skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I largely agree with his conclusion, but don't like it when people point out history to support it. Sure kids didn't have to go to school in 1850, but black people and women couldn't vote, most people didn't have indoor plumbing (let alone electricity), slavery was still legal.

The fact that kids didn't have to go to school back then is not at all an argument in support of them not doing so now and should be left out of a serious essay in favor of that position.
You do not have to pay income tax if you spend less than 30 days in the US that calendar year.

Careful with tax advice from the Internet, folks. idlewords is talking about passing the Physical Presence Test for the Foreign Earned Income Exemption. If you quality for the FEIE via either the physical presence test or the bona-fide residence test (see the IRS docs, they are fairly easy to understand), you get to exempt the first X of your income from the income tax. X is in the $80k range this year, check your friendly local IRS website.

Regardless of the FEIE, your income is not exempt from self-employment taxes, as idlewords said. Additionally, it has to be EARNED income, a distinction which has VERY IMPORTANT CONSEQUENCES for people here who are intending to sell their startup at some point. To oversimplify, earned income is the portion of your profit you gain in return for services rendered, but it excludes the return on invested capital -- including IP. So if you end up selling your business for $500,000, it is highly likely that large portions of that are not earned income, and will be taxed from the first dollar in the US.

Taxes are a minor headache for me every year, and this year my business gets to start filing with Japan, too. Yaaaaaay, more fun.
The Secret of Success: Suck Less
I've had my fair share of websites. I don't consider, for example, http://speakhq.com a startup. At all.

Whereas I do consider http://ramamia.com a startup, and http://tickrtalk.com a startup (funded and in dev), and http://classleaf.com a startup.

I can change that to 8 if Avecora (which did previous web stuff, but now is developing a mobile dev) doesn't count as one, since it's in development. In fact. I'll list them and try to qualify them, chronologically sorted.

DebateWare - sold enterprise event mgmt software. sponsoring debate event in bos in oct
Avecora - doing a mobile device in dev
Avecora OnDemand - CRM/Project Management app. only connected to Avecora by name. market sucked.
Cadmium - social advertising network. used facebook data to target ads. decent revenue, closed down later b/c market was :/.
Student Concourse - was at WebInno 22. Lots of users but bad retention rate. Closed down.
FB Idol: >15,000 Facebook users and very active. monetized via ads, with good money. said screw it and sold it.
Ramamia: with hnuser:jasonlbaptiste. few thousand users, in public beta. tons of gigs of photos. launching next month.
TickrTalk: in dev. funded by UPenn Weiss Tech Fund.
Classleaf: sales force started making calls last week. software. it's selling.
Adaptance: in dev: advanced ad network built on a complex algorithm combining behavioral + contextual + 3 other targeting metrics.

Actually, that's 10, but remove Avecora OnDemand and there's the nine.
Did you go to normal school?

A lot of people in this discussion are trying to use the product of the putatively broken system (themselves or others they know) to prove that the putatively broken system must be left in place. This is simply begging the question (in the original sense), not an argument.

Edit: Fine, I'll spell it out. You can't counter an argument that says we have a system that is generating excessively dysfunctional 15-year-olds by pointing out that the 15-year olds generated by the system are excessively dysfunctional, and then follow it up with the conclusion that therefore we need the current system. That doesn't disprove the point, because the point in the first place is that the system is broken. You can cite millions of examples of actions taken by publicly-schooled 15-year-olds that were stupid, but none of them actually provide any useful information about the argument.

My post here isn't an argument either way about the issue; it's just simple logic. Arguing that of course 15-year olds are stupid and need to be in school is begging the question, or circular logic, and an invalid argument. It doesn't prove anything either way, it's not even evidence either way. Modding it down doesn't change that.

This isn't all spelled out in the exact post I'm replying to, but this bad logic is shot through this entire comment thread.
The objective reality of the soft of decisions made by twenty-five or thirty-five year oldsters on a routine basis shows that we have a problem. Extending childhood is not the answer.
I don't. But the best way to figure out what you want to do is to actually do it. School does not help in this process.

I'm three years out of college. Most of my friends had no idea what they wanted to do in graduation. They picked a job, didn't like it, and now are switching. Except now the biological clocks are ticking, and it's becoming more important to pick the right path, because there is a major costs in switching careers.

If people started working at 14, or even 18, people would have a lot more time to discover the career they loved, before they had to assume the burden of earning enough to support a family.
What is innovative about the App Store?
I asked Phil Schiller about App Store policies in March. He didn't say much.
I can relate to this comment. I've bootstrapped in Shanghai (last 9 years) and in Cape Town (6 months, mid-90s). Both were great. I ran into other Americans and Europeans from time to time that were not respectful of the locals and I felt they set a bad example and muddied the waters for the lot of us.
Residential Property Management Colorado
Freedom Realty brokers help you make the right decisions and provides the right representation in all property management services. Specialize in Commercial, Residential Real Estate, Commercial Property Management, Residential Property Management.
I think we already have that here in Denmark. If I understand the concept correctly, that is.
Exactly.

I think there is actually precedent (in the US) here, but I can't find the reference. I will keep looking.
Yep, I feel the same way. I'm much more a fan of something like clickpass where I can bootstrap my signup with details already filled in.
IPO Registrations Are Returning From The Shadow Of The Valley Of Death
Many hackers would probably find car maintenance/repair a very satisfying hobby. I find working on cars/motorcycles to be very similar to writing applications, only with the added bonus of being tangible and real.

You don't necessarily have to do all of your own work (tools and time dependent), but once you learn how to do a lot of it, and have gotten your hands greasy enough, you can talk to mechanics intelligently and straight, and can tell BS when you hear it.
For what crime?

Despite what you might hear from Fox News, you do actually have the right to a fair trial.

So far the case law (in the US) with respect to crypto is unclear. The only case involved someone showing the government child porn on their computer, and only later not providing the key. As far as I know, having an encrypted partition has never gotten anyone in any trouble, even if accused of a crime.
It's actually super easy to hire so long as this is something uncommon- our employees will find us.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck gave birth
Yeah I was more curious than anything.

I don't really know what the definition of a startup is, but I know it's certainly different than a website. HN in general tends to have a very liberal definition of the word. Side projects that never made a dime or had more than a few hundreds visitors are rightly or wrongly considered startups rather frequently. The word "startup" is so overused that like the terms "breaking news" and "celebrity" it doesn't really mean much anymore.

Website -> Startup

News -> Breaking News

Reality TV Appearance -> Celebrity
I agree, a specific flag does not necessarily mean a specific language, and it's unnecessarily provocative.

However, flags in general are associated with the idea of language.

To show that a dropdown means "choose a language" you could put a cluster of neutral, solid-colored flags, a different color for each flag. In the dropdown include the standard country code along with the language name rendered in its own language.

As for what language to start with, either:
- "your" language, or the predominate language that the site is developed and operated in, or
- geo-location, or
- what makes sense to you.

But don't expect "foreign" speakers to speak the default language just because they happen to be reading your site from a particular country.

That said, I think most people these days can find the "choose a language" knob, so just try not be rude and you'll be OK.
I think I had the same nutty professor at Wash U.
Oh, bullshit. It teaches "95% of kids" to hate learning because it turns it into a job.
The string "stack overflow" is found about 5 times on the front page.

Feels incredibly... derivative. Coattails-riding.
Sweetcron - all your social feeds funneled into one place
It would also make the benefit impossible to kill or reduce no matter how much it strangled the nation. See: Social Security.

The difference is that instead of the AARP threatening nuclear warfare over any reform it would be everyone. (Incidentally, if you think the AARP is going to give up Social Security just because they're getting Basic Income in return, you're dreaming.)
Interesting.

Few weeks ago a friend of mine showed me http://www.bvckup.com, which is basically a folder copier. Not terribly useful, but what did blow me away was its UI. It wasn't just too simple for a backup utility, it was humane and thoughtful. I emailed the guy my thumbs up and he replied saying that quite a few people expected the UI to be complex and assumed that a simple and obvious UI equated to a less functional software. He seemed to be completely perplexed by this.

Point being is that the UI complexity is actually expected in some cases, because it's a de facto standard. Users may actually want a bad UI, because that's what they are used to, and trying to offer them better alternatives may end up being an uphill battle.
I too use this.
At work I use the same combination, but also Evolution, just because I get too many customer e-mails that are unreadable without an html reader. For personal e-mail, I get few enough of those that a lynx filter is sufficient.
Oh, I definitely agree with you there. I hate the ASK HN: REVIEW MY URL SHORTENER STARTUP and related.
I had gotten word that the sorting problem has been solved, hence the "disregarding prior art" part.

My point, which you don't seem to be contradicting, is that a formal specification of a problem is not the same as a solution. They just seem the same because real world programming problems tend to have obvious solutions, or at least solutions that don't feel much like programming.
No comment on the grid, really, but that's one gorgeous GUI.
same google apps gmail setup except i dont use gmail notifier (used to). instead i have an SSB (fluid.app) running it and it gives me the red dock icon counter thing.
Outlook with Xobni at work. I've now become the guy that can find "that email".
Nice! There are also companies that sell bike maps if you want to try your own execution with someone else's planning.

I recently unicycled 300 miles across Africa. Photos here: http://www.matthewwegner.com/africa-unicycle-photos/

This was a vehicle-supported tour organized by Escape Adventures, who are absolutely awesome. They usually do bike tours; this was their first unicycle tour. I'd highly recommend them for any foreign tours: http://escapeadventures.co.nz/
Ask HN: Software pricing criteria for startups/freelancers?
Can anyone share how do you price your software? As startup/freelancer the software will not be as popular compared to the big players out there, so high price may hurt. Likewise too low will starve you.

Is there an effective mechanism to price based on customer? ie. if customer is individual, low price, otherwise, high. But it seems to be easily exploitable.

Any insights? It would be great to know exact methods you use to measure LOCs, intangible costs such as time spent, and anything else.
The "contents of your mind" are not protected by the 5th amendment. The part of the 5th that everyone remembers and obsesses about only prevents the state from compelling you to testify against yourself.

Here is the example which is more appropriate to this discussion: The state contends that Bernie Madoff may have stashed billions in offshore bank accounts, the state has proof that these accounts exist and that he accessed them on a regular basis. The state (specifically a judge) can compel him to produce the account numbers and access codes to enable prosecutors and investigators to examine the account activity. If he refuses the judge has the power to place him in jail (for contempt of court) until such time as he provides the information to the court that it feels is necessary to render a fair judgement.
Why the base insults?

Bad code comes from bad and/or inexperienced programmers, which in my experience seems to have very little correlation with level of education, and quite a bit more to do with a lack of "real-world experience".
Users experience a feeling of betrayal? Users know the service is going to be sold to someone at some point, and that's why the service was created in the first place. And investor knows that the only way to make a profit is to sell the service.
Exactly. It's not that there are 39 Awesome Icebreakers For Hackers, but rather that I have stories and experiences that (more or less) relate to almost anyone I'm likely to meet.

And yes, the stories are often more fun in the telling than in the living.
A miracle cream 'which reverses ageing process'
I don't think it would be so bad. There's be some constant factor or number where n^50 would always be less than, say n^n after that constant.
It ain't bragging if you can back it up.

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/503362.html
I don't understand. The link is just the problem statement.
Psystar bankruptcy dismissed, stays against Apple blocked
A line needs to be drawn somewhere (since I doubt that you are you suggesting that a five year-old child should be considered "adult" enough to consent to sexual activity or that a ten year-old should be able to legally drive.) Where we draw the line is based upon culture, tradition, and sometimes it will shift up or down based on societal or technological changes. (And _all_ societies are like this, not just this one; a line is drawn in the sand to divide the adults from the children.)

Yeah, I know it sounds lame, but as a matter of fact you _will_ have a better perspective upon the folly of your youth once you are well past it.
An innovation is a new way of doing something. A cell phone maker actually owning the store where applications are sold online was new and successful or we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Really, how many applications would the iphone have if AT&T or Verizon controlled what was allowed to be downloaded there?
I live in Ecuador 9 months out of the year.

If you plan on swinging through Manta, shoot me an email.
I prefer OpenID, and the lack of one stopped me from registering.

You can always provide options ( with/ without OpenID) for registration
I just wish there was an Inbox that combined all incoming mail from my 4 accounts.
I still haven't bothered to signup for Stackoverflow because of the OpenID requirement. If it has username/password it'd be done already.
This is similar to what I use, except offlineimap instead of fetchmail and esmtp instead of ssmtp.

I like offlineimap because it does a bidirectionaly sync, meaning I can keep a local backup of mail, but still use the web client when I need to (without a ton of old mail sitting around).

I started using esmpt because it handles local mail delivery when paired with procmail, allowing me to get the infrequent messages to root without having to run a full MTA on my laptop. There's also a script to allow mail queuing, but I haven't ever bothered with it.
The Chevy Volt Gets 230 mpg? Only if you use bad math.
This sounds like a bad idea for exactly the same reasons as starting up in a startup hub sounds like a good idea.

1) Easy to find and hire good people from your own network

2) Easy to raise money from connections in your own network

3) Easy to find accountants, lawyers, office space from your own network

Starting a successful business is a fairly complicated and risky thing to do, why would you want to go live somewhere that makes it even harder? (Note: This does not apply if you're the only one building a product and just need a change to focus and get it out.)

Perhaps, starting and selling a business in the valley and then going on your world tour/vision quest is a better idea, no? :-)
Dunno, but for-pay apps not endorsed by the carriers have been around forever. Symbian, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and Palm have had third-party apps forever.
A small proportion of data from four spaceships send data that is decompressed by my code. Oh, and I found a bug in code in the the same spaceships.

Wrote an spreadsheet, and interactive disassembler, in BBC BASIC and 6502 assembler when I was sixteen. Still seems the most impressive thing I ever did... but perhaps it wasn't actually. Um ah.
It's great that Apple are listening, but this quote from the article stands out to me:

"Technically, nothing specific has actually visibly changed in the last few days. I said I wouldn’t go back until I could see actual demonstrable progress being made."

Of the legitimate concerns Steven Frank raised, did Phil Schiller commit to anything actionable or measurable?
http://stellarium.org/
Easy test if you somehow have two macbook pros sitting around... including one that has a matte screen which apparently just became available again today.
Yes, I know exactly what you mean. It's intensely demotivating - all I can advise is a supportive partner and friends, and occasional professional help.
Buying Wholesale Raser Scooters
No email in your profile, but I'm really interested in your experience in Ecuador- we're planning on heading to Costa Rica at the beginning of next month, but Ecuador might be a way better option. Do you know of any good three bedroom rentals on the coast? Figure we could get 3G cards and be off to the hour a day of surfing races.

copla201 at gmail is my email- hit me back!
I have RoundCube [http://roundcube.net/] installed on my server and all of my other accounts forward to it.

I constantly hack it to add functionality where needed.
gmail + thunderbird at work.

1 gmail account for all span (even if it looks like it might possibly have a slight chance of being span i use this email). Not forwarded.
1 gmail account (old) forwarded to main gmail account
1 gmail account main
1 work account

I use thunderbird at work to view work related emails, but gmail client to do everything else. Can't beat that damn gmail client!
This site is actually really interesting. I haven't brought my car to a mechanic since I was 18 and I'm 32 now. I've had to fix just about everything and doing a quick spot check on some of the work I've personally done in the past the site looks pretty accurate.

For example over the years I've replaced several water pumps on vehicles that I have owned. Most of the time it's pretty straight forward but on my 88 Toyota pickup the water pump was burried and I had to remove the timing belt to get at it. Long story short it took a lot longer then the other water pumps I've replaced in the past.

When I plugged it into RepairPal, they accurately reflected the difference in labor and as a result the price quoted to change the water pump on the yota was about 2x as much as the one that I replaced on a chevy.
How about everybody just gets to keep whatever they earn from their time and labor? My God, we've become a nation (no, a world) of greedy busybodies who think we deserve a piece of everyone else's stuff.
Warfield tickets
The Warfield is a favorite 2,300 seat music venue for performance among many entertainers. Greats like Bob Dylan, Guns n' Roses, Greatful Dead and Prince have all performed there. For many years, the venue has served as home for The Greatful Dead in particular.
Ah got it. Thanks for the clarification.

Coincidental too since I just read about the AKS algorithm on Terrence Tao's blog. http://terrytao.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/the-aks-primality-t...
"Similarly, a person who has been unemployed for a long time may have a hard time finding a new job - even if they are highly skilled and qualified. Potential employers attribute wrongly the person's lack of employment to the person rather than the situation. This causes the potential employers to search more intensively for flaws or other negative characteristics that are "congruent" with or explain the person's failure and to discount the applicant's virtues."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_proof
Have you needed to expand yet? Do potential employees find you through your blog, or elsewhere? If you're not actively hiring, do you still get a lot of unsolicited resumes from people who are intrigued by the lifestyle?

edit: btw, your personal website gives me a redirect loop (Chromium and FF on linux)
Sorta reminds me of tumblr I just start following called Abobe UI Gripes (much less educational): http://adobegripes.tumblr.com/
I fail to see how this would not immediately cause the cost of living and prices for most things to just rise to the level of what they were before plus the new stipend?

This is basic supply and demand - If I give everybody in the country $5000 to go buy a computer, over time, computers will start to cost around $5000. If I give everybody $400/month to spend on food, over time, the cost of groceries will rise up to something more than $400.
Yea, 51, but with n = 40 you are already at the number of atoms in the universe ~10^80. That would leave around 11^50 calculations per atoms in the universe, at 1,000,000 Ghz you are talking about 10^32 seconds which ~ 3 * 10^24 years. Or 10^15 = (1,000,000,000,000,000) times the current age of the universe.

For any calculable n, n^n is less than n^50. Ok, if computing power doubled every year, for the next 200 years we would still not be able do 50^50 calculations. But in 250 years of doubling each year it would be easy.
On the StackOverflow podcast Jeff & Joel frequently discuss their goal to get ranked highly on popular search engines.
According to the article Alaska comes close due to the subsidy. Maybe Alaska is the next Silicon Valley?
I am severely, severely jealous of web developers because of how easy it is to test, measure, and iteratively improve this. Using your judgment is nice, using your data is muuuuuuch better.

I have one screen in my workflow which I realized was costing me 20% of trial users (thank you, Mixpanel). That was clearly unacceptable.

I redid it to introduce more complexity to the interface (it has the same number of total options as before PLUS a way to show/hide several of them) but hide most of it from novice users.

When I checked my stats for yesterday this morning, it looked like I was losing only 10% at that step now, not 20%. I have no idea whether that data is statistically significant, but just the fact that I'm even in a position to collect it, for practically free, amazes the desktop developer in me.

Now I just need to get my A/B testing framework working so that I can get automated statistical significance tests done on it, and then I can start doing that sort of iterative improvement on an industrial scale, rather than a series of ad hoc one-offs as I've been doing for a while.