100 times over.
Where in the world is Eduardo Saverin (story from early Facebook)
here are two decent blogs to check out. also, the main point from The Four Hour Work Week on the subject seems important: automation needs to be built into your venture from the beginning.

http://locationindependent.com/blog/2008/10/23/6-things-you-...

http://thegrowinglife.com/2008/03/lifestyle-design-and-4-hou...
Through independent contracting it's easy enough to just take 3 months off and travel off savings.

I've also had contracts that were almost exclusively remote work. I would check-in first and say "hey, are you going to need me in any meetings in the next 30 days, because I'm thinking of to [blank_city] for a bit."

They were always cool with it.
Also check out http://soultravelers3.com/

They're a family of three (hubby, wife and a kid) working and traveling, all over the world. They're blogging their experience. Exactly the same as you say, except you're probably much younger than the couple.
I'm on a 12" Powerbook running Firefox 3.0.11 at 1024x768. I'm unable to scroll down on your page. I think it's because of the persistent footer you have. The remaining portion appears to be within the space of that footer and so my browser doesn't let me scroll down much further. About 1/4 of the content is unavailable to me.
The experiment was worth the try, but folks here dislike links to other crowd sourcing sites in comments.
You might think so but it wasn't possible. This was because of the architecture of our drivers which consisted of a portion running in the host machine and a portion running in the adapter card itself on an on-board processor. When the packet was handed down from the host to the adapter for transmission it was the adapter that made the decision about whether to actually transmit it or not.

We could have added a flag for 'really transmit' this to the hand-off but we were obsessed with speed and memory utilization (this is back in the days of extended memory and all that fun) and so this relatively large change to our code to fix one piece of software was deemed unacceptable.

And yes we did fake the network test because the adapter would give us network status so the software ended up getting the right result.
I used to nurture that dream as well. Now that I am older and wiser, I think it's a fantasy.

I honestly think it would be better to get 6-month or 9-month contract jobs, work like hell during that time, and then take some months off to see the world. And don't take your laptop with you ;-)

I have a bunch of Norwegian friends who did this. They would work March-September in Norway, when the weather isn't so bad, and then they would spend the winter months in Thailand, Bali, etc. I think this is the optimal scenario because work is separated from travel. When you're working, you are just working. When you're traveling, you're free to enjoy the places you visit and don't have to worry about deadlines, internet outages, etc
There's a difference between speculating in a major newspaper and speculating in an investigation.

Also, Feynman didn't speculate about the O-ring freezing, he knew it would happen and gave a simple demonstration.
If someone has a Windows solution, I'd be honored. :)
Would it be possible to swap out the battery for one of the new ones? I'm in the same boat.
wow I have been thinking exactly the same thing. Kudos to you!

Over the past few months I've been aggressively trying to pick up freelance work on top of my day job, and it's paying off. I'm getting close to the point where I think I can adequately finance myself.

I don't think there's any reason to be tethered to a place if you don't want to be.

Anyone know of good spots to go as a hacker guy? I'm from the Northeast so I'm thinking of hitting Austin first off the bat and explore the US, but where else in the world would be a good place to live for a few months?
For Historians and archivists, modern era is a digital 'Dark Age'
i have a similar goal.. i have a number in mind, once i make that much i plan to stop working for money
I think it's a good point. But I think - and never having traveled for an extensive period of time, maybe I'm wrong - just traveling could get old after a while.

I think having something to do in a place - even if it's entirely remote, but having something to do besides lay on the beach - could be grounding. Also, especially abroad where the cost of living isn't so high, if you can get by with 10/20 hour work weeks that leaves plenty of time to explore a city and make friends.

Again, never done extensive dedicated traveling so I can't say personally. But that's my feeling.
Take Your Design To The Next Level With CSS3
The good thing is you will need to make comparatively very little amount of money. If you can make around $25K/year you can live very well in S & SE Asia, parts of S. America and I would guess Africa.

If you work as a freelance developer, and have already established a good network, it is fairly easy to lead this kind of life. Working remotely is very common, and if the client knows you are good, he would not care where in the world you are. But if you don't have an established network, it is harder to find work while you are on the road.

Starting your business is also claimed as a possibility. But I personally have not come across anybody running a successful business and spending a lot of time on the road. But I am sure some people pull it off, a la Tim Ferriss.

Oh, and teaching English. Great way to see the world, and money is good in places like Japan, Korea and increasingly China.

Even if you cannot figure out a way to work from the road, just save some money and get going. It really requires very little money, e.g. you can explore the whole of SE Asia for about $1K/month.

Good luck!
FlashDevelop 3.0.0 RTM released
v2 will let users rate them, too :) should be some interesting data to compare a company's perception of itself vs. reality
How To Think Big
Ditto, except without the older and wiser part, and with 'tried it, and didn't work out so well.' (I'm in Toronto for 4 months. Didn't know /anyone/ here when I came here. Mainly working, but it's not a high stress job because I'm still in college.)

It's always seemed to me that you don't really experience the culture of a place without living/working there for a reasonably extended period of time. So, I understand where the OP's motivation to do this stems from. However, honestly, people working in most places, aren't going to be willing to chat with you about cultural differences. They're busy working, hanging out with their existing friend groups, etc. You either end up very lonely and doing things by yourself, or spending a great deal of effort in making friends for a short period of time.

Doing what the OP wants to do would end up being a lesson in how to make new friends very quickly very often. Or, you might find out that you really like [x] location and stay there!
Since when did this become an Apple news site?
I have shared this dream at various points in my day-to-day grind...I think online poker would be one fairy reasonable approach. Depending on skill level, one could make a fairly good living grinding it out for (insert reasonable time here) a day. Just a thought, I think it could be a hard way to make an easy living.
Exactly. Just because the cost to produce a web app is approaching zero does not imply that web apps are becoming more homogeneous. If anything, the opposite is the case, as a reduction in the time/effort to turn an idea into a reality results in more variation.

The increasing ease of copying other people's ideas is the one mechanism by which improving technology does make webapps more similar. However, copying others has never been particularly difficult, and gaining a first-mover advantage, especially in high-margin or community-based apps, should provide sufficient reward for innovation.
Musicians can pay the bills by playing their music -- be it at a show or in a studio, but providing "support" is not programming.
To teach English, you should know another language too, isn't it?

It is very much possible to live in places like SE Asia for $1k per month (I'm from India, it wouldn't take even $1k, especially if you are single)
How is this thing supposed to make money?
My Thinkpad T400 with a 9-cell battery gets 9 hours best-case and at least 4-5 with varying use including music and decent brightness.
Most webapps are mostly CRUD, with a few specialized screens and a few Roles.

Plastic is a commodity. Injection molded plastic comes in a variety of colors, shapes, and densities. It can be used to create very specialized parts/products.

Perhaps my question is misphrased. Perhaps I should have asked, "Is web app programming a commodity?"
I am living this life right now. Lived (mostly) in Vancouver and Buenos Aires last year (with 1 month stops in LA, NY, and Toronto, and purely fun travel to Antarctica, Ireland and South Africa).

In 09 I've been to India (vacation), London (worked), Vancouver (worked), and I'm currently in Italy (both vaca + work). Heading to Budapest in two days to rent a place for 3m.

The most common question I've gotten is how to fund this. I've funded this with consulting gigs and living in cheap-ish places - living in Buenos Aires, for example, is a great way to bootstrap a startup. Building a more scalable biz to do this - consulting is a fine way to make a living, but a terrible way to build wealth.

It's great to see the world and get a better sense of the nuances of a culture than a hit-and-run trip. But it's not without its challenges. Off the top of my head, here are three:

- the biggest (for me) being balancing the desire to explore a new city with work

- A close runner up (believe it or not) is finding good broadband

- Building a community where you move to is often tough, though meeting people through couchsurfing.com has been awesome

If you have specific questions, please fire away here. I'm also going to teach a free class on www.edufire.com about this soon and I'll drop you an email about it if you email me directly (blog at reemer dot com).

There's more about how to live the technomad life in this interview I did:
http://mixergy.com/business-nomad/

And on my blog (too busy bootstrapping to update since Feb, but some info there):
http://howsthewifi.com

EDIT: An afterthought - whatever you do, don't let someone else tell you it's not possible or there's a better way to do it. Figure it what you want, then explore your options yourself (learning from people who've done it).

The benefits of living like this will do two things - build your self-awareness and build your confidence in yourself. It's close to the best way I've found to take responsibility for my life - I'm eating what I kill and living in cities where I know nobody and don't speak the language. You'll learn a hell of a lot about what you're capable of and that's the best damn part imho.
They run Bing ads, at least in GMail.
Some of the questions are things like "what pair of men's sunglasses should I buy?" I'm guessing that the products at the end are paid placement (or will be) and there will eventually be a click to buy button.
Getting olds ok, after all with all that living you may have learned something axod ;)

I'm looking really hard at applications for p2 (Matt Mullenwegs twitterlike app for wordpess) and google wave (can't get the developers version yet...)
not necessarily. the example i know about is japan -- many places prefer people who don't speak japanese. it forces interaction in english, the language they want to learn.
I know a bunch of guys straight out of college who do this, quite successfully. There are a lot of degenerates in the online poker scene, but these kids all have their heads screwed on straight and are using poker as a means to travel and live around the world.

One of my favorite stories was when I was at a cafe in Buenos Aires working for an afternoon with these guys. After about 5h we decided to adjourn to a bar, adn I was chatting with one of the poker players (who's 25):

Me: "How'd it go today John?"

John: "Not bad, I'm up 15k today."

Me: ?!?!.... OMG!

J: "Yeah, it was a good day. But there are some days when I lose 13k."

Dealing with the emotional swings would be the toughest part of playing poker online, according to these guys.
I made a page. Does the 'Congrats! Your site has been created' message hang around forever? I mean, it's showing up for me when I go back to it (not the secret URL). I wish there was a way to dismiss that message.
To teach English, you should know another language too, isn't it?

Nope. In fact if you are the stereotypical American with no accent, speak great English and know none of the foreign language you are usually far better off because they only want you speaking in English and teaching in English.

Not to mention the better schools get to have their American "poster boy" so they can show they've got quality English teachers in their school.

(This is at least what I gathered from a number of teachers over in Taiwan when I considered doing it).
Videos and slides from the recent NOSQL event
"It looks like, once again, other notebook makers will have to play catch up to Apple in this department."

Apparently this reviewer is unfamiliar with the modern lineups of non-Apple manufacturers. For example, the Thinkpad T400 with nine-cell battery, which also weighs 5.5 lbs, gets 10 hours of battery life at 60% screen brightness. (The biggest difference being that the T400 has a battery that can be swapped on the go, and it costs less to get a Thinkpad of equivalent specs to a given MacBook Pro.)
A refreshing sentiment to hear on Every-Man-Is-An-Island News.
Take your iPhone to an Apple store and use their computer to install the "update"?

Incidentally, the open-ness of Windows Mobile has meant that WinMo phones on ATT have had unlimited tethering forever. It doesn't have a really pretty icon, though...
the vc one was good; this one is stupid.
Awesome job JomAlchemist and Reddit. The company profile attributes is a funny, but strangely useful tool, especially the "good vs. evil alignment"
I believe the time taken to write tests for things that have never failed is wasted.

Yes yes yes.

I've seen a lot of tests that, if they failed, would have meant that a thousand other tests would have also failed, and that test would have been simply more noise.
Not at all. I've got a few friends in South Korea teaching English. None of them know Korean.
I've done this to some degree. My suggestion would be to build a product that throws off income rather than try to support yourself through remote contract work. A desktop app, iPhone app, subscription web app, or even ad supported web app. This will probably make your life better even if you aren't traveling.
Tomorrow Market offering infinite private beta spots for HN users
It sickens me to see this sort of pandering to Apple. I'd expect a reviewer on a respected site such as AnandTech to at least maintain a semblance of neutrality.
Fair point, but I think that it's a reasonable equivalent to the 'Band <-> Merchandise' comparison.

I think it's worth noting too that with several years experience in the music industry* I found that most musicians I knew were unable to pay the bills by playing music, the only common exception to this was people playing in cover bands who tend to make more money than unknown original artists.

*I worked for Gibson Australia for nearly 4 years.
When I heard that the new iPhone would have tethering, I was seriously psyched. I get free unlimited data, so that's cool.

Then O2 email me, and tell me it's going to cost money to use that data from my laptop????? Do they think I'm completely crazy? Why would I pay them more money just to use the data I've already paid for.

When will big companies stop treating consumers like total idiots. It's like Sony thinking everyone will buy movies on DVD, THEN buy exactly the same movie on UMD just so they can watch it on their PSP :/
What is Tomorrow Market? I couldn't find info on the site, I admittedly only looked for a minute.
A general model of productivity (= effectiveness)
I think this is more about creating a narrative than a realistic description of the homeless lifestyle. That being said, I don't see how you can both criticize the game for being too easy and criticize the author for not taking every easy opportunity offered by the game.
"100 hour work weeks wouldn't have improved our outcome."

Thanks for pointing this out. I don't see any problem with those who want to work 100 hour weeks but do get tired of the false reasons people have for doing it. It isn't because you HAVE to, it's because you WANT to.
On the other hand, it will be nicely satisfying to deliver downvotes to any "10+ Years Senior Developer Must Have 20 Years Experience With Java $15/hour" listings.
i agree that this is probably easier and accomplishes a similar goal, its not quite the same and not quite what i'd like to end up doing. may end up having to wander down this path though, as a compromise.

i think the underlying concept behind what i'd like to accomplish is the aspect of freedom associated with it. doing a constant cycle of hard work and then vacation doesn't quite have as much of that freedom to it.

beyond that, working a few hours a day and/or being able to work when i'd prefer to do it would probably leave me more satisfied and productive with the work i'm doing than if i were chained to a desk slaving away to ensure a few extra weeks vacation.
I read it through RSS so I don't see the domain
Which suggests that the suggestions aren't exactly accurate, and hence it's not much of a service.

I suppose this one is just a little to visionary for me to understand.