skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I don't agree with the "Remove all flash from your website suggestion". If you look at Pandora, Lala.com, Amazon, YouTube. They all use swf format as an easy way to deliver the music and video.

It's not without drawbacks however, but you will have a good idea of what the users experience will be when they recieve the media. It is probably not a bad idea to have multiple ways of viewing the media IMHO. With the user having the option to get the file itself alongside the sandbox be it Flash, Java , etc.

I don't think the Iphone supports flash right now though.
In the large he's pretty much wrong. In the small, like a startup, of course you have to focus, otherwise you are pretty much dead. However, if you invest in publicly traded mutual funds, the returns from an indexed fund beats nearly all managed funds due in part to the differences in commissions. In agriculture, monoculture is riskier than diversified agriculture, e.g. the Irish potato famine, or the imminent failure of the Cavendish banana. The financial crash was due to everyone following just a few strategies. Even VCs try to diversify their holdings.

His point about understanding each individual investment is good, but if you cant, diversification is a good strategy.
works on firefox, but somehow on safari it didn't detect mouse (trackpad) button up.
I expected more than 2 locations. But better than nothing I guess
I don't see any debt factored in, such as paying off student loans and the interest accrued from credit cards.
Personally I believe the future of IT and Medicine to be in the field of Predictive Analytics (In fairness this is what I've spent the last several years working on so I'm a bit biased).

What computers do very well is to crunch numbers. The problem is the confidentiality laws are so strict that the numbers have never been available. The future I believe is coming and the future that I'm trying to bring about is one where we realize a computer can separate diagnosis and treatment information from identity and in doing so can access hugely valuable data without ever violating a client's privacy. Then it can use that data to show us patterns that we as humans would never see.

This type of technology, which already exists today, could lead to faster diagnosis and most importantly preventitive care that keeps people from getting sick in the first place. That, to me, is the greatest thing IT can provide for humanity in the next decade or so.

Don't get me wrong. There will be great advances in technology that have nothing to do with the above. But those will be in things like nanotechnology and laser development which (a) isn't what I'd call IT and (b) would require you focus all your attention on them.
I no longer live in the Bay Area (am in Los Angeles now), but, as an avid surfer and entrepreneur as well thought I'd chime in with some comments.

First off, I agree with a lot of the comments here. Living in a new place isn't going to magically cause you to work less or more. This is largely based on your own mentality, regardless of location. There is always going to be more work to do, no matter where you live, if you want to work 90 hour weeks. You have to set your own limits and stick to them; geography isn't going to change that for you.

If surfing is important to you, and it's something that gets you away from the office multiple times a week, you should seriously consider moving to somewhere closer to the beach. Especially if your health is suffering otherwise, and you want to be in decent physical or mental shape to continue doing it for the rest of your life.
"In the study, 40 wallets..."

That is such a small sample size that the results could be masking underlying probabilities world wide. This study certainly has no meaning to places like Saudi Arabia where it is illegal to touch a dropped wallet unless you are the security staff of the building, the police, or an agent of the owner. Imagine if they did the exact same experiment there.
I think I would be completely fine with capping my working hours to 60 a week at a single job. My question centers on whether that is acceptable to investors, employers, etc. If its not, then the valley probably isn't for me. I got a sense from some people out there that they work a lot more than 60 hours a week - but I'm not sure what is commonplace, or acceptable. So I'm trying to find out.
it would be interesting 2 see how geeks round upto the 5s and how many to the tens ;-)
Very surprising that people spend 34% of their income on housing. I have always thought it unwise to spend more than 25% -- a big reason why I still rent even when people were telling me I was "throwing my money away".
Simple math. If one person in ten spends 10% of their income on tobacco, then the average person spends 1% of their income on tobacco.
There doesn't seem to be any savings indicated, so I would think that the difference between income and expenditures would also include that.
Ok, than you don't get it. I've decided to make a mini-tutorial about this. I will update at this place when it's ready. Stay tuned (if you want).
Unless, of course, people spend more than they earn net of taxes. But who would do that?
I found some references to that model in books, and people looking for spare parts. I'd say they solidified that vapor and put it into production.

Did you notice the size of the HV supply and vacuum system?

One of these days when I'm rich and bored I'll have my own SEM...
An effective 1% pay cut you weren't planning for could be a big deal.

But also: we've seen swings of +95% within the past 3 years -- so at the peak, people were complaining about an effective 5% pay cut.

And not everyone complains. I have a tiny commute, a professional job, and live in an expensive city where housing costs dominate -- so even double the gas price is a curiosity ("OMG I've never seen a tank cost that must") rather than a serious pain-point.

On the other hand, many people are far above that 4.8% average spend. They have long commutes and fuel-inefficient cars. Poor people, especially, tend to spend relatively more of their income on gas.

So when the price of gas goes up 95% (as it did from Jan-2006 to Jun-2008), and you have an older car and above-average commute -- you may have just taken a 10%-plus pay cut, when you may have been living hand-to-mouth already. Such people are honest about higher gas prices "killing them".
Okay cool.

Australia doesn't have state taxes on income (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Australia_v_Commonwealth).

Instead states taxes tend to be particular levies for works or "stamp duty" on purchases (e.g. cars/houses).

However, when I put the figures through using current exchange rates, AU income tax would be $14,352 US on that amount (around 29% compared to the original 21%) and our tax rates and thresholds have dropped quite significantly recently.
I went through 4 years of C.S. curriculum and learned what an incredible mind Turing had, so far ahead of his time. But I never once heard how he met his demise until I was wiki-surfing one day.

So for anybody else with professors that never indulged in the details of his persecution and death:

Turing was homosexual, living in an era when homosexuality was considered a mental illness and homosexual acts were illegal. Subsequent to his being outed, he was criminally prosecuted, which essentially ended his career. He died not long after from what was officially declared self-induced cyanide poisoning(a cyanide-laced apple) [wikipedia]
It is helpful, Alan and thank you for taking the time.

Having a good lifestyle is important to me, which is why I am considering the move. I feel like my location does not suit my lifestyle. In life I've found three things I deeply care about so far: my wife, startups, and surfing. There I could have all three. I can't really understate the surfing part... when I surf regularly, I am a much better person. I calm down deep inside. It also keeps me in shape in a way nothing else ever has.

I don't think that moving to the Valley will automatically mean funding, or success. I'm a strong advocate of customer development, and I totally agree about scoping a product to fit your resources. I think that if you have a solid product concept grounded in a real, confirmable market need that you can build a startup anywhere. What I mean is: if startups are important to me, maybe I should be in the place that is most supportive of them? I'm 29, and I have no wealth to speak of because I spent it starting companies. I don't want to be 39 in the same situation... so maybe I should stack the deck in every way that I can. As you point out - most valley companies still fail.

As to VC... I don't want any, unless I'm in a high-growth situation where I can get a valuation the lets us retain control. Angel money is more interesting. But I believe in creating and growing revenue from day one - and we're doing that.
We have a heavily graduated tax system though, so looking at the taxes for only one income isn't very telling.
Part time works if your idea is realistic for part time. Is it easy to implement, easy to scale? Does it have a core of good functionality?

I recommend reading 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris. You need a strong hype/BS filter, but he has some good suggestions about time management. In particular, there is a chapter about how to reduce the number of hours you have to put in at your day job without reducing your effectiveness. For example, if you work from home, you reduce interruptions and meetings. He tells how introduce telecommuting without your boss realizing what is happening.
Here are a few random thoughts and experiences of my own:

When I started at justin.tv, as hire #2, I worked frankly hellish hours. It was self-imposed, but everyone else was doing it too, and I'm pretty certain they expected it from me as much as I expected it from myself. My wife was amazingly supportive. For nearly a year, we saw each other for about half an hour each day on weekdays, and maybe an hour each day on the weekends. I didn't and don't begrudge having done this. Justin.tv wouldn't be where it is now if we hadn't all done that (but of course maybe I would begrudge it if we hadn't had some degree of success - who knows?).

That life is not sustainable for more than a couple of years though. I don't do it anymore, not to the same extent. I do still spend more time in the office than most of my friends who aren't at startups, and I'm always on-call (I carry a cell phone, netbook and EVDO card with me - I can always be online within about 10 minutes). I also spend an inordinate amount of time just thinking about work when I'm not doing it. But I don't spend ridiculous amounts of time in the office anymore. I work from home when I need to - I've found periodically changing my work environment stops me from burning out.

I'm also spending some time getting healthy - I took up running at the start of the year. While it's certainly true that the bay area can encourage incredibly hard work, I've found it can also encourage very healthy living - a lot depends who you hang-out with.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I agree that health and youth should take priority - which is why I'm thinking of making the move. So I can have and enjoy both, in a place well suited to my lifestyle.

I have partnered to reduce workload. I think I am a hard-core networker that can make things happen, yes. When I run the numbers, I believe our cost of living would be approximately the same.
I completely agree - and that is what I am working towards.
http://just-ping.com/ seems better
I sense a grant application for a followup study coming!
Things Mashable's Dying to Know About Chrome OS
"Yes it does."

No, it doesn't. You proved it yourself. You had to do some math to figure it out.

The reason taxes don't appear on this U.S. government publication is the same reason that they take withholding out of your check. If you actually saw what it cost you each year, it would piss you off so much you might actually get off your butt and do something about it.
Since the accident, I've gotten much more efficient at using my time effectively. I was unable to do much for a couple months, and it was terrifying. I also came to understand my mind better as it healed. As a result, I pretty much spend every waking minute that I'm not with my wife productively: consulting, working on my startup, or writing. Most everything else bores me now.

I think I'm probably 90% as smart as before the accident. However, I didn't use but 60% of my time productively before - I now use it much more productively, which results in a major net productivity gain :) I just have to restore sanity to my situation and I'll be much better off.
More families than you think spend $0/yr on liquor.
Good question. As far as I know, you always have to pay the GEMA when you put tracks registered with the GEMA on your website, free or not.
My Macbook's trackpad works just fine in safari 4.
you can still build your own relatively easily. instructions here: http://japanitz.com/publications_files/A%20transmission%20el...
Minimalism - Omit Needless Code
I really recommend Alan Turing: the Enigma by Andrew Hodges... this was a great read
Ask HN: Price discrimination
Hi,

Due to a project I am working on, I was thinking a lot about trading formalization and related issues, and it brought me back to a question that was bothering me for many years.

There is a lot of companies selling products without a price tag — you simply can't know whether it is within your budget without talking to sales reps.

My assumption is that this method is used to get as much as possible off big companies (simply because they have money) and may be sell it to smaller companies at a lower price.

Given the product remains the same, it really kind of bothers me that the same product goes for different prices making some buyers having worse deal... just because they have money. Obviously, this is beneficial for sellers as it leads to potentially higher revenues.

It usually gives me an impression that such sellers either don't know value of their product OR they are always trying to exaggerate it.

I do realize that the same product might yield different values for different companies, but hey, this is definitely not only about how much money the buyer company has (I also realize that seller can actually analyze each buyer's needs and yielded value in order to find a right price).

May be I am just to much into trading formalization concept and missing something... is there any other benefits of "no price tag" approach, particularly for buyers?
The article is correct that the Valley peaked just before the dot-com bubble, only to sustain a significant shrinkage during the burst. But it makes no mention of trends (growth vs. stagnation or decline) after the burst and recovery, that's just too bad.

Also, quoting outsourcing as taking jobs and money away from research and development is a sad joke. The projects that get outsourced are big budget, low on actual research, just run-of-the-mill bullet-point engineering behemoths more often than not. Not ones to be done by innovative startups anyway. If anything, outsourcing those away from the Valley should sped up actual research and development.
Fair enough. And it's true that poorer, or more rural, drivers spend a much higher percentage of income on gas. See excellent graphic by the NYT on this:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/06/09/business/20080...

I think I was reflexively lashing out against some people I know that constantly complain about gas, yet choose to drive large trucks and definitely aren't struggling to make ends meet. For them I suppose it's just another topic for small talk, much like the weather.
Thanks. Yeah, the surfing part is important. Half Moon Bay, Pacifica and Santa Cruz are a big part of my reasoning.
I used to do Vipassana for several hours a day, and look forward to taking that back up when I have one job.
As someone who learned QBASIC at the age of 8 I take offense to this statement. It took me 10 long years to break out of BASIC thinking, but it certainly did not mentally mutilate me.
How much water do you really need?
not bottled water either
> Reading through your list of points, it sounds like you're trying to justify not just trying

Correct. "Trying" is risky, I'm just attempting to measure how much more of a risk it is to do it on my terms. Prior to today, my plan seemed guaranteed to fail no matter how strong the idea, and I would be unhappy in that situation.

Thanks to the comments here so far, I feel now like I'm not guaranteed a loss under my low-hours restriction, and the risk of failure is acceptable given my desire to see my idea to fruition, and my expectation for its potential.

Your link was brilliant, motivating and exactly what I wanted to hear. I'm surprised I hadn't found that before.

Thanks much for the reply.
The less cynical explanation is that people are generally horrible at saving money, so withholding is the only way the taxes would get paid by most people. It reduces risk to the government that people won't have the cash on hand at the end of the year and just declare bankruptcy or otherwise claim they can't pay. Businesses don't have withholding, but they have quarterly tax payments for the same reason I'd bet.

This is the reason that withholding is used by individuals to fund their retirement plans and other rainy day savings accounts. It's too easy to fritter the money away if you actually get your hands on it.

I would agree with you that it'd be helpful to see taxes as a section of the pie chart here, but presumably the focus here is what people choose to spend their money on, and taxes aren't much of a choice.
I just watched this auction:

http://www.swoopo.com/auction.html?cm_re=Homepage-_-Grid-_-1...

Let's hop on over to newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148...

Yikes. I think I'll tick to ebay for my auctions.

BTW, I can't figure out who pays the $73.20 for the 122 bids. Where those the bids of the user? Or was that total bids from everyone?
It's called Price Discrimination:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination
Apparently this isn't a typo, HTML 5 really has no DTD. Hasn't the industry already wasted enough developer-years trying to parse tag soup? Are we really going to make this disastrous blunder again?
I think that the business goal of secret pricing to get a high pressure sales guy on the in contact with the potential buyer to close the deal.
doesn't have my city (santa barbara), but the site looks good; good work, and good luck.
At the risk of sounding too Tony Robbins-y, there is very little in this world that is truly impossible.

It sounds to me as though your goal right now is to follow a dream and spend more time with your family. This type of startup, as I'm sure you're aware, will probably have a much harder time raising venture capital, not to mention reaching an IPO (especially in this market). But hey, that's okay.

If I was in your shoes, I would look at two things:

1) How much cash do I have that I'm willing to pour into my startup?

2) How screwed am I if this thing fails?

The answer to #1 (and probably a few other, better-tailored-to-your-situation questions) will let you know when to quit. Because you will almost certainly not recognize it "when you need to" (if, unfortunately, you do need to).

The answer to #2 will help make sure that you're not jeopardizing yourself and the family you obviously hold so dear. But there are things that can help you here: so long as you have a strong personal and professional network (enough important strong ties, or an abundance of weak ties, or even both), that's a huge plus. And, as cmos said, "you'd be surprised how many doors making something 'from scratch' opens."

Whatever your decision, good luck!
I don't have a 'family', but I only spend maybe $250/yr on alcohol, and my girlfriend doesn't spend any, and we are in our mid-20s.

It's not for any moral reasons. I only drink beer that I think is tasty, and then pretty much only with meals at restaurants. She just really doesn't like the taste of alcohol.
There are combinations of reasons for this.

Firstly to impede competitors a little (always worth doing).

Secondly because it encourages people to ring your sales line and talk to a human - a sale is a LOT more likely then.

Also it is likely the product is in the realms of enterprise or business class. Quotations might need to be customised etc.

People looking for this level of product are probably less worried about the price point.

And finally it is the kind of behaviour companies expect. They WANT to ring you up and be quoted.
I'm not sure this is a metric a web developer should care about. I always assumed the website would deliver the same X bytes of data, at the same level of performance for each request, regardless of source location. If this, or any other test says your site is slow from a particular location on the net, what can you possibly do about it? You aren't really measuring your web site performance you are measuring the quality of the pipe in between the two sites, something you have no control over.
I'd like to see this adjusted for higher cost-of-living locations. For example, in Chicago 34% on housing might be on the low side.
I agree that that is the primary motivation. You will notice that these companies usually do not give enough technical information to do a preliminary evaluation. My experience has been that I have to sit through a presentation, before I get what I need. I dont like this song and dance, so they are hurting themselves with me.
Its an enlightening article, but I don't see how its appropriate for HN.
The thing is that this makes it even harder to scale because the cost of licensing additional nodes is now several times the hardware cost.
I'll hazard a guess that the 25% figure refers to rent and mortgage payments only. If I'm understanding the chart correctly, that's what it calls "shelter" -- just one part of "housing", which accounts for 20.2% of expenditures.
i think (without proof / reference) that plant is harder to fool with. if the environment is not suitable (too much heavy metal, salty water, too acidic/basic) then the plant either die or grows very slowly and it's not pretty (colorful leaf due to excessive iron), basically you don't want to eat it just by looking at it

animals, on the other hand, are much easier to fool with. here, bad people 'rejuvenate' 3-days old meat by soaking it in formalin and fresh blood.

actually, i meant to say that animals are more hardy/sturdier than plants; thus, can sustain more abuse/pollutions

NB: there are hardy plants that absorb heavy metals (like water hyacinth) by simply growing too fast, they are employed by water treatment facilities ... but people don't normally eat those plants, maybe not edible
Why doesn't Fred Wilson log into his bit.ly account and look up the click stats?
I couldn't agree more. Amazing how furious the population would get if they had to write those bigass checks every quarter.

It's too bad. I'd love to see an organized effort by business owners to say "screw withholding" for employees (despite it's illegality) and watch the government scramble. You can't imprison everyone.
Exactly why I'd like to see Amazon throw a consumer service on top of it. I realize they don't want to crowd out competitors, but the power of their brand could give people a little more confidence than a name like "JungleDisk" does.
Well the piece mocks BASIC at every chance, but as has been mentioned, it really only covers on branch of the BASIC family tree, which maybe I should have expected from a site titled dot-Net Masters. There were some others that amounted to decent programming languages IMO (eg. RealBasic, GFA Basic).