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rrival
IP address - locality resolution suggestions
gregp
Low end: http://www.ip2location.com/ High end: Akamai (akamai.com) has a ~$10k/month hyper-accurate solution.
does anyone have any recommendations for IP address to locality resolution?
4
16
2007-09-02 22:13:17 UTC
49,557
49,488
dazzawazza
IP address - locality resolution suggestions
gregp
http://www.ipligence.com/en/products/never used them, just adding it to the list
does anyone have any recommendations for IP address to locality resolution?
5
16
2007-09-02 22:27:44 UTC
49,558
49,458
cmars232
The Good Side of the 'Terror Futures' Idea (Yes, There is One)
amichail
Terror futures could be a good way to factor socio-political factors into a market prediction engine.This might be the reason they were developed in the first place.
null
3
7
2007-09-02 22:34:48 UTC
49,560
49,552
gscott
Rails creator, DHH, on Java and the other 'junk'
nickb
Programming in latest greatest language = bad.Time is an investment in your future, when you take the time to learn a language, you have invested in yourself. If you pick some new on the block language like Ruby on Rails is that a good investment?
null
1
24
2007-09-02 22:37:39 UTC
49,568
49,488
staunch
IP address - locality resolution suggestions
gregp
The Maxmind GeoIP database is what most people are using. It's quite accurate, has good libraries for many languages, but it's proprietary and costs money.(Starting an open source competitor is on my list of fun projects to do)
does anyone have any recommendations for IP address to locality resolution?
1
16
2007-09-03 00:10:00 UTC
49,569
49,542
inklesspen
Content-aware (seam carving) image resizing in less than 350 lines of Python
nickb
I've been waiting for this.
null
0
14
2007-09-03 00:14:04 UTC
49,570
49,552
Jd
Rails creator, DHH, on Java and the other 'junk'
nickb
Title is a bit misleading. The 'junk' DHH refers to is the baggage of enterprise apps generally (which everyone knows), not a specific diss against Java.
null
0
24
2007-09-03 00:15:12 UTC
49,572
49,443
staunch
What qualities are important in choosing someone to hire or finding a partner to work with
ratsbane
One I'd add: Resilience. The ability to have frustrating disagreements or problems and get past them easily without the build up of any residual resentment.
What order would you put these traits in? Anything else to look for?(Of course, also realizing that your potential employee or partner should be evaluating you in the same way.)A) Compatible personality - someone with whom you enjoy workingB) Deep knowledge in whatever platform you're usingC) Broad knowledge in a computing topics; familiarity with other languages and platforms; experience solving problems in diverse computing environmentsD) Subject matter expert in the domain you're working on - accounting, medicine, education, industry, public relations, etc.E) EnthusiasmF) CuriosityG) EducationH) Logistics - person lives near you or is willing and able to relocateI) Stability - can the candidate live with his or her means during tough times?J) History of completing thingsK) Communicates wellL) Polite(not listed in any order)
8
16
2007-09-03 00:47:55 UTC
49,574
49,331
cdr
Do you still read Slashdot?
kashif
About the only time I read it anymore is when something else links to a post there.The editors are Slashdot's twist on tech news, but the editors are almost uniformly awful. The stories they break are consistently days behind Digg/Reddit, and of no better quality.
null
9
11
2007-09-03 00:59:22 UTC
49,577
49,458
ivankirigin
The Good Side of the 'Terror Futures' Idea (Yes, There is One)
amichail
People that were shocked at the idea of a futures market in terrorism and other global events had probably never understood the term "futures market" to begin with. It was a great idea. Though it had questionable utility given the nature of deliberately hidden information before terror attacks, it would have been more useful in guessing things like revolutions.
null
0
7
2007-09-03 01:05:09 UTC
49,579
49,578
marrone
My Glorious Defeat?
marrone
Read through all 4 pages. It is a good article. The best quotes: "Maybe failure isn't the problem. Maybe expectation is","The great thing about surviving a storm is that you're much better prepared the next time the winds start kicking up. You recognize the early warnings. You stock up on essentials. And, most crucial, you go in knowing that no matter what happens, you can always rebuild.","Because I'd failed, I wasn't afraid of failing. And that enabled me to push a lot harder for what I believed in.","Given all these risks, why do it? Because even in failure, I knew I'd grow from it. ","It's just like weight training, really. You push yourself until your muscles fail. That's how you grow stronger."
null
0
5
2007-09-03 01:09:21 UTC
49,581
49,443
kashif
What qualities are important in choosing someone to hire or finding a partner to work with
ratsbane
I think you might be checking too many things, which will make it almost impossible to hire someone. I would just evaluate on A,C, E, F, H, K
What order would you put these traits in? Anything else to look for?(Of course, also realizing that your potential employee or partner should be evaluating you in the same way.)A) Compatible personality - someone with whom you enjoy workingB) Deep knowledge in whatever platform you're usingC) Broad knowledge in a computing topics; familiarity with other languages and platforms; experience solving problems in diverse computing environmentsD) Subject matter expert in the domain you're working on - accounting, medicine, education, industry, public relations, etc.E) EnthusiasmF) CuriosityG) EducationH) Logistics - person lives near you or is willing and able to relocateI) Stability - can the candidate live with his or her means during tough times?J) History of completing thingsK) Communicates wellL) Polite(not listed in any order)
9
16
2007-09-03 01:22:02 UTC
49,582
49,444
kashif
What is the best approach to web app development in Python without a RDBMS?
dood
schevo.org integrates well with pylons
Having read a couple threads [1] on dropping the RDBMS in favor of keeping data in RAM and logging to disk, I'm wondering what is a good setup for a typical Python web app.There seem to be a number of options; memcached, BDB, ZopeDB, metakit, serialising into sqlite...Any ideas?1. [http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14605], [http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16098]
7
8
2007-09-03 01:25:03 UTC
49,587
49,575
s_baar
What, based on your experience, should we do?
aswanson
This is almost depressing. On the one hand, it makes you feel happy to know stuff, then sad that so much time is wasted.
null
1
1
2007-09-03 02:22:53 UTC
49,589
49,331
0123456789
Do you still read Slashdot?
kashif
Once a day for the headlines and insightful or interesting comments.
null
28
11
2007-09-03 02:30:41 UTC
49,590
48,294
lemi4
How Not to Die
subhash
Check out Aaron's (partial?) response: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/perfectionism
null
36
169
2007-09-03 02:36:33 UTC
49,604
49,464
jamiequint
Notes on CouchDB, a distributed document DB in Erlang
DocSavage
From the CouchDB Wiki:What it is notA relational database.A replacement for relational databases.An object-oriented database. Or more specifically, meant to function as a seamless persistence layer for an OO programming language.
null
2
17
2007-09-03 03:55:07 UTC
49,605
49,603
toffer
Feedjit Customized Widget Shows Real Time SiteTraffic
toffer
Impressive growth for a widget first mentioned here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43124See scaling discussion here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45104
null
0
9
2007-09-03 03:56:00 UTC
49,606
49,443
Kaizyn
What qualities are important in choosing someone to hire or finding a partner to work with
ratsbane
If someone has curiosity, good communication skills, and a modicum of coding skills, that's all you really need. Domain, platform, and computer science knowledge can all be acquired as needed. Compatible personality is moderately useful; however, you can always get around conflicts by partitioning the project into areas where you designate one or the other of you as the head overseer who gets dictatorial powers in that area.
What order would you put these traits in? Anything else to look for?(Of course, also realizing that your potential employee or partner should be evaluating you in the same way.)A) Compatible personality - someone with whom you enjoy workingB) Deep knowledge in whatever platform you're usingC) Broad knowledge in a computing topics; familiarity with other languages and platforms; experience solving problems in diverse computing environmentsD) Subject matter expert in the domain you're working on - accounting, medicine, education, industry, public relations, etc.E) EnthusiasmF) CuriosityG) EducationH) Logistics - person lives near you or is willing and able to relocateI) Stability - can the candidate live with his or her means during tough times?J) History of completing thingsK) Communicates wellL) Polite(not listed in any order)
3
16
2007-09-03 03:59:07 UTC
49,607
49,603
jsjenkins168
Feedjit Customized Widget Shows Real Time SiteTraffic
toffer
If I recall, didn't he create this in one day as an experiment? I am very impressed. This is a golden example of why to set realistic goals and release early.
null
2
9
2007-09-03 04:12:22 UTC
49,608
49,331
Kaizyn
Do you still read Slashdot?
kashif
Slashdot is useful in that it aggregates content differently than do reddit/digg. As such, you find stories there selected by the editors that the rabid mob at reddit would otherwise ignore. Also, because the comments are moderated and scored, I find them to be fairly useful when viewed at a high enough filtering threshold.
null
6
11
2007-09-03 04:19:53 UTC
49,612
49,488
gregp
IP address - locality resolution suggestions
gregp
Anyone have any suggestions on some straight up locality databases (city,state,zip,country, international)?
does anyone have any recommendations for IP address to locality resolution?
6
16
2007-09-03 05:48:17 UTC
49,617
49,611
aston
Why is the violin so hard to play?
nostrademons
Not having frets doesn't help, either.
null
3
27
2007-09-03 06:10:13 UTC
49,622
49,458
sbraford
The Good Side of the 'Terror Futures' Idea (Yes, There is One)
amichail
Isn't there a YC startup that's related to futures markets of sorts? (or fantasy markets)... Wisdom of Crowds was a great read, too..
null
4
7
2007-09-03 06:33:43 UTC
49,623
49,614
aston
7 Reasons Why Microsoft is Doomed
drm237
I love playing Microsoft apologist!1) The fundamental workings of the software business are pretty much unchanged since they were created by MSFT back in the day: It's relatively cheap to develop something worth a lot of money. As far as service and maintenance goes, I'd say Microsoft on average is pretty good about both. They are absolutely the kings of hot-fixes/service packs and absolutely the kings of keeping backwards compatibility wherever possible, which is about all you can ask for.2) Let's not pretend like Internet Explorer wasn't a huge product for Microsoft (and the world). There's nothing worth arguing there. As for the web 2.0 stuff, Microsoft has demonstrated that it's not going to be a pioneer here (and it isn't in many businesses, actually). That said, they're making money from their search product, and MSN/Live.com is still quite popular. I don't know what metrics you want to judge Microsoft by here, but if they're behind it's not to the point of death. Especially since we still haven't seen any billion-dollar ideas out of web 2.0 (short of ad platform stuff a la Google, whic MSFT is copying).3) When has Microsoft really had that many friends in the first place? They run a business that's especially large, so they'll be stepping on toes all over the place. I'm not entirely sure how this points to their ultimate demise, so long as they're still making more money than the competition is... (That means they're winning)4) You only need one cash cow (ask Google). Microsoft has two clear clear money winners. The rest of the products are ultimately investments more than anything, but I'll go one by one just for fun. MSN is indeed taking over web search share recently, and has always had a super popular destination page and email. The Zune didn't beat the iPod, but neither is anything else. For a first try, the Zune actually didn't suck too hard. Microsoft is working their way into the consumer entertainment space here, though, is the real point. The surface computer isn't a real product, so I don't think anyone's bought it. MS research kicks out a lot of stuff that's just worth thinking about, not worth making. IIS is a pretty popular web server. It's not free though, so Apache makes for pretty tough competition. Ultimately, IIS is more a part of MS's entire web stack, and so if you buy into that, you're giving MSFT a lot of money, which is good, even if it's not #1. The Xbox, again, is a consumer entertainment play, and the Xbox 360's killing it in the US console market. Microsoft has a lot of money, and they throw it around. You don't have to win markets to make money, and they know that fact well.5) It's way too early to tell for sure, but if XP's launch is any basis for comparison, Vista has some great years ahead. We'll see how the Vista hate keeps up when people realize it's, like XP is now, the standard OS everyone's running. Even if Mac OS tripled up, its share would still be basically irrelevant to MSFT's bottom line.6) Compare Microsoft's stock price to Ford's over the last few years. Both companies are such long-standing giants that there's no excitement to be had in trading the stock. If you don't buy that, you could at least accept that if confidence in Microsoft were tanking, the stock would be too. It's actually up 10% on the year. 7) PC makers aren't turning their backs on Microsoft. They're trying to pick up some sales from the Microsoft haters (who they would prefer not also become Dell haters by association). Dell is gaining customers with the deal, and Microsoft's not losing any (since Dell buys the licenses, not the buyer). This is as much of a non-point as the rest.
Not this year, not next year... but soon - almost certainly by the next decade.
0
17
2007-09-03 06:39:35 UTC
49,626
49,334
asdf333
Is it inevitable that wars will be faught by unsuspecting online gamers?
amichail
Sort of like Ender's game? Such a good book....
I believe that it will become increasingly difficult to attract people to a volunteer army. One might imagine the creation of online games that manifest themselves in actual combat (e.g., via drones, robots) without revealing their true nature to the online gamer.
6
2
2007-09-03 06:47:53 UTC
49,631
49,488
rms
IP address - locality resolution suggestions
gregp
What's so much better about the pay solutions?
does anyone have any recommendations for IP address to locality resolution?
7
16
2007-09-03 07:22:12 UTC
49,632
49,614
tx
7 Reasons Why Microsoft is Doomed
drm237
It is very late and I am too tired for a more detailed reply to this. The dude is wrong. By the way, isn't anyone else tired of this endless "shift to services" BS that we've been fed by tech-media since around year 2000? And even if it's a "shift" indeed, as opposed to just another possible option, isn't Microsoft in the best position to simply start charging everybody $XX/mo for Vista subscription? Microsoft does have its problems, but they certainly have nothing to do with their business model or "lack of friends". As much as I dislike their products these days, nobody else managed to charge people for software as much as they did (and still do). Almost everybody else, having failed to produce something valuable enough to have users pay them money, is busy deciding on the same lame question: "shall we put the ads up or we still have enough cash to wait until someone acquires us?" The business is simple: make something people want and they will pay you. Either up front or monthly - is it really that important?Every point he makes is either invalid or plain stupid. How can one say that "Microsoft is doomed because their stock isn't rising anymore"? He is confusing a reason with consequence.
Not this year, not next year... but soon - almost certainly by the next decade.
1
17
2007-09-03 07:28:08 UTC
49,635
49,614
blored
7 Reasons Why Microsoft is Doomed
drm237
PG is setting blogging trends in a similar way to how David Beckham set hairstyles in the early 00's.
Not this year, not next year... but soon - almost certainly by the next decade.
2
17
2007-09-03 07:33:51 UTC
49,639
49,629
rms
Broadband in SF
edawerd
Comcast throttles bittorrent; you may want to avoid them for pragmatic or idealistic reasons.
Hello all, I just moved to SF, and am in the midst of making the most important decision of my move: What broadband service should I subscribe to? I think ATT, Verizon and Comcast are available in my area. Anyone have any recommendations? I like to spend my nights hacking away, but don't need an uber-fast connection. Reliability is most important to me. Thanks,Eddie
3
5
2007-09-03 08:23:48 UTC
49,640
49,540
davidw
A Conversation with Michael Stonebraker and Margo Seltzer
fauigerzigerk
Wow, good find, and a worthwhile read - he touches on everything from the past and future of databases, programming languages to east vs west coast VCs.
null
0
5
2007-09-03 08:24:07 UTC
49,641
49,552
Tichy
Rails creator, DHH, on Java and the other 'junk'
nickb
Wow, just say "Java is junk" and you get 20 points of karma?
null
2
24
2007-09-03 08:27:32 UTC
49,646
49,614
henning
7 Reasons Why Microsoft is Doomed
drm237
"Not this year, not next year... but soon - almost certainly by the next decade."More likely is that they simply won't be nearly as dominant as they are now. They have like 50,000 employees.There are still plenty of great people at Microsoft and if someone can cut down on the bureaucratic bullshit that keeps everyone from getting stuff done they'll be a force to be reckoned with for decades to come.
Not this year, not next year... but soon - almost certainly by the next decade.
3
17
2007-09-03 09:07:27 UTC
49,650
49,331
nrohan
Do you still read Slashdot?
kashif
Once in 1 or 2 days to check if there is anything interesting. No regrets if I'm not able to visit!
null
24
11
2007-09-03 09:59:31 UTC
49,651
49,611
ecuzzillo
Why is the violin so hard to play?
nostrademons
This is the best article to come out of the switch to hacker news yet. _exactly_ what I'd read all day long, time permitting.
null
1
27
2007-09-03 10:14:54 UTC
49,654
49,614
eusman
7 Reasons Why Microsoft is Doomed
drm237
allow me to doubt someone who calls eyeOs window management code as "a full operating system"! this guy is out of boundaries!How is an empire like Microsoft worthing approx. 289 billion dollars doomed? seems like somebody needs a wake up call! MS may not threaten Web 2.0 startups in their early steps. Actually it can be the good guy when they come and buy you...And that is not because MS can't innovate. It's just the nature of startups to bring the little thing called innovation to the world. Every big company has this problem! Only that MS has the luxury to buy their mistake...when PG throwed the bomp MS is dead, I remember there were like 250 comments on YC.news covering every single argument someone could come up with about this subject that probably everyone on YC.news already read...so it really seems worthless that I added this comment...
Not this year, not next year... but soon - almost certainly by the next decade.
4
17
2007-09-03 11:23:10 UTC
49,664
49,629
jdavid
Broadband in SF
edawerd
http://Speakeasy.net has always worked really well for me. I get 8 static ips 6Mbps/768Kpbs in Milwaukee, WI. I know they are on the west coast too. I also have to say that their service is top level. I feel like i have the Bently of internet connections with how well they treat me.I highly recommend them.
Hello all, I just moved to SF, and am in the midst of making the most important decision of my move: What broadband service should I subscribe to? I think ATT, Verizon and Comcast are available in my area. Anyone have any recommendations? I like to spend my nights hacking away, but don't need an uber-fast connection. Reliability is most important to me. Thanks,Eddie
1
5
2007-09-03 13:09:40 UTC
49,665
49,614
jasonlotito
7 Reasons Why Microsoft is Doomed
drm237
Anyone who suggests that "You can even get a full operating system to run in your browser!" has no understanding of technology or how it's applied. Also, how me makes the jump from "Dell starts selling Ubuntu machines," to "PC makers are starting to turn their backs on Microsoft", I have no clue. It's like saying "NVIDIA DOOMED!!!! Future Shop starts selling ATI, too!"
Not this year, not next year... but soon - almost certainly by the next decade.
8
17
2007-09-03 13:18:38 UTC
49,667
49,472
vikram
Can one of you create a web based email aggregator?
rokhayakebe
try gmail
I have several email accounts with several providers . Can one of you guys cr8 something really nice and simple to use so i can have one interface to manage my emails. I know some startup has done it, but if i cannot remember their name that is not a good sign. Thanks in advance
3
2
2007-09-03 13:37:14 UTC
49,675
49,472
almost
Can one of you create a web based email aggregator?
rokhayakebe
This is quite a common feature on web mail providers (or at least I've seen it several times).GMail definitely does it.
I have several email accounts with several providers . Can one of you guys cr8 something really nice and simple to use so i can have one interface to manage my emails. I know some startup has done it, but if i cannot remember their name that is not a good sign. Thanks in advance
2
2
2007-09-03 14:14:52 UTC
49,682
49,614
edw519
7 Reasons Why Microsoft is Doomed
drm237
A better title may have been, "50 Billion Reasons Why Microsoft is not Doomed"
Not this year, not next year... but soon - almost certainly by the next decade.
7
17
2007-09-03 14:33:48 UTC
49,684
49,611
awt
Why is the violin so hard to play?
nostrademons
The hardest part of learning to play (and to master) the violin is definitely learning how to use the bow. Actually learning how to play in tune is hard as well. It's just hard.
null
4
27
2007-09-03 14:45:18 UTC
49,690
49,611
tipjoy
Why is the violin so hard to play?
nostrademons
Interesting side-topic: how many hackers out there are also musicians, and what do you play? I started playing violin when I was 2, but haven't played so much since leaving college. Maybe we could get a quartet together or something... you know, "I'm starting a hacker quartet, BUT I'm still going to work on my startup" :)
null
0
27
2007-09-03 15:35:09 UTC
49,697
49,488
simpleenigma
IP address - locality resolution suggestions
gregp
Are you looking for zip code accuracy or just country accuracy? or something in between?If all you want is what country the IP is from then go to http://www.ip2location.com/ and look through the forums. You can find out how to do it yourself.If you need really fine granularity you will need a for pay service.
does anyone have any recommendations for IP address to locality resolution?
0
16
2007-09-03 16:08:44 UTC
49,703
49,700
munblog
10 Tips To Choose A Good Gym
munblog
This article covers the most basic yet the most important ten tips in choosing a gym. Though the requirements and priority may vary for individual, one can use these tips as guiding principle to select the gym best suits him.
null
0
1
2007-09-03 16:22:04 UTC
49,704
49,619
omarabid
BarCode Maker: With ADD-IN now, use it with your editor like office, open office
omarabid
i try bringing to up
BarCode Maker: With ADD-IN now, use it with your editor like office, open office
0
1
2007-09-03 16:23:24 UTC
49,706
49,440
tim
Best Wiki Software?
ivankirigin
We use http://wikkawiki.org - a lightweight and stable wiki engine.
I'm interested in starting a wiki. There are lots of free and open-source wiki platforms to choose from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_wiki_softwareI've used MediaWiki in the past, which worked as expected. Any experience, insight, or preferences?I'd like to easily add embedded flash applications. Ideally they would be user uploaded, i.e. a use modifies a page by uploading and adding a flash application as an example of what that page is discussing.
11
15
2007-09-03 16:26:50 UTC
49,710
49,611
adnam
Why is the violin so hard to play?
nostrademons
I play several instruments, but it's the violin playing that goes rusty quickest. Past a certain stage, you can get out of practice with just one or two weeks of neglect.
null
5
27
2007-09-03 16:33:51 UTC
49,713
49,629
abrown
Broadband in SF
edawerd
They are all horrible companies but Comcast is very fast and won't make you sign a year contract like some of the phone companies. On the other hand I had ATT in SF when I lived there and the service was fine. Speakeasy is good but a little bit more than Comcast if you bundle internet and cable.
Hello all, I just moved to SF, and am in the midst of making the most important decision of my move: What broadband service should I subscribe to? I think ATT, Verizon and Comcast are available in my area. Anyone have any recommendations? I like to spend my nights hacking away, but don't need an uber-fast connection. Reliability is most important to me. Thanks,Eddie
2
5
2007-09-03 16:57:05 UTC
49,714
49,443
Neoryder
What qualities are important in choosing someone to hire or finding a partner to work with
ratsbane
Question, from A to L what do qualities do you think you already have?
What order would you put these traits in? Anything else to look for?(Of course, also realizing that your potential employee or partner should be evaluating you in the same way.)A) Compatible personality - someone with whom you enjoy workingB) Deep knowledge in whatever platform you're usingC) Broad knowledge in a computing topics; familiarity with other languages and platforms; experience solving problems in diverse computing environmentsD) Subject matter expert in the domain you're working on - accounting, medicine, education, industry, public relations, etc.E) EnthusiasmF) CuriosityG) EducationH) Logistics - person lives near you or is willing and able to relocateI) Stability - can the candidate live with his or her means during tough times?J) History of completing thingsK) Communicates wellL) Polite(not listed in any order)
10
16
2007-09-03 16:59:42 UTC
49,718
49,662
intellectronica
Good Automatic FAQ Style User Support Software?
staunch
For free software projects, Launchpad ( https://launchpad.net/ ) has a great Answers application which works like a FAQ on steroids.
I want to build up a strong FAQ page so I don't have to repeatedly answer the same questions and users can help themselves. I like what FAQ-O-Matic[1] does, but it's an old, ugly, and creaky program at this point. I'm tempted to write my own, but not if there's some good out there. Anyone know of something nice?1. http://faqomatic.sourceforge.net/fom-serve/cache/427.html
1
4
2007-09-03 17:20:57 UTC
49,719
49,681
run4yourlives
Offer staff more time off instead of more money?
chmac
I think we have to understand the employment scenario in place before you can assume that employees will care about having more time off.For example, the "10 minutes early" piece would be laughed at where I work. Why? Because the knowledge workers on my team can leave 10 minutes early any day they want. They aren't bound to the clock. They're bound to getting their work done. If they do that, I don't give a damn if they pick up their kids at 4:15 every day. In addition, the most of the time, my employees struggle to take the vacation they already have, why would they want more? (21 days + for the most part) I'd rather give them a few extra bucks as incentive than hound them to take even more vacation come November.Finally, there's an important point to realize. If people like their jobs, they don't necessarily care too much about vacation. Sure, they want to be able to go on a trip in the summer, away for a few weekends and time for the holidays, but since they enjoy working, a lot of the time that's where they want to be.
null
0
1
2007-09-03 17:22:22 UTC
49,720
49,629
brett
Broadband in SF
edawerd
I've had AT&T for as long as I've been here (at first it was SBC). I've only had one outage that I can remember and service has been acceptable. Prices have gone down since SBC bought AT&T and changed their name and it seems like customer service has gotten better a little bit though I haven't had to call them many times. Also it now looks like if you turn down some of the promotional stuff you can get the same prices w/o a year long contract which was not the case back when it was SBC.
Hello all, I just moved to SF, and am in the midst of making the most important decision of my move: What broadband service should I subscribe to? I think ATT, Verizon and Comcast are available in my area. Anyone have any recommendations? I like to spend my nights hacking away, but don't need an uber-fast connection. Reliability is most important to me. Thanks,Eddie
0
5
2007-09-03 17:25:27 UTC
49,730
49,691
zach
Whiting Out the Ads, but at What Cost?
davidw
I'm surprised more companies don't already use a CNAME to serve external ads. Then again, ad networks are loath to have clients touch their source in any way, so it would have to come from their side, and they don't care about that kind of stuff.Interesting to see this publicized by the NYT. Maybe they're showing off how independent their editorial is from their business side.
null
3
13
2007-09-03 18:22:09 UTC
49,741
49,691
nickb
Whiting Out the Ads, but at What Cost?
davidw
I admit that I block ads. Long time ago, I started using ad blocking soft to get rid of ads for two main reasons: many were obtrusive, misleading (remember those alert box ads?!), and annoying (I hate those flashing alerts) and also because they were way too heavy and were slowing down my connection. I don't use Windows but if I were a windows user, I'd also worry about spyware that always tends to sneak in through ads. Also, since many ads these days use Flash & Flash just sucks on a Mac (high CPU usage), I block them for that as well.Now the ethical question... is blocking ads ethical? Who knows... I tend to think that it is. I also tend to donate money/buy from sites that I use often and that offer subscription.More on ethics here: http://geekblog.oneandoneis2.org/index.php?title=adblock_rev...http://adblockplus.org/blog/ethics-of-blocking-ads-part-3
null
1
13
2007-09-03 18:55:06 UTC
49,742
49,629
gojomo
Broadband in SF
edawerd
Been generally happy with ATT (SBC (PacBell)) DSL over the years. Price keeps going down, speed up as long as you ask to be on an updated promotion (which sometimes requires a 1-year contract, not a big concern for me). Another option not yet mentioned: Astound cable (was RCN; see astound.net). I was happy with RCN (very fast problem-free service) for about 2 years, then moved to an area RCN didn't yet service. Might be worth a look for completeness.
Hello all, I just moved to SF, and am in the midst of making the most important decision of my move: What broadband service should I subscribe to? I think ATT, Verizon and Comcast are available in my area. Anyone have any recommendations? I like to spend my nights hacking away, but don't need an uber-fast connection. Reliability is most important to me. Thanks,Eddie
4
5
2007-09-03 19:03:33 UTC
49,747
48,294
yamada
How Not to Die
subhash
This article is complete nonsense and I don't think anybody will disagree by the time they read the end of this post.Nice talk but the problem with this insight, like most on this site, is that it is largely in-applicable and I bet nobody would actually act on it if presented with the opportunity in real life.Hey, Mr. Graham - I have the absolute best business idea in the world bar none and I'm so dead serious about it I'd sign a blood contract with you that I will commit Seppuku with a dirty, rusty, blunt sword if it doesn't radically alter the world in 4 years of its launch.According to this essay, my "dead seriousness" about the quality of this idea should translate into a surefire success. Couple that with the notion that you won't need a weekly update as to what we're up to because you'll wind up a daily user.Surely if this is the leading indicator of the next multi-billion dollar thing, a measly little NDA would be a small obstacle to have unfettered access to this. Care to sign a measly NDA to hear it?Thought so. But why not - if I'm dead serious and you wind up a daily user and so you know what we're up to every day, then according to this article it's a surefire success story in the making.Care to test the premise of this article? Thought so.Same with that article on "outside the box ideas need to come more from outside the box people."Outside the box people have good ideas all the time because they have a more strategic, top-down perspective and can see adjacent markets / fields of study where good ideas can be cross-polinated.How many times have you looked at a product and thought to yourself, "I could do better than that."11 years ago I thought, "What someone made a palm-pilot case ... with a flexible rubber keyboard on the inside which folded three ways to a full size, but flexible keyboard?" A friend and I made a working but ugly model out of parts from stuff we bought at Staples/Office Depot.We were "dead serious" about making it work but after a year of college where we dedicated every spare minute to "making it work" nobody at palm would even listen to us because they found it impossible that anybody outside of palm could think of any useful ideas for a palm product. No investors wanted to talk to us because we didn't work for palm. And we couldn't afford the tens of thousands of dollars for the many patents it would require. BUT - WE WERE "DEAD SERIOUS." For a year.This summer Sony just patented a "flexible, material-embedded data input device" ie, the same idea we had over a decade ago. But we were very serious so why didn't it work? The only difference between us and sony is $$$$$$ and connections - the real critical variables. Wake up people.Try being one of those people with no connections in the industry and getting anybody in the field or investors or whatever to get you seriously enough to work with you. In my experience, if by some far-out chance you ever get a credible party in an industry to sit down and take you seriously enough to listen to you, they still won't work with you out of sheer spite for for being an outsider and coming up with something insiders haven't thought of.Most VCs will think you're stupid if you don't have an MBA, most programmers will whine on their blogs about how come nobody in the business world respects them just because they don't have an MBA, yet they in turn think anybody who didn't major in computer science is stupid, and so on and so forth.The whole world is full of theorizing hypocrites and the sooner people wake up to this reality the better.Many of these articles are taken from a top-down, "Wouldn't the world be better/nicer/more efficient if only ..." perspective.I'm sure there are many brilliant programmers in china, bulgaria, romania, russia, etc. who would gladly hack off their legs for an opportunity to "do their thing."But unless they live in California or, increasingly, Boston ... well tough luck.So the CRITICAL VARIABLE is not "Dead seriousness" or even good ideas or even intelligence, resiliance, ability to ride out the storms, ability to motivate yourself when it appears like nothing is going right, etc. It's physical proximity to and connections with someone with the cash and connections to get stuff rolling.How good idea is and how serious you are and how many times you call to tell people, "this is what we're up to today/this week/this month/this hour/next 5 minutes" would have no relevance if you lived in, say, Japan or Italy or Australia and you can argue all you want but you all know I'm right.
null
52
169
2007-09-03 19:32:13 UTC
49,749
49,611
jamesbritt
Why is the violin so hard to play?
nostrademons
I think what attracted me to the fiddle was a) the belief that the goal was to expend as little effort as possible, and b) it had very few parts.I think these are same things I look for in programming languages. Maximum expressibility with a minimum of interference.The violin is the Lisp of musical instruments.(Or, Lisp is the violin of programming languages.)
null
2
27
2007-09-03 19:35:05 UTC
49,753
49,744
davidw
Give your product a Name, not a Number
nreece
Someone please tell this to the Java (JSR xyz, nnn, yyy, etc.... ) folks.
null
3
12
2007-09-03 19:45:52 UTC
49,756
49,691
joe
Whiting Out the Ads, but at What Cost?
davidw
Sure, block Firefox. Guess what I predict will eventually happen? Adblock Plus will offer to install the User Agent Switcher plugin (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/59) after it configures itself.Blocking ads is completely ethical (IMHO). The advertising-based business model is not a contract to which the end user has agreed. People have always had the freedom to turn off the TV or radio during commercial breaks. Automating the process (a la TiVo) at the user's request does not somehow infringe upon some given right on the part of the advertiser to show the user its ads.Just my two cents.Edit: If you're going to downvote me, at least explain why. Kthx.
null
0
13
2007-09-03 19:56:07 UTC
49,759
49,744
aston
Give your product a Name, not a Number
nreece
Numbers work as names, and they're easier to generate. If your brand is strong enough, the numbers indicate exactly what they are: variations on a theme. If you only have a couple products, go ahead and name them all, but numbers really work better when you're doing a ton of iteration and minor differentiation in what you produce.
null
0
12
2007-09-03 20:03:11 UTC
49,761
49,691
davidw
Whiting Out the Ads, but at What Cost?
davidw
I'd vote with the 'not unethical' folks. If it turns into that big a problem, content producers will either swing back to charging for content, or find some other way to make money. Any sort of "remedy" is more likely to cause more problems than it solves. How many people are really going to install that kind of thing anyway? The people who do are most likely those who are able to block ads anyway - for example, on most of my own sites, the more geeky ones are the ones with the worst click through rates.
null
5
13
2007-09-03 20:16:27 UTC
49,781
49,772
corentin
Why does software management have to be so painful? [Pic]
nreece
It doesn't have to. But most software people tend to design solutions starting from "best practices" and address every imaginable problem ("what if X and Y happen while Z is going on?") so they often end up with complicated stuff. Whereas, if you start from scratch and focus on the most efficient way to address only the main problems, it can be brutally simple.
null
3
7
2007-09-03 21:55:45 UTC
49,783
49,603
trekker7
Feedjit Customized Widget Shows Real Time SiteTraffic
toffer
Awesome. Didn't somebody call Feedjit the equivalent of a lemonade stand? Once again, I stand by my claim that it's amazing someone can launch something like this in less than 11 hours.
null
1
9
2007-09-03 22:11:39 UTC
49,786
49,772
edw519
Why does software management have to be so painful? [Pic]
nreece
This reminds me of a game with the Boston Celtics down by a point with 2 seconds left. K.C. Jones, the coach, drew up a play that looked something like this white board. Larry Bird erased the board with his hand and said, "Get me the ball." They got him the ball. He shot. They won.Sometimes you just gotta code like Larry Bird.
null
4
7
2007-09-03 22:24:23 UTC
49,791
49,772
mynameishere
Why does software management have to be so painful? [Pic]
nreece
The whiteboard photo is scribbly, but doesn't suggest more complexity than most small projects. Actual software projects (I'm not talking about Flickr clone #60,255) are incredibly complicated.
null
1
7
2007-09-03 22:34:40 UTC
49,793
49,772
danw
Why does software management have to be so painful? [Pic]
nreece
Phoja looks like a nifty startup. Any one got stats or info on them?
null
5
7
2007-09-03 22:37:19 UTC
49,795
49,787
epi0Bauqu
Is it a bad idea for an online merchant to only accept Google checkout?
rms
Put it this way. You are not going to see an increase in sales by exclusively going with Google Checkout. Given that managing credit card information isn't that difficult (I am setting it up again for the umpteenth time tonight), why not just bite the bullet and manage it all yourself. That way, you can run experiments to converge on an optimal checkout process.Beyond that, it is hard to say exactly how much you will be hurt. A few years ago a site I was working on moved from exclusively PayPal to an on-site form, and sales increased instantly about 20% and then over 100% after tweaking of checkout process. That was back when PayPal forced you to create a PayPal account, which I believe Google does now.
We're setting up payment processing on our site. We don't need anything fancy. Google has anti-competitively good pricing; it's free for the seller through 2008.Perhaps there is something more professional seeming about an authorize.net style merchant account, but it's easier for us if we don't have to handle any credit card information. How much does using Google Checkout hurt us?
1
6
2007-09-03 22:37:54 UTC
49,796
49,691
srini
Whiting Out the Ads, but at What Cost?
davidw
How does adblock work at a technical level?I would think that if it ever took off, the ad networks would just find workarounds. For example, they already seem to use interstitials and in-page css popups to get around pop-up blockers.In fact, maybe a great startup could be to create technologies that let ad networks get around ad block software.
null
6
13
2007-09-03 22:42:11 UTC
49,804
49,772
pg
Why does software management have to be so painful? [Pic]
nreece
Uh Oh. The dreaded [Pic] virus is spreading from the front page of reddit.
null
0
7
2007-09-03 23:03:57 UTC
49,806
49,784
epi0Bauqu
Merge Wufoo and Weebly
binnymathews
Mergers & acquisitions are really complicated, and often are unsuccessful by a variety of metrics even when they look good on paper. This is especially true of M&A between two very small companies. And I would imagine YC doesn't own much of either company, so beyond a mere suggestion, it would be up to those companies to individually choose that path among the universe of their possible options.That being said, the idea of a merger here doesn't even make much sense to me. Wufoo seems more targeted at business and Weebly at personal. But I don't know too much about either having never used either for real, so I'll stop here.
I think it makes a lot of sense to merge / combine wufoo and weebly (both Y Combinator funded) into a single company - 1. Both address the same pain of creating online pages without having to write code.2. Most people creating websites inevitably have to create some kind of form on their website. 3. The combined company's services is probably much more appealing to a buyer (maybe some online store manager) than two individual form and web page creation companies.Any thoughts ?Thanks
0
4
2007-09-03 23:10:00 UTC
49,808
49,691
Hamhock
Whiting Out the Ads, but at What Cost?
davidw
I don't understand this common notion that if you don't like the way someone runs their business, you get to change their business model for them. Here's a quote from a pro-blocking blog post that nickb linked to in another comment:"Frankly, as far as I'm concerned, if a webmaster runs a site that's popular enough that the costs become at all significant, the onus is on him (or her) to find ways to cash in on that popularity to keep the site going. The visitors have no duty at all, and they certainly aren't obliged to go out of their way to make money for somebody else."My response is that they did come up with a way to monetize their content (ads), but you don't like it. Too bad. Don't go to the site if you don't like the way they've chosen to make money. This goes along the same lines that if music is too expensive, or has DRM, that you therefore get to download it for free via filesharing, bittorrent, etc.... You don't. You're only ethical option is to not buy the content. That's the only ethical way you send a message (in this trivial context, obviously if were talking about human rights, etc..., the ethics of protest methodologies become more complicated). If I think something in a brick and mortar store is too expensive, would anyone think it was ok for me to just steal it? I don't think so. A lot of the complaints about bad advertising practices, obtrusive adds, DRM, overpriced content are in fact valid complaints. But, you don't get to overrule the content provider's methods just because you feel like it.
null
2
13
2007-09-03 23:13:09 UTC
49,810
49,797
gscott
Software via the Internet: Microsoft in 'Cloud' Computing
terpua
Microsoft really is shifting the entire focus of the company and anyone who doesn't take Microsoft seriously will end up like Stacker or as popular as Realplayer.The google web apps, they look horrible. I know they are all standards based and that will be there undoing. Microsoft is making people download some "extras" which I am certain will make whatever they create look like a desktop application, feel like a desktop application, but will be on the web.
null
0
8
2007-09-03 23:22:49 UTC
49,813
49,658
ereldon
Farmageddon
charzom
Interesting article but a quick look at wikipedia shows a lack of consensus among historians and archeologists as to whether water levels in the Black Sea radically affected ancient civilizations.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea_deluge_theory
null
0
11
2007-09-03 23:34:28 UTC
49,816
49,666
ivankirigin
The Empty Nest
ivankirigin
After a bit of thought: this seems pessimistic. When you say goodbye to someone with the expectation that you'll never see them in the same way, it's sad. Parents will never have their kids back when the kids go off to college. They'll trade the kids in for adults. The empty nest feels empty in part because parents know it will never again be filled with children.But business isn't like that. People that fail can and should continue to go off and try to do other great things. It's cyclic.Even if all the companies in the current batch die, all the founders can continue to go and do good things. They might be a bit less wide-eyed and optimistic, but that is probably a good thing. You only really die off when you stop working.The mathematician Paul Erdos took this a bit too literally, and would lament the death of colleagues who retired. He also called children epsilons.
null
1
34
2007-09-03 23:56:58 UTC
49,828
49,799
rrival
Return Of Startup Schwag
transburgh
Wow, someone posted that here? Wild. So that's me/my project - if any startups want to talk about licensing schwag (I would love to include some YC companies), let me know (roddy at startupschwag dot com). If anyone wants to discuss the model I'd be happy to - it seems simple enough, but I'm always open to devil's advocate perspectives / refinements / flames.
null
0
4
2007-09-04 01:02:12 UTC
49,831
49,788
mattculbreth
Building Your Two Sentence Elevator Pitch
danw
I'm working with an incubator in Atlanta now that gives a couple exercises like this for entrepreneurs. It's actually a good way to get your messaging about your startup sharpened to a finer point. Having a very crisp, easy two sentence overview of your business is difficult but critical.
null
1
23
2007-09-04 01:31:11 UTC
49,832
49,788
daniel-cussen
Building Your Two Sentence Elevator Pitch
danw
That's fabulous. I love bite-sized articles like this one.
null
3
23
2007-09-04 01:34:35 UTC
49,836
49,834
epi0Bauqu
Equity for lawyers?
tony_wonder
What $10-20K in legal work are you talking about?If you are talking about incorporation, that costs next to nothing and takes little time. Just do it yourself.Other than that, it depends how you value your equity. That is, read http://www.paulgraham.com/equity.html
It seems that Silicon Valley attorneys typically work on a deferred basis, taking 1-2% equity for $10-20k legal work. Does this type of fee structure work well?I once remember reading somewhere (possibly by Paul Graham) that trading equity for legal work isn't ideal in many cases.Additionally, what's the most cost-effective method for filing for a S-Corp/Delaware incorporation? If I have existing incorporation documents, would I be able to go straight to Delaware authorities to apply for a business license?Thanks in advance for the helpful insight.
3
7
2007-09-04 01:57:54 UTC
49,837
49,827
leisuresuit
The Muller Formula (or: Predictable Color Preferences)
pg
are there any more of these kind of color preference examples? i think i suck at picking colors.
null
1
35
2007-09-04 02:05:52 UTC
49,839
49,666
mattmaroon
The Empty Nest
ivankirigin
I'm sad that the summer is over too. I'll miss the Tuesday dinners quite a bit. I obviously don't have much time to dwell on it, and I'm excited about the future, but I'll always look back fondly on the Y C experience. The atmosphere there was something I'm pretty sure I'll never encounter anywhere else.I'll probably drop by the dinners in Mountain View so frequently that half of the new founders will think I'm in their batch.
null
0
34
2007-09-04 02:09:10 UTC
49,840
49,772
joshwa
Why does software management have to be so painful? [Pic]
nreece
I don't see what's so complicated about that whiteboard. Half the boxes are unnecessary to the point at hand, which is how perforce does bugzilla integration.
null
2
7
2007-09-04 02:12:46 UTC
49,846
49,787
Darmani
Is it a bad idea for an online merchant to only accept Google checkout?
rms
"[...]Visitors will leave at the slightest obstacle.So if you want people to visit and order from your site, don't put any obstacles in their way. Whatever you do, don't force visitors to register."-Paul Graham, "The 10 Secrets of Selling Online: #4. Make Your Site Easy," http://store.yahoo.com/easy.htmlBy accepting only Google Checkout, you are adding an obstacle to everyone who does not already have a Google Checkout account, and thus discouraging casual browsers from executing a purchase. I'd personally encounter a lot less "mental friction" logging into an existing Paypal account or the like and pressing a few buttons than going to another site, starting creating an account, finding and typing in a credit-card number, enter an address, glance through the Terms of Service, etc...Of course, depending on your product, there may not be such thing as a "casual browser" who may leave and look at a similar product merely based on the inconvenience of making an account, but it is nevertheless a large obstacle; it's just that the seeker and prize on either side have suddenly increased in strength.
We're setting up payment processing on our site. We don't need anything fancy. Google has anti-competitively good pricing; it's free for the seller through 2008.Perhaps there is something more professional seeming about an authorize.net style merchant account, but it's easier for us if we don't have to handle any credit card information. How much does using Google Checkout hurt us?
0
6
2007-09-04 02:45:36 UTC
49,848
49,797
trekker7
Software via the Internet: Microsoft in 'Cloud' Computing
terpua
Who's willing to bet that Microsoft is going to be around in the year 2200?
null
1
8
2007-09-04 02:55:38 UTC
49,849
49,788
ivankirigin
Building Your Two Sentence Elevator Pitch
danw
Once you're done, test it on your mom or annoying uncle. If they get it, you're golden.
null
0
23
2007-09-04 02:56:26 UTC
49,850
48,294
yamada
How Not to Die
subhash
Also, this whole essay falls under the classic an quite fundamental analytical error of confusing correlation with causation, ie, startups who do "x" all wind up having success, therefore success is caused by "x".Example - all of our successful startup founders admitted to smoking pot, therefore pot makes you successful at starting a startup.Then the mind comes up with all sorts of sophistry to explain a possible relationship with a tentative link at best. Example - all of our startup founders smoked pot ... must be some chemical thing that stimulates "creative thinking." And their "in the face of the man and his system" attitudes probably subconciously registered and gave them some sort of extra confidence. Yeh - that's it. Just be careful when you follow the pied piper guys. Ever wonder what happens to guys who try and never make it? What happens to their careers? Do they go back to "Big Corp." and explain that they were "on their own" for 2 years? Most people will be jealous and snicker at them inside, thinking, "Who did you think you were, some genius or something?"What happens to those guys. Obviously there are a lot of them. But you never hear about them. They're kept hidden. On purpose.A professor I had once told me that the only reason people don't want socialism is because deep down inside they secretly expect that they're gonna hit the jackpot and dammit, nobody will come between them and their ferrari parked in front of their mansion full of sexy ladies.And so we all labor on under similar secret personal delusions, each thinking that "somehow, someway ... in the end we'll prevail - because we're special that way."And that's how the system works. Once in a while we get discouraged and read some financial porn-o-graphy about some new multi-billionaire success story to keep us sweating more and trying harder.Only they don't tell you the part about how most of such success stories are usually deep, well-developed scams that serve other purposes.Oracle had deep connections to intelligence agencies.A recent (1year ago?) report by some french intelligence agency examined microsoft and concluded that it more than likely received quite a bit of help from the nsa.Look at the charges about the connections that facebook's investors have with big brother.And google? the "let's not be evil" company - what does it do the second it makes big money? Start offering lucrative retirement packages to attract intelligence guys to come on board.You think all this is a coincidence? You don't think those peope have colleagues who call them up and say, "Hey - what do you think about so and so's search habits?"Donald Trump, as fans of Rosie know, made his first "deal" at age 30 only because his billionaire father co-signed the bank loan. Then he died and left him most of his money.His counterpart in vegas, Steve Winn, is now, as people are finding out, the "legit" clean face for the mob, which still controls vegas, though only more corporate and proper like.Famed investing "genius" George Soros is now, as it turns out, less of a lucky genius than he is a front for a european faction of investors with very close, personal ties to the folks who decide financial policies for nations.What do you think they discuss when these people all vacation together, the weather and whether Brad Pit and Angelina are getting back together?No they discuss whether interest rates will rise or fall ... weeks ahead of official announcements.THE POINT OF ALL THIS IS in the final analysis, you never know why a tech company became a big success.Suppose you start a company where people catalogue their deepest fears and share them with each other.You think it would be difficult to find funding for that from some VC firm with intelligence connections? If you could get people to trust you and sign up, you'd find tens of millions in first round funding over night.Learn to think for yourselves and stop mindlessly following every pundit with a slick blog.Just because somebody writes well doesn't mean that the info is useful. Just because they were successful 10 years ago when people were raising $100 million first round financing for a website that sells scissors to cut your dog's butt hair, doesn't mean they can do it now.True story - some of you may remember this: 6 months before the 2000 market crash, 2 extacy potheads with rich parents raised $300 million seed financing for a site which imported sneakers and watches from europe that people who frequented nightclubs wanted but couldn't find in the U.s. Soon they were all over FastCompany, Business 2.0, Wired, etc., blabbering for 50 page articles about "how to raise money" and "the new economy paradigm shift" this and that.you think anybody would give those fools 50 cents these days? Don't think so.Guy Kawasaki is very derisive and flippant about all the silly plans he gets from entrepreneurs. But what exactly has he done except become an expert at being an expert at makign every body feel he's an expert?When you think deeply, most of these pundit blogs are nothng more then a clever, well-connected mutual admiration society where pundits all write about each other and how smart they are and link to each other's blogs and interview each other wherey they proclaim their own friends genius, etc. - As cools as giving your own forum comments props on the next forum.Go ahead. Drop out. Look with big gleaming eyes at that facebook guy and think, "Maybe, someday, if I work hard enough and don't quit ..."But make sure you realize that in today's world, where you'd be lucky to find a job at all that isn't on it's way to india or china or where-ever the next hot place to send US jobs is, if you don't make it ... well then what?Try and try again.Right. Easy for people like Bill Gates who came from a wealthy and unbelievably well-connected family (his mommy sat on the board of directors of the american cancer society, alongside the then IBM CEO --- wonder if that had something to do with his getting a meeting with them when he had no product to speak of yet?).Easy to try and fail when you got financial backup, rich families, well-connected uncles who can help you get a job if you mess up.But what if you don't? What if you're not one of the 1 in a thousand ... or 5 thousand who has any measurable success?"Oh, you'll learn a lot and that will be valuable."Try putting that on your resume and see who will care.All I'm saying is think clearly before chasing pipe dreams and if you do it, do it because there is something really there and there's a better than average chance - not because some guy on the internet puts up glossy, emotional propoganda to give it another go.Look at the housing market. Just a year ago you could still walk into a bank and find all these glossy, emotional posters - "Refinance now - NOW's the right time - You can afford it and we can help you afford it! Ask a representative today."Now look what happens when euphoria hits reality.Most of these pleas are from folks who believe that some "next big wave" is coming because Google and YouTube happened.Google is, if you think about it, Total Information Awareness program - except its voluntary.YouTube was a fluke.Think carefully if your own impression of your chance of success is based on your own impression ... or one that was carefully crafted via slick PR firms and well-worded blogs.
null
51
169
2007-09-04 03:29:32 UTC
49,851
49,611
juwo
Why is the violin so hard to play?
nostrademons
the article deals only with the mechanics but surprisingly, omits the really hard part - getting emotion to be depicted in the violin tone. that's why I gave up the violin after 3 years.
null
6
27
2007-09-04 03:30:47 UTC
49,858
49,729
diabloernest
MyLiveSearch - reverse engineered- under the hood
diabloernest
i thought they were smart. but this is all they do.
null
0
1
2007-09-04 04:32:13 UTC
49,859
49,691
tx
Whiting Out the Ads, but at What Cost?
davidw
In my mind advertising and fast food industries have a lot in common. General public kind of needs them right now, but as a society we shall learn to live without such dependence.P.S. I am a long time AdBlock Plus user and we incorporated its filters (not code) into our own software that performs the same function in IE6&7.
null
8
13
2007-09-04 04:38:29 UTC
49,862
49,788
blored
Building Your Two Sentence Elevator Pitch
danw
That was an excellent find.
null
4
23
2007-09-04 04:45:48 UTC
49,866
49,744
ahsonwardak
Give your product a Name, not a Number
nreece
This is an interesting article. I'm always miffed by numbers as models for cars and computers. In some cases, like BMW, it provides an air of sophistication. But it's lost on me. Once again, it all comes down to branding. Sometimes, branding isn't meant to impress but maintain brand consistency.
null
2
12
2007-09-04 05:06:16 UTC
49,868
49,443
ahsonwardak
What qualities are important in choosing someone to hire or finding a partner to work with
ratsbane
I hate to be so Covey's Seven Habits, but you gotta find someone that has the passion, skills, ethics, and temperament. These are the leadership skills needed to avert the worst situations.They've gotta be able to communicate and be open-minded. And most of all, they have to have these qualities in lieu of a big ego. Sometimes, we 20-something's think we know a lot more than we actually do. I think the best of us are those that can listen attentively to contrary opinions.
What order would you put these traits in? Anything else to look for?(Of course, also realizing that your potential employee or partner should be evaluating you in the same way.)A) Compatible personality - someone with whom you enjoy workingB) Deep knowledge in whatever platform you're usingC) Broad knowledge in a computing topics; familiarity with other languages and platforms; experience solving problems in diverse computing environmentsD) Subject matter expert in the domain you're working on - accounting, medicine, education, industry, public relations, etc.E) EnthusiasmF) CuriosityG) EducationH) Logistics - person lives near you or is willing and able to relocateI) Stability - can the candidate live with his or her means during tough times?J) History of completing thingsK) Communicates wellL) Polite(not listed in any order)
1
16
2007-09-04 05:11:43 UTC
49,872
49,721
ahsonwardak
Business schools and research - Practically irrelevant?
davidw
As a PhD student in engineering, this is not only true in business school research but most other disciplines. There are typically two arguments against this though:1. Research isn't meant to be applied all the time, but it's academic for academic's sake.2. Research is relevant, because incremental gains can be picked up by the next researcher. That next researcher could make it relevant for managers and other practitioners.I also find this troubling. Who said B-School research was ever relevant? Aren't MBA's for networking with the future business world's best and brightest?
null
0
6
2007-09-04 05:20:22 UTC
49,875
49,614
patrickg-zill
7 Reasons Why Microsoft is Doomed
drm237
This guy is probably wrong, just like John Walker was probably wrong when he wrote "Microsoft at Apogee" many years ago... http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/msapogee.html . I don't think that vista will kill MS, nor will losing money on Zune, but I think that the bureaucratization of MS will kill them. Would you buy an OS from the DMV?
Not this year, not next year... but soon - almost certainly by the next decade.
5
17
2007-09-04 05:27:50 UTC
49,877
49,860
danielha
Java-based Startups, do they exist?
perezd
http://www.mint.com
I get the feeling that most of the hackers here use something like Ruby on Rails or Django, but obviously I have no scientific evidence to prove this, so that is what brings this question to mind. What about Java? Are any of you using Java at your startup to develop your software infrastructure? If you are not, did you consider it in the beginning? what influenced your specific choice. What about Dynamic languages written for Java such as Groovy or ColdFusion?
18
24
2007-09-04 05:37:29 UTC
49,878
49,860
jsjenkins168
Java-based Startups, do they exist?
perezd
Google Web Toolkit, which is Java based. It is not popular among most other hackers though and I'm still not sure why. It is a powerful tool for building web applications if you can make it over the initial learning curve.
I get the feeling that most of the hackers here use something like Ruby on Rails or Django, but obviously I have no scientific evidence to prove this, so that is what brings this question to mind. What about Java? Are any of you using Java at your startup to develop your software infrastructure? If you are not, did you consider it in the beginning? what influenced your specific choice. What about Dynamic languages written for Java such as Groovy or ColdFusion?
12
24
2007-09-04 06:03:57 UTC
49,879
49,860
staunch
Java-based Startups, do they exist?
perezd
I sure hope so. I'm a huge fan of my competitors using Java. All these damn RoR and Django guys are too damn fast.
I get the feeling that most of the hackers here use something like Ruby on Rails or Django, but obviously I have no scientific evidence to prove this, so that is what brings this question to mind. What about Java? Are any of you using Java at your startup to develop your software infrastructure? If you are not, did you consider it in the beginning? what influenced your specific choice. What about Dynamic languages written for Java such as Groovy or ColdFusion?
3
24
2007-09-04 06:20:41 UTC
49,882
49,834
SwellJoe
Equity for lawyers?
tony_wonder
No.Lawyers don't get equity for a tech startup. Period.If, on the other hand, your startup is in a heavily litigious or heavily regulated field, you not only will want a lawyer involved from very early, you'll probably want a lawyer holding a stake in your company.So...for example, an equities or futures trading company: the lawyer gets equity. Equities or futures social networking site: the lawyer gets paid a fee.Or, medical mal-practice hedge fund (I dunno, I'm just making up a phrase from words that involves lots of litigation and huge smelly contracts): you need a lawyer on your board. Medical Mal the Practical Hedgehog video game: the lawyer gets paid a fee.Got it? Good.Incorporation costs a few hundred bucks (even if you get outside help), plus a few hundred bucks for statutory representation in Delaware.
It seems that Silicon Valley attorneys typically work on a deferred basis, taking 1-2% equity for $10-20k legal work. Does this type of fee structure work well?I once remember reading somewhere (possibly by Paul Graham) that trading equity for legal work isn't ideal in many cases.Additionally, what's the most cost-effective method for filing for a S-Corp/Delaware incorporation? If I have existing incorporation documents, would I be able to go straight to Delaware authorities to apply for a business license?Thanks in advance for the helpful insight.
2
7
2007-09-04 06:59:53 UTC
49,884
49,860
bosky101
Java-based Startups, do they exist?
perezd
wer'nt the folks over at zenter using java?
I get the feeling that most of the hackers here use something like Ruby on Rails or Django, but obviously I have no scientific evidence to prove this, so that is what brings this question to mind. What about Java? Are any of you using Java at your startup to develop your software infrastructure? If you are not, did you consider it in the beginning? what influenced your specific choice. What about Dynamic languages written for Java such as Groovy or ColdFusion?
15
24
2007-09-04 07:07:15 UTC
49,887
49,873
davidw
Erlang - Google TechTalk Video
jamiequint
Voted up because it looks interesting, but listening to people talk is just unbearably slow.
This talk will cover the history of Erlang, demonstrate major design goals with a few programming examples and also touch on the subject of the future of Erlang.
1
13
2007-09-04 07:23:58 UTC