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47,266 | 47,232 |
Mistone
|
do not. I am just letting it out.
|
rokhayakebe
|
won't bore you with blessing in disguise saying, someone said it to me today and all I could say was, "do blessings ever come as they are, all I seem to get are these so called blessing in disguise." job, phone, car are easily replaced possessions. Lying girlfriends may be amusing for a while but get old quick.So if your here, you must want to do a startup. Here is your chance!
|
O boy. I am not writing for anyone to enjoy or even read this. But this is the only place I am socially active on a daily basis. I kinda feel secure here. Last Tuesday I lost my job ( well I quit, but I did not like it and they were treating me poorly). Wednesday I lost my car. It stopped in the middle of the freeway. I managed to take it home after 3 hours ( the normal ride is about 5 minutes top ). Thursday I lost my phone. If you are addicted to mobile IM and push email, then loosing your phone is like loosing your ability to breath and now you must live with a tube stuck in your throat. Friday I lost my girlfriend. O boy. Now that one hurt. Can you imagine seeing someone leave you when you need them the most. My girlfriend knows me more about me than anyone outside my family. I thought she was sweet. I never thought she really loved me, but we had this rule of "no lie" that made it all smooth. She lied to me. Big time. And to make matters worst, I found she did for a long time. O boy. I am not even mad, but I am hurt and unpleasantly surprised. Saturday and Sunday were tough, but I managed. Today, I found out more lies from her. O boy. And today, the one person I called my best friend let me down. I called him and say I needed his help. O boy. "Hang on" he told me, "You will do fine".
O boy. I keep wishing that I will wake up soon. I wished this is a dream. Somebody wake me up please before it is too late. Wake me up.
| 16 | 31 |
2007-08-28 01:52:43 UTC
|
47,268 | 47,261 |
jdvolz
|
Why Ubuntu Sucks
|
linsys
|
This guy is basically saying that Ubuntu sucks because it does exactly what it is intended to do, namely help convert Windows users to Linux and to make the transition as easy as possible. While it may be true that more hardcore Linux users don't like Ubuntu, it's hard to say something sucks when it does exactly what it is intended to do.
| null | 0 | 1 |
2007-08-28 01:59:58 UTC
|
47,270 | 47,235 |
jraines
|
Is music production comparable to programming?
|
Tichy
|
Not sure what you mean by "arbitrarily" here, but yes -- in my experience the two are very similar:1. Both require long periods of focus to really get in the zone and be productive.2. Progress is marked by stretches of frustration punctuated by "eureka" moments.3. It helps to be around others with the same interests, be it Scandinavian metal or Ruby on Rails.4. If you do the little things wrong, you make it harder for yourself at the more complex levels. Good habits are key.5. Don't get too hung up on the tools in the beginning (ie overspending on guitars, amps, mixing equipment -- or switching development tools every time the next hot framework or dev kit comes out)My advice to you is to persevere. Just like with programming, one day you will find that things which once seemed impossible are within your reach, and it's a very rewarding experience.
|
In software development, I have no problem to envision developing arbitrarily good applications, by building it one building block at a time. On the other hand, the last few days I have listened to extremely good music and I don't see how to ever arrive at that level. Is there a point when one has learned enough basics of music production to be able to produce arbitrarily good music?
| 3 | 14 |
2007-08-28 02:08:29 UTC
|
47,271 | 47,235 |
s_baar
|
Is music production comparable to programming?
|
Tichy
|
Perhaps. Can you recognize the different parts of music that make it good? Have you ever had a favorite song that you love but can't stand at the same time because you hear one part or beat that just isn't right?
|
In software development, I have no problem to envision developing arbitrarily good applications, by building it one building block at a time. On the other hand, the last few days I have listened to extremely good music and I don't see how to ever arrive at that level. Is there a point when one has learned enough basics of music production to be able to produce arbitrarily good music?
| 6 | 14 |
2007-08-28 02:11:51 UTC
|
47,273 | 47,232 |
steve
|
do not. I am just letting it out.
|
rokhayakebe
|
Of course they lie, why do you think they're called girlfriends:)
|
O boy. I am not writing for anyone to enjoy or even read this. But this is the only place I am socially active on a daily basis. I kinda feel secure here. Last Tuesday I lost my job ( well I quit, but I did not like it and they were treating me poorly). Wednesday I lost my car. It stopped in the middle of the freeway. I managed to take it home after 3 hours ( the normal ride is about 5 minutes top ). Thursday I lost my phone. If you are addicted to mobile IM and push email, then loosing your phone is like loosing your ability to breath and now you must live with a tube stuck in your throat. Friday I lost my girlfriend. O boy. Now that one hurt. Can you imagine seeing someone leave you when you need them the most. My girlfriend knows me more about me than anyone outside my family. I thought she was sweet. I never thought she really loved me, but we had this rule of "no lie" that made it all smooth. She lied to me. Big time. And to make matters worst, I found she did for a long time. O boy. I am not even mad, but I am hurt and unpleasantly surprised. Saturday and Sunday were tough, but I managed. Today, I found out more lies from her. O boy. And today, the one person I called my best friend let me down. I called him and say I needed his help. O boy. "Hang on" he told me, "You will do fine".
O boy. I keep wishing that I will wake up soon. I wished this is a dream. Somebody wake me up please before it is too late. Wake me up.
| 14 | 31 |
2007-08-28 02:21:11 UTC
|
47,279 | 47,067 |
blored
|
Bandsintown at it again
|
knewjax
|
I like your app knewjax. Do you have a non-technical co-founder? If not, I suggest finding one, especially one deeply mired in underground rock culture at least a superficial knowledge of Web 2 dot oh.1) You're advertising on YC news, hit up MySpace and even Anywhere.FM - people that are into music. They're gonna be your butter.2) Don't spam, but WRITE WRITE WRITE. If you submit interesting content to people's blogs, they WILL check out your site. You could just be one blog post away from getting traction.edit: about 10% of blogger accounts have a post dealing with people's favorite music. Google's blog search would really help you in your promotion.
|
Today Bandsintown launches the first major update to the site since our launch in june. This major update officially launches Bandsintown as a "Social Network"
The updates include the ability to add friends, message, and comment. All users now have profile pages, and an upcoming show widget to be used anywhere they like. We also added a page called Fansintown which displays live music fans in your area. We are still in development and will continually be updating and realeasing new version of the site until the beta version is complete. We are listingin to all our users comments and feedback to help guide our development so please let us know what you think and what you want in a live music community website! thanks again for all the Ycombinator help!Check it out at Bandsintown.com
| 3 | 7 |
2007-08-28 02:36:06 UTC
|
47,280 | 47,232 |
Goladus
|
do not. I am just letting it out.
|
rokhayakebe
|
What are you going to do next? There are plenty of good answers, just pick one and go with it.This sounds similar to what happened to me in April. I have a few suggestions:Get physical exercise.Get sleep. Meditation/yoga might help. Avoid alcohol until you get things straightened out. Avoid caffeine if you aren't addicted already.Find cheap, healthy food to eat.Change your environment. Move, or at least rearrange your house or apartment. You almost certainly have unresolved problems related to your girlfriend and your old job, and it's a waste of time to dwell on them. It's really hard to let go of those if your habits and routines don't change as well. Once you're back on your feet, you'll have plenty of time to decide what problems are worth going back to face.Spend time around people, even if it's just walking through the supermarket.If you absolutely have to rant, write it down and tuck it away somewhere for at least 3 months. Don't send out anything you might regret later.
|
O boy. I am not writing for anyone to enjoy or even read this. But this is the only place I am socially active on a daily basis. I kinda feel secure here. Last Tuesday I lost my job ( well I quit, but I did not like it and they were treating me poorly). Wednesday I lost my car. It stopped in the middle of the freeway. I managed to take it home after 3 hours ( the normal ride is about 5 minutes top ). Thursday I lost my phone. If you are addicted to mobile IM and push email, then loosing your phone is like loosing your ability to breath and now you must live with a tube stuck in your throat. Friday I lost my girlfriend. O boy. Now that one hurt. Can you imagine seeing someone leave you when you need them the most. My girlfriend knows me more about me than anyone outside my family. I thought she was sweet. I never thought she really loved me, but we had this rule of "no lie" that made it all smooth. She lied to me. Big time. And to make matters worst, I found she did for a long time. O boy. I am not even mad, but I am hurt and unpleasantly surprised. Saturday and Sunday were tough, but I managed. Today, I found out more lies from her. O boy. And today, the one person I called my best friend let me down. I called him and say I needed his help. O boy. "Hang on" he told me, "You will do fine".
O boy. I keep wishing that I will wake up soon. I wished this is a dream. Somebody wake me up please before it is too late. Wake me up.
| 2 | 31 |
2007-08-28 02:36:18 UTC
|
47,281 | 47,235 |
menloparkbum
|
Is music production comparable to programming?
|
Tichy
|
Is there a point when one has learned enough basics of music production to be able to produce arbitrarily good music?Yes.
|
In software development, I have no problem to envision developing arbitrarily good applications, by building it one building block at a time. On the other hand, the last few days I have listened to extremely good music and I don't see how to ever arrive at that level. Is there a point when one has learned enough basics of music production to be able to produce arbitrarily good music?
| 8 | 14 |
2007-08-28 02:37:38 UTC
|
47,286 | 47,261 |
kast
|
Why Ubuntu Sucks
|
linsys
|
someone forgot one thing good about ubuntu its getting the linux name out there, and more people are looking at adoption of linux. (not many) :) just because you think your to fucking good for it doest mean its shit, if you really where a linux user you would be running slackware, or maybe LFS or Gentoo fucking fedora please.
| null | 1 | 1 |
2007-08-28 02:48:25 UTC
|
47,287 | 47,232 |
pepeto
|
do not. I am just letting it out.
|
rokhayakebe
|
Can I tell you something?
- Losing your job where they treat you badly. Don't know if there's anything better to happen. It's a wake up call and it means you are on the way of finding something much better.
- Losing car is not like crashing with it. Stopping on a freeway is not as bad as other things.
- Lost phone. Every now and then you really need that to realize how hooked up you are and in what constant stress you are. It's time to think about it for a minute and get a new phone.
- Lost girlfriend. It does feel bad at the moment, but if you think about how much you care about your previous girlfriend, you'll realize how much you won't care about this one after a while. Besides, don't you feel free now?
- When a friend is telling you "sorry, can't help" it can only mean one thing - be grateful you actually realized the true relationship. This opened your eyes, which is good and you will know the be careful with this person.
- Wake up? All of those were wake up calls. And all that happened was for good, so cheer up bro and get a drink with some friends
|
O boy. I am not writing for anyone to enjoy or even read this. But this is the only place I am socially active on a daily basis. I kinda feel secure here. Last Tuesday I lost my job ( well I quit, but I did not like it and they were treating me poorly). Wednesday I lost my car. It stopped in the middle of the freeway. I managed to take it home after 3 hours ( the normal ride is about 5 minutes top ). Thursday I lost my phone. If you are addicted to mobile IM and push email, then loosing your phone is like loosing your ability to breath and now you must live with a tube stuck in your throat. Friday I lost my girlfriend. O boy. Now that one hurt. Can you imagine seeing someone leave you when you need them the most. My girlfriend knows me more about me than anyone outside my family. I thought she was sweet. I never thought she really loved me, but we had this rule of "no lie" that made it all smooth. She lied to me. Big time. And to make matters worst, I found she did for a long time. O boy. I am not even mad, but I am hurt and unpleasantly surprised. Saturday and Sunday were tough, but I managed. Today, I found out more lies from her. O boy. And today, the one person I called my best friend let me down. I called him and say I needed his help. O boy. "Hang on" he told me, "You will do fine".
O boy. I keep wishing that I will wake up soon. I wished this is a dream. Somebody wake me up please before it is too late. Wake me up.
| 9 | 31 |
2007-08-28 02:49:21 UTC
|
47,288 | 47,235 |
eusman
|
Is music production comparable to programming?
|
Tichy
|
when you get to fed up with the music you are already hearing to, and if you are a person who can create music, thats what you will probably do! Paul Oakenfold rised to the elite of DJs when he started writing music he wanted to hear! that sounds familiar when you create an application for what people want! but I think its a totally different way of creation needing different sources of inspiration.
|
In software development, I have no problem to envision developing arbitrarily good applications, by building it one building block at a time. On the other hand, the last few days I have listened to extremely good music and I don't see how to ever arrive at that level. Is there a point when one has learned enough basics of music production to be able to produce arbitrarily good music?
| 7 | 14 |
2007-08-28 02:58:22 UTC
|
47,295 | 47,235 |
azgolfer
|
Is music production comparable to programming?
|
Tichy
|
You can become a good player by learning what other people have played, so those would be your building blocks, Consistently creating good new music is a very rare gift, Most players (at most) create a somewhat unique style (which will include a lot of building blocks created by others) which they rely on heavily for their whole careers.
|
In software development, I have no problem to envision developing arbitrarily good applications, by building it one building block at a time. On the other hand, the last few days I have listened to extremely good music and I don't see how to ever arrive at that level. Is there a point when one has learned enough basics of music production to be able to produce arbitrarily good music?
| 5 | 14 |
2007-08-28 03:06:14 UTC
|
47,296 | 47,232 |
palish
|
do not. I am just letting it out.
|
rokhayakebe
|
Listen.. Stuff like this tends to come in waves. You'll get a huge influx of shit, but more often than not you'll get a long period of awesomeness afterwards. Sometimes it takes awhile to show up.You'll be stronger for this whole experience. Just devote yourself to what you like.
|
O boy. I am not writing for anyone to enjoy or even read this. But this is the only place I am socially active on a daily basis. I kinda feel secure here. Last Tuesday I lost my job ( well I quit, but I did not like it and they were treating me poorly). Wednesday I lost my car. It stopped in the middle of the freeway. I managed to take it home after 3 hours ( the normal ride is about 5 minutes top ). Thursday I lost my phone. If you are addicted to mobile IM and push email, then loosing your phone is like loosing your ability to breath and now you must live with a tube stuck in your throat. Friday I lost my girlfriend. O boy. Now that one hurt. Can you imagine seeing someone leave you when you need them the most. My girlfriend knows me more about me than anyone outside my family. I thought she was sweet. I never thought she really loved me, but we had this rule of "no lie" that made it all smooth. She lied to me. Big time. And to make matters worst, I found she did for a long time. O boy. I am not even mad, but I am hurt and unpleasantly surprised. Saturday and Sunday were tough, but I managed. Today, I found out more lies from her. O boy. And today, the one person I called my best friend let me down. I called him and say I needed his help. O boy. "Hang on" he told me, "You will do fine".
O boy. I keep wishing that I will wake up soon. I wished this is a dream. Somebody wake me up please before it is too late. Wake me up.
| 12 | 31 |
2007-08-28 03:08:21 UTC
|
47,301 | 47,235 |
Goladus
|
Is music production comparable to programming?
|
Tichy
|
What sort of music are you interested in? Are you talking about sound production, performing, composing?The main difference with composing is that you are usually writing a program for a real person to perform, not for a computer to execute. This means that writing music is less exacting, but can also be more subtle. The other big difference is that you aren't usually writing music to solve an external problem. With music, you have to invent the problems you want to solve. You might say "I want to hold an F# in the alto line for 4 measures, while moving all the other voices in a chord progression that adheres to the following restrictions..." You just make up the conditions on your own. Software, in contrast, almost always solves a concrete, defineable problem (even if you don't know what that problem will be when you start coding).With performing, the biggest difference is that it's real-time action and communication. You have to train physically in order to be good, and learning bad habits is disastrous. Code-reading and being good at using an editor are more analogous to music performance than software development in general. With writing code, it can be a good thing to write 1,000 lines of crap, if you learn enough not to make those mistakes again. Making mistakes while performing just leads to more mistakes in the future.
|
In software development, I have no problem to envision developing arbitrarily good applications, by building it one building block at a time. On the other hand, the last few days I have listened to extremely good music and I don't see how to ever arrive at that level. Is there a point when one has learned enough basics of music production to be able to produce arbitrarily good music?
| 4 | 14 |
2007-08-28 03:34:33 UTC
|
47,303 | 47,236 |
dawie
|
Google Launches Official Facebook App
|
dawie
|
I can't help to wonder if it will take off. Facebook now has Google's attention!
| null | 0 | 14 |
2007-08-28 03:37:22 UTC
|
47,304 | 47,232 |
mattmaroon
|
do not. I am just letting it out.
|
rokhayakebe
|
I don't say this to be mean, though I'm not sure I can phrase it in such a way that it doesn't sound so, but I don't see any bad luck in the story above, other than maybe timing. It appears to be the results of a bunch of bad decisions unfortunately reaching their boiling point all at once.It's important in times like these to take stock of all of the decisions leading up to this crisis. It sounds like you made a lot of mistakes, as we all do. Learn from them and you'll be the better for it, and in time you'll view this as all as one big opportunity.You didn't lose your job, you quit, so that may or may not have been a mistake (in fact, it may have been a mistake not to do it sooner) but either way it certainly wasn't bad luck. What it will turn out to be depends on what you make of the opportunity. Get another job you hate and it was a mistake, find one you enjoy and it will turn out to be one of the best things you ever did. You have the choice there.Cars almost never die completely with no prior warning. I certainly don't know the situation well enough to be sure, but I'd be willing to bet you ignored some serious signs. That's a mistake I've certainly made and learned from.Losing a phone is usually due to carelessness. We've all done something like it. That one's essentially valueless as a life lesson, you already knew it was bad, and there's only so much you as a human can do to prevent such things from recurring. The relationships are the tough ones. It sounds like in the case of the girl you trusted someone's words rather than their actions because it was the path of least resistance. That's always a mistake. Yet another we've all made. Just like a car, relationships never die without plenty of warning. There's a good chance you saw the signs and willfully ignored them. Learn from that.The only thing left to do now is learn from each mistake and turn all of these annoyances into opportunities.
|
O boy. I am not writing for anyone to enjoy or even read this. But this is the only place I am socially active on a daily basis. I kinda feel secure here. Last Tuesday I lost my job ( well I quit, but I did not like it and they were treating me poorly). Wednesday I lost my car. It stopped in the middle of the freeway. I managed to take it home after 3 hours ( the normal ride is about 5 minutes top ). Thursday I lost my phone. If you are addicted to mobile IM and push email, then loosing your phone is like loosing your ability to breath and now you must live with a tube stuck in your throat. Friday I lost my girlfriend. O boy. Now that one hurt. Can you imagine seeing someone leave you when you need them the most. My girlfriend knows me more about me than anyone outside my family. I thought she was sweet. I never thought she really loved me, but we had this rule of "no lie" that made it all smooth. She lied to me. Big time. And to make matters worst, I found she did for a long time. O boy. I am not even mad, but I am hurt and unpleasantly surprised. Saturday and Sunday were tough, but I managed. Today, I found out more lies from her. O boy. And today, the one person I called my best friend let me down. I called him and say I needed his help. O boy. "Hang on" he told me, "You will do fine".
O boy. I keep wishing that I will wake up soon. I wished this is a dream. Somebody wake me up please before it is too late. Wake me up.
| 0 | 31 |
2007-08-28 03:41:12 UTC
|
47,305 | 47,232 |
mynameishere
|
do not. I am just letting it out.
|
rokhayakebe
|
I'm strongly urged to one-up you (because I could, believe me) but what's the point? You're either going to A) Buck up, or B) Get some Xanax. That's about it.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo
|
O boy. I am not writing for anyone to enjoy or even read this. But this is the only place I am socially active on a daily basis. I kinda feel secure here. Last Tuesday I lost my job ( well I quit, but I did not like it and they were treating me poorly). Wednesday I lost my car. It stopped in the middle of the freeway. I managed to take it home after 3 hours ( the normal ride is about 5 minutes top ). Thursday I lost my phone. If you are addicted to mobile IM and push email, then loosing your phone is like loosing your ability to breath and now you must live with a tube stuck in your throat. Friday I lost my girlfriend. O boy. Now that one hurt. Can you imagine seeing someone leave you when you need them the most. My girlfriend knows me more about me than anyone outside my family. I thought she was sweet. I never thought she really loved me, but we had this rule of "no lie" that made it all smooth. She lied to me. Big time. And to make matters worst, I found she did for a long time. O boy. I am not even mad, but I am hurt and unpleasantly surprised. Saturday and Sunday were tough, but I managed. Today, I found out more lies from her. O boy. And today, the one person I called my best friend let me down. I called him and say I needed his help. O boy. "Hang on" he told me, "You will do fine".
O boy. I keep wishing that I will wake up soon. I wished this is a dream. Somebody wake me up please before it is too late. Wake me up.
| 17 | 31 |
2007-08-28 03:53:34 UTC
|
47,307 | 47,235 |
greendestiny
|
Is music production comparable to programming?
|
Tichy
|
Its not the same in terms of its incrementality. Generally a beat or a melody for one track wont really work for another, but it can. I don't think parts of music can be encapsulated. Still I find making music similar to coding in terms of creativity. I think in all creative pursuits you can get very very good by consistently seeking to do better and gaining insight into what you do. If you're always thinking about the next layer of meaning and trying to stretch you'll achieve great things. I just made the comparison in this blog post which hasn't garnered much yc interest: http://greendestinyonyc.blogspot.com/2007/08/creativity.html
|
In software development, I have no problem to envision developing arbitrarily good applications, by building it one building block at a time. On the other hand, the last few days I have listened to extremely good music and I don't see how to ever arrive at that level. Is there a point when one has learned enough basics of music production to be able to produce arbitrarily good music?
| 1 | 14 |
2007-08-28 04:09:18 UTC
|
47,311 | 47,232 |
trekker7
|
do not. I am just letting it out.
|
rokhayakebe
|
Cheer up, tough it out man... I'm sure things will look up soon.
|
O boy. I am not writing for anyone to enjoy or even read this. But this is the only place I am socially active on a daily basis. I kinda feel secure here. Last Tuesday I lost my job ( well I quit, but I did not like it and they were treating me poorly). Wednesday I lost my car. It stopped in the middle of the freeway. I managed to take it home after 3 hours ( the normal ride is about 5 minutes top ). Thursday I lost my phone. If you are addicted to mobile IM and push email, then loosing your phone is like loosing your ability to breath and now you must live with a tube stuck in your throat. Friday I lost my girlfriend. O boy. Now that one hurt. Can you imagine seeing someone leave you when you need them the most. My girlfriend knows me more about me than anyone outside my family. I thought she was sweet. I never thought she really loved me, but we had this rule of "no lie" that made it all smooth. She lied to me. Big time. And to make matters worst, I found she did for a long time. O boy. I am not even mad, but I am hurt and unpleasantly surprised. Saturday and Sunday were tough, but I managed. Today, I found out more lies from her. O boy. And today, the one person I called my best friend let me down. I called him and say I needed his help. O boy. "Hang on" he told me, "You will do fine".
O boy. I keep wishing that I will wake up soon. I wished this is a dream. Somebody wake me up please before it is too late. Wake me up.
| 18 | 31 |
2007-08-28 04:31:42 UTC
|
47,313 | 47,235 |
muse
|
Is music production comparable to programming?
|
Tichy
|
There are a couple approaches to making music, just as there are a couple approaches to writing code. The classical approach is that you have a melody in your head and work backwards from there. The other approach is to improvise - more like jazz, where the musicians are playing off each other and the audience.In code, the classical approach is akin to the waterfall method. Design it all up front. Build it with statically linked tools. Hire programmers like an orchestra, based on their ability to follow the score. The iterative approach is more like jazz. Write a little bit. Bounce it off other people. Write a little more. A conversation. Duck typed scripting languages are great for that.And then there's interaction design. This is more like a band leader who 'gets' the audience. Or, at least, someone who the audience 'gets'. This is isn't working backwards from a tune or forwards from a set of building blocks. It's a bidirectional search.On a more pragmatic level: it takes about 1000 hours of playing with any tool to become arbitrarily proficient. Another 1000 hours of playing with people to become arbitrarily 'good' (give or take a zero or so).
|
In software development, I have no problem to envision developing arbitrarily good applications, by building it one building block at a time. On the other hand, the last few days I have listened to extremely good music and I don't see how to ever arrive at that level. Is there a point when one has learned enough basics of music production to be able to produce arbitrarily good music?
| 2 | 14 |
2007-08-28 04:38:08 UTC
|
47,315 | 47,291 |
dfranke
|
If we reveal our idea in our YC app and don't accept, would YC possibly recommend it to other, participating teams?
|
limeade
|
From the application form:"We don't make any formal promise about secrecy, but we don't plan to let anyone outside Y Combinator see these applications, including other startups we fund."
| null | 0 | 6 |
2007-08-28 04:56:17 UTC
|
47,317 | 47,314 |
rms
|
Ask News.YC: Does anybody want a forums here?
|
trekker7
|
It's unnecessary. You can submit items without links. So if you want a discussion that isn't about a news item, just pick a topic and submit it.
|
Maybe this has been asked before, but would there be any interest in having a Hacker News Forums, for general, casual discussion as opposed to just commenting on news posts? I think of HN as a community rather than just a place to read interesting stuff.If there's enough interest, PG, maybe you could add that component to the site if you have time?
| 0 | 2 |
2007-08-28 05:04:16 UTC
|
47,318 | 47,314 |
vlad
|
Ask News.YC: Does anybody want a forums here?
|
trekker7
|
The hckrtrckr site (N.YC/Google Maps mashup) says location-based forums should be up within days.
|
Maybe this has been asked before, but would there be any interest in having a Hacker News Forums, for general, casual discussion as opposed to just commenting on news posts? I think of HN as a community rather than just a place to read interesting stuff.If there's enough interest, PG, maybe you could add that component to the site if you have time?
| 1 | 2 |
2007-08-28 05:05:52 UTC
|
47,320 | 47,310 |
staunch
|
How valuable are designers to a startup team?
|
kyro
|
I'd love to have a graphics/HTML/CSS/Flash designer for my most recent project. Neither myself nor my partner would be willing to trade much equity for one though, if design was all they'd contribute. Between the two of us we have enough design sense and skill to create beautiful-enough minimal designs. I think any good hacker can do simple and effective design if they try.Earth-shattering graphic design is out of easy reach for most of us, but designing simple to use interfaces doesn't take much more than careful thought and a desire to do so. A big part of what designers do just isn't necessary in a startup where the founders actually care about making things good already. Designers are often essential at larger companies, where the employees aren't motivated enough to give a lot of care to things like ease-of-use, flow, and beauty.
|
Compared to the value of having coders on a team, how do designers stack up? Is it common to have a designer on board, or to just a design firm? Also, have the majority of teams accepted to YC had designers on the team, and if not, what have they done? Perhaps pg can best answer that last one.Thanks.
| 4 | 17 |
2007-08-28 05:25:59 UTC
|
47,321 | 47,291 |
zaidf
|
If we reveal our idea in our YC app and don't accept, would YC possibly recommend it to other, participating teams?
|
limeade
|
To play devil's advocate, what if YC folks have already thought of the idea you had(and obviously did not pick you for reasons other than your idea)? See, it goes both ways. Bottomline: it is very difficult in this environment with start-ups launching left and right to claim ownership of a certain idea, even between two parties.
| null | 2 | 6 |
2007-08-28 05:28:24 UTC
|
47,322 | 47,310 |
Harj
|
How valuable are designers to a startup team?
|
kyro
|
we found that having a specialized graphic designer who can't do any coding wasn't very efficient for getting things from idea to prototype quickly. having someone who has an interest in design and good UI but can also hack is the ultimate - that's worth trading generous equity for.
|
Compared to the value of having coders on a team, how do designers stack up? Is it common to have a designer on board, or to just a design firm? Also, have the majority of teams accepted to YC had designers on the team, and if not, what have they done? Perhaps pg can best answer that last one.Thanks.
| 10 | 17 |
2007-08-28 05:31:30 UTC
|
47,328 | 47,232 |
SwellJoe
|
do not. I am just letting it out.
|
rokhayakebe
|
Nobody died. It was a good day.Sorry if this sounds trite, but I'm being sincere. You're alive. You didn't lose, I mean really lose, anyone you love. I read somewhere that numerous studies indicate that people get happier, on average, the older they get (I'm apparently not old enough to be happy all the time, but I'm hopeful)...I suspect it has something to do with a growing understanding of what really matters.Jobs don't matter. Girlfriends, that you know don't love you, don't matter. Phones definitely do not matter. Cars do not matter.Your health matters. The health of your loved ones matters. That's about it. Everything else is just scenery.In short: It looks worse than it is. Get some rest, and when you wake up tomorrow, it'll look a little better. In a week, you'll wonder what all the fuss was about. (Yes, I've been without a car, insurance, and a steady job, with $30k in credit card debt, to boot. Hard times come and go pretty easily if you're learning from your mistakes.)
|
O boy. I am not writing for anyone to enjoy or even read this. But this is the only place I am socially active on a daily basis. I kinda feel secure here. Last Tuesday I lost my job ( well I quit, but I did not like it and they were treating me poorly). Wednesday I lost my car. It stopped in the middle of the freeway. I managed to take it home after 3 hours ( the normal ride is about 5 minutes top ). Thursday I lost my phone. If you are addicted to mobile IM and push email, then loosing your phone is like loosing your ability to breath and now you must live with a tube stuck in your throat. Friday I lost my girlfriend. O boy. Now that one hurt. Can you imagine seeing someone leave you when you need them the most. My girlfriend knows me more about me than anyone outside my family. I thought she was sweet. I never thought she really loved me, but we had this rule of "no lie" that made it all smooth. She lied to me. Big time. And to make matters worst, I found she did for a long time. O boy. I am not even mad, but I am hurt and unpleasantly surprised. Saturday and Sunday were tough, but I managed. Today, I found out more lies from her. O boy. And today, the one person I called my best friend let me down. I called him and say I needed his help. O boy. "Hang on" he told me, "You will do fine".
O boy. I keep wishing that I will wake up soon. I wished this is a dream. Somebody wake me up please before it is too late. Wake me up.
| 3 | 31 |
2007-08-28 05:49:42 UTC
|
47,332 | 47,310 |
herdrick
|
How valuable are designers to a startup team?
|
kyro
|
You're going to need good design. It's best if your founding team has some design talent, but if not, you may be able to get by with hired guns. But in that case you'd better have someone else who can evaluate the quality of the hired guns.
|
Compared to the value of having coders on a team, how do designers stack up? Is it common to have a designer on board, or to just a design firm? Also, have the majority of teams accepted to YC had designers on the team, and if not, what have they done? Perhaps pg can best answer that last one.Thanks.
| 11 | 17 |
2007-08-28 05:58:36 UTC
|
47,334 | 47,310 |
SwellJoe
|
How valuable are designers to a startup team?
|
kyro
|
The majority of YC companies have not, but it's a huge win if you do. pg places very high value on good design (with good reason). And YC companies have much better design by the time they leave, if they have their eyes open and half a brain. Every YC group has at least one rock star designer. The best known is probably Kevin Hale from Wufoo/Particle Tree, but other seriously good designers have been involved.So, early stage, it is valuable--maybe not valuable enough to have one as a full partner with equal equity, but maybe.The reason I say possibly not is because I know many of the "rock star" designers from YC companies now, and at least a few aren't feeling very important to the process or involved in the day-to-day development (and some have packed up and gone home). If you can't foresee significant design work throughout a long period of time, maybe an equal partner designer isn't the way to go.So, great design is a huge value. It's up to you to decide if it is worth an equal stake (it's almost certainly worth some equity, if you can get someone good to work for equity and don't have the 10-15k it'll take to hire a good designer for a couple of weeks), and whether they'll be twiddling their thumbs in six months.As Harj said, a designing hacker (even if the hacking is fair to middling--if the design skill is really strong) is a champ worth her weight in gold.
|
Compared to the value of having coders on a team, how do designers stack up? Is it common to have a designer on board, or to just a design firm? Also, have the majority of teams accepted to YC had designers on the team, and if not, what have they done? Perhaps pg can best answer that last one.Thanks.
| 0 | 17 |
2007-08-28 06:01:11 UTC
|
47,336 | 47,232 |
whacked_new
|
do not. I am just letting it out.
|
rokhayakebe
|
You got enough good-wishers/friends here but I'll be an asshole.If you want to lead some company, you don't rant. You simply can't. I recall a submarine captain from some movie who, when asked "what if you don't know the answer," he replies, "you can't not know the answer."You cannot falter. Even in the worst of worst circumstances, when you feel like the whole world is against you and you face your demise, you cannot show weakness of character. Soldiers ask the commander when shit happens, but the commander has nobody to ask. If you're a commander, loneliness is not of the least of worries you will face. Depending on someone else for emotional support, in my opinion, is a luxury with great risk.You're a guy paddling a boat in the middle of the pacific. When you hit a storm, you don't look for people who tell you, "I'm waiting on the island of success for you." You look for people who can sit in the damn boat and actually row with you, or throw you a rope or even fix you a motor. At times of stress, "sweet"ness means absolutely nothing.If you are a leader, you share your personal pains only with those who would risk their lives for you. And you only know they would, when they do.This is merely a turning point in life. The sooner you get out of it, the stronger you'll be. So get out now, and make the next decision.I spent too much time writing this... hope it actually benefits you.
|
O boy. I am not writing for anyone to enjoy or even read this. But this is the only place I am socially active on a daily basis. I kinda feel secure here. Last Tuesday I lost my job ( well I quit, but I did not like it and they were treating me poorly). Wednesday I lost my car. It stopped in the middle of the freeway. I managed to take it home after 3 hours ( the normal ride is about 5 minutes top ). Thursday I lost my phone. If you are addicted to mobile IM and push email, then loosing your phone is like loosing your ability to breath and now you must live with a tube stuck in your throat. Friday I lost my girlfriend. O boy. Now that one hurt. Can you imagine seeing someone leave you when you need them the most. My girlfriend knows me more about me than anyone outside my family. I thought she was sweet. I never thought she really loved me, but we had this rule of "no lie" that made it all smooth. She lied to me. Big time. And to make matters worst, I found she did for a long time. O boy. I am not even mad, but I am hurt and unpleasantly surprised. Saturday and Sunday were tough, but I managed. Today, I found out more lies from her. O boy. And today, the one person I called my best friend let me down. I called him and say I needed his help. O boy. "Hang on" he told me, "You will do fine".
O boy. I keep wishing that I will wake up soon. I wished this is a dream. Somebody wake me up please before it is too late. Wake me up.
| 6 | 31 |
2007-08-28 06:10:27 UTC
|
47,337 | 47,310 |
brezina
|
How valuable are designers to a startup team?
|
kyro
|
Luckily we have Gabor on our team, and he is the kind of rock-star player who is in the top 1% of hackers and top 5% of designers. We use a great design firm to fill the gaps (www.vestaldesign.com). We use the design firm when we can't afford spending internal Xobni team member resources on design or when we need an outside perspective on our UI.In my experience, it is incredibly valuable to use a designer with some coding experience. They appreciate the limitations of the medium.
|
Compared to the value of having coders on a team, how do designers stack up? Is it common to have a designer on board, or to just a design firm? Also, have the majority of teams accepted to YC had designers on the team, and if not, what have they done? Perhaps pg can best answer that last one.Thanks.
| 2 | 17 |
2007-08-28 06:11:14 UTC
|
47,339 | 47,291 |
palish
|
If we reveal our idea in our YC app and don't accept, would YC possibly recommend it to other, participating teams?
|
limeade
|
They're going to give your ideas to your closest competitors. Haven't you heard of Competitor Day?/oldBut seriously, ideas are totally worthless. I thought my totally awesome idea for a productivity site was worth a billion dollars too. And I built it and released it, and you know what? Nobody cared, and rightly so, because it was poorly executed. Now I'm playing catch-up with the design by making things cleaner, streamlined, and simple. That is what matters, not whatever your idea is. Though it's not until you've been steamrolled by brett and his clickable calendar that one can really understand that, maybe. :)
| null | 1 | 6 |
2007-08-28 06:13:12 UTC
|
47,340 | 47,310 |
mattmaroon
|
How valuable are designers to a startup team?
|
kyro
|
Design means different things to different people. If you mean that in terms of workflow/ease of use, that's going to be largely a function of the team and feedback from customers.As far as the graphic design that can easily and cheaply be outsourced, though even then you'd ideally want one or more founders with a good aesthetic sense to work with them.
|
Compared to the value of having coders on a team, how do designers stack up? Is it common to have a designer on board, or to just a design firm? Also, have the majority of teams accepted to YC had designers on the team, and if not, what have they done? Perhaps pg can best answer that last one.Thanks.
| 7 | 17 |
2007-08-28 06:19:25 UTC
|
47,341 | 47,232 |
prakash
|
do not. I am just letting it out.
|
rokhayakebe
|
Not to compare your recent few days to a study in probability, but these are all independent events that didn't go the way you wanted...Good luck!
|
O boy. I am not writing for anyone to enjoy or even read this. But this is the only place I am socially active on a daily basis. I kinda feel secure here. Last Tuesday I lost my job ( well I quit, but I did not like it and they were treating me poorly). Wednesday I lost my car. It stopped in the middle of the freeway. I managed to take it home after 3 hours ( the normal ride is about 5 minutes top ). Thursday I lost my phone. If you are addicted to mobile IM and push email, then loosing your phone is like loosing your ability to breath and now you must live with a tube stuck in your throat. Friday I lost my girlfriend. O boy. Now that one hurt. Can you imagine seeing someone leave you when you need them the most. My girlfriend knows me more about me than anyone outside my family. I thought she was sweet. I never thought she really loved me, but we had this rule of "no lie" that made it all smooth. She lied to me. Big time. And to make matters worst, I found she did for a long time. O boy. I am not even mad, but I am hurt and unpleasantly surprised. Saturday and Sunday were tough, but I managed. Today, I found out more lies from her. O boy. And today, the one person I called my best friend let me down. I called him and say I needed his help. O boy. "Hang on" he told me, "You will do fine".
O boy. I keep wishing that I will wake up soon. I wished this is a dream. Somebody wake me up please before it is too late. Wake me up.
| 15 | 31 |
2007-08-28 06:23:51 UTC
|
47,343 | 47,235 |
SwellJoe
|
Is music production comparable to programming?
|
Tichy
|
Yes, the process is very similar. My degree is in audio, my early college work in music. I don't have a computer science degree. I've known a lot of musician-turned-hackers and hacker-turned-musicians.But I think you're missing a subtle aspect of developing arbitrarily good applications: You probably can't develop a truly great application one block at a time. Sure, you can add all the features of a truly great application one block at a time. But the devil is in the details (just like in music, art, etc.), and sometimes missing one spark of inspiration can make all the difference.Google is great software. Microsoft Live search is a cheap knockoff with more features and flashier design and less of whatever it is that makes Google "great".The iPod is great software. Zune is a cheap knockoff with more features and less of whatever it is that makes the iPod "great".And those two "knockoff" examples were made after the original--they should have been able to copy the "great" aspect and one-up it, by throwing money at it. But somehow they failed. That's the subtle distinction between great software/art/music and mediocrity.The Beatles made great music. Paul Revere and the Raiders made cheap knockoff songs with less of whatever it is that makes the Beatles "great".jraines post sums up quite a bit of the process similarities, so I won't go into it.Music is less objective than software--a bug is a bug, but a blue note might be on purpose and it might be the key to the song. So, it's not precisely the same. Knowing software works or doesn't might be easier than knowing if a melody is worth anything.
|
In software development, I have no problem to envision developing arbitrarily good applications, by building it one building block at a time. On the other hand, the last few days I have listened to extremely good music and I don't see how to ever arrive at that level. Is there a point when one has learned enough basics of music production to be able to produce arbitrarily good music?
| 0 | 14 |
2007-08-28 06:42:02 UTC
|
47,344 | 47,308 |
altay
|
When do you ignore your users?
|
tel
|
I forget who said this (Paul Buchheit, maybe?), but it made a lot of sense to me: don't listen to your users, watch your users. Figure out what they're trying to accomplish -- via usability testing and analytics -- and use that to inform product development. Feature blight is a separate issue. It's good to try out lots of stuff, but you can't just vomit out feature after feature -- you have to iterate. After you release a feature, watch how people use it. If they're not using it, tweak it or axe it. Features need to earn a permanent place in your app.
|
Quoted in Getting Real is a passage by Jef Raskin about avoiding "feature blight" (http://jef.raskincenter.org/unpublished/widgets_of_the_week....). The passage suggests too many features is a bad thing and that the best way to avoid that pitfall is a very real and constricting deadline. My question is that once you've launched and you're able to afford a more liberal deadline, how do you keep feature blight from creeping in?37 Signals was noted here recently for refusing to implement suggestions until there's a critical mass of users looking for them, but is that the "best" way to combat this issue?
| 0 | 4 |
2007-08-28 06:49:46 UTC
|
47,349 | 47,348 |
rms
|
Norman Borlaug: the greatest person to ever live?
|
rms
|
"Borlaug is often credited with saving over a billion people from starvation."Penn and Teller declared him the greatest human being to ever live and you really can't argue with that.What have you done today? :)
| null | 4 | 13 |
2007-08-28 07:04:59 UTC
|
47,351 | 47,166 |
tuukkah
|
What do you install after a Windows re-format?
|
thinkingserious
|
There is a lot of tools to apt-get after deploying a new Debian machine, but you'll mostly add them while you go. For a laptop, you'll want to install some networking tools before you need them: resolvconf, dnsmasq, wpasupplicant, bluez-utils, irda-utils, mtr, iptraf, tcpdumpAlso some offline tools unless you keep a package archive with you on the go: dict, what have you
|
I have become a minimalist in many ways, so this was a good chance to do some housekeeping and only install the minimums (which ended up being pretty significant). I detailed this process and I am sharing it with you here. It would be interesting to find out what applications you consider essential when doing a complete re-format.
| 0 | 2 |
2007-08-28 07:17:41 UTC
|
47,354 | 47,310 |
Alex3917
|
How valuable are designers to a startup team?
|
kyro
|
Perhaps you should start with the question "How valuable is good design to the team" and work backwards. :-)
|
Compared to the value of having coders on a team, how do designers stack up? Is it common to have a designer on board, or to just a design firm? Also, have the majority of teams accepted to YC had designers on the team, and if not, what have they done? Perhaps pg can best answer that last one.Thanks.
| 12 | 17 |
2007-08-28 07:40:50 UTC
|
47,360 | 47,348 |
muriithi
|
Norman Borlaug: the greatest person to ever live?
|
rms
|
Great story.The fact that Norman was a great-grandchild of Norwegian immigrants to the US makes one wonder how many talented people are going to waste given the current almost epidemic prevalence of xenophobia in the US and in Europe.It is remarkable that someone who went on to become an accomplished scientist failed his University entrance exam!
| null | 3 | 13 |
2007-08-28 08:39:27 UTC
|
47,366 | 47,232 |
andreyf
|
do not. I am just letting it out.
|
rokhayakebe
|
Sorry to hear about the girlfriend. We all know how much that stuff hurts...Everything else doesn't seem so bad.
|
O boy. I am not writing for anyone to enjoy or even read this. But this is the only place I am socially active on a daily basis. I kinda feel secure here. Last Tuesday I lost my job ( well I quit, but I did not like it and they were treating me poorly). Wednesday I lost my car. It stopped in the middle of the freeway. I managed to take it home after 3 hours ( the normal ride is about 5 minutes top ). Thursday I lost my phone. If you are addicted to mobile IM and push email, then loosing your phone is like loosing your ability to breath and now you must live with a tube stuck in your throat. Friday I lost my girlfriend. O boy. Now that one hurt. Can you imagine seeing someone leave you when you need them the most. My girlfriend knows me more about me than anyone outside my family. I thought she was sweet. I never thought she really loved me, but we had this rule of "no lie" that made it all smooth. She lied to me. Big time. And to make matters worst, I found she did for a long time. O boy. I am not even mad, but I am hurt and unpleasantly surprised. Saturday and Sunday were tough, but I managed. Today, I found out more lies from her. O boy. And today, the one person I called my best friend let me down. I called him and say I needed his help. O boy. "Hang on" he told me, "You will do fine".
O boy. I keep wishing that I will wake up soon. I wished this is a dream. Somebody wake me up please before it is too late. Wake me up.
| 11 | 31 |
2007-08-28 10:47:59 UTC
|
47,367 | 47,291 |
andreyf
|
If we reveal our idea in our YC app and don't accept, would YC possibly recommend it to other, participating teams?
|
limeade
|
PG has answered this - no.
| null | 3 | 6 |
2007-08-28 10:49:18 UTC
|
47,368 | 47,310 |
naivehs
|
How valuable are designers to a startup team?
|
kyro
|
First impression is important. You got an ordinary grey building on one side, and Taj Mahal on the other. Which one would you rather walk into?Next round of Y Combinator starts in January, plenty of time to learn the mechanics of designing. Your already got a head start from the experience of personal preferences.
|
Compared to the value of having coders on a team, how do designers stack up? Is it common to have a designer on board, or to just a design firm? Also, have the majority of teams accepted to YC had designers on the team, and if not, what have they done? Perhaps pg can best answer that last one.Thanks.
| 8 | 17 |
2007-08-28 11:05:19 UTC
|
47,369 | 47,325 |
bootload
|
Who is YC user PortLAN? -- He is hilarious.
|
nivi
|
"... Who is YC user PortLAN? -- He is hilarious ..."ought to be able to track him via hackrtrackr ( http://hackrtrackr.com ) but I can't seem to find the tag. Swear there was a @portLAN in the UK. Might send a note to @brad to do name lookups instead of just by area.
|
He is funny but he doesn't list contact info: http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=portLAN
| 0 | 2 |
2007-08-28 11:07:40 UTC
|
47,372 | 47,275 |
pg
|
Are there going to be any changes heading into the Winter '08 program?
|
blored
|
Nothing startling. 19 worked fine, so we may accept more, if we get enough good applications.
|
Will the median age go up? Will dinners be held on a different night? Did the large batch (19 groups) work out OK?
| 0 | 6 |
2007-08-28 11:57:40 UTC
|
47,373 | 47,232 |
andyn
|
do not. I am just letting it out.
|
rokhayakebe
|
Hi there,Sorry to hear about all this you're going through at the moment. We've all had things like this happen at some point but you've really had it all piled on at once.Can I say congrats on quitting your job? I had a job that burnt me out, got me down and probably caused my last breakup - I wish I'd had the courage to leave instead of hanging around and not doing anything about it. Good luck in finding a new job - the difference will be like night and day when you find somewhere good to work. I promise you. Maybe you can then afford a better car, phone and maybe a new GF ... better than the previous models?Also move on from your ex. As in: don't try and contact her again or read her blog/facebook or (try not to) leave drunken voicemail messages. She obviously didn't give a crap and you'll only just drag out making it harder to get back to normal. Any sort of "let's just be friends" is just to make herself feel better about doing this to you.As many posts here say - go out, don't sit about at home feeling sorry for yourself. Not that you're not entitled to, but it just won't do you any good.Take care of yourself and sort out what needs sorting out. Don't forget to eat ... and breath.I wish you the best of luck and hope things work out for you. I bet they will.
|
O boy. I am not writing for anyone to enjoy or even read this. But this is the only place I am socially active on a daily basis. I kinda feel secure here. Last Tuesday I lost my job ( well I quit, but I did not like it and they were treating me poorly). Wednesday I lost my car. It stopped in the middle of the freeway. I managed to take it home after 3 hours ( the normal ride is about 5 minutes top ). Thursday I lost my phone. If you are addicted to mobile IM and push email, then loosing your phone is like loosing your ability to breath and now you must live with a tube stuck in your throat. Friday I lost my girlfriend. O boy. Now that one hurt. Can you imagine seeing someone leave you when you need them the most. My girlfriend knows me more about me than anyone outside my family. I thought she was sweet. I never thought she really loved me, but we had this rule of "no lie" that made it all smooth. She lied to me. Big time. And to make matters worst, I found she did for a long time. O boy. I am not even mad, but I am hurt and unpleasantly surprised. Saturday and Sunday were tough, but I managed. Today, I found out more lies from her. O boy. And today, the one person I called my best friend let me down. I called him and say I needed his help. O boy. "Hang on" he told me, "You will do fine".
O boy. I keep wishing that I will wake up soon. I wished this is a dream. Somebody wake me up please before it is too late. Wake me up.
| 8 | 31 |
2007-08-28 12:14:01 UTC
|
47,381 | 47,375 |
DougBTX
|
Is reddit down?
|
twism
|
It is for me - was waiting for someone to post this :-)
| null | 0 | 16 |
2007-08-28 12:40:35 UTC
|
47,385 | 47,375 |
mpc
|
Is reddit down?
|
twism
|
down for 1hr for me
| null | 5 | 16 |
2007-08-28 12:51:41 UTC
|
47,388 | 47,375 |
NoellyB
|
Is reddit down?
|
twism
|
Been down for almost an hour that I know of. This site is my next-stop on the morning list... so I got here a 'tad' earlier. ;)
| null | 3 | 16 |
2007-08-28 12:54:30 UTC
|
47,392 | 47,391 |
drm237
|
The Art of Bootstrapping
|
drm237
|
It's a little older but has some good points.
|
Someone once told me that the probability of an entrepreneur getting venture capital is the same as getting struck by lightning while standing at the bottom of a swimming pool on a sunny day. This may be too optimistic.
| 1 | 7 |
2007-08-28 13:01:18 UTC
|
47,394 | 45,698 |
gripss
|
Holding a program in one's head
|
eposts
|
I used to use the evening walks with our dog to solve programming problems. We live in a very, very quiet suburb with large properties, there is only local trafic and nothing else. So it was possible for me to visualise the solution to a problem into the dark in front of me (like an internal blackboard). Many times I came home after about an hour with a happy dog and a way to solve the problem or at least a great way to it. I just had to make some short note of it to pick it up next morning, the note releasing all saved information in my brain. Worked a treat for me.
| null | 45 | 142 |
2007-08-28 13:04:42 UTC
|
47,395 | 47,375 |
jkush
|
Is reddit down?
|
twism
|
It's back up now.
| null | 6 | 16 |
2007-08-28 13:04:57 UTC
|
47,396 | 47,362 |
adrianwaj
|
Max Levchin at 2006 UIUC Talk "You should start a company right now" (video)
|
staunch
|
You can get the full vid (134mb) in high res here:
http://www.acm.uiuc.edu/conference/2006/webcast.phpOthers: Kwabena Boahen, Adrian Bowyer, Burnie Burns (degraded audio, starts 5 minutes in), Harold Cohen, Robert Cringely, Chris DiBona, Jawed Karim, Max Levchin, Chip Mayse, Jim Miller, Yale Patt, Joel Spolsky and Michael Swift.
| null | 0 | 21 |
2007-08-28 13:09:58 UTC
|
47,398 | 47,236 |
aston
|
Google Launches Official Facebook App
|
dawie
|
Is it confirmed that Google made the app? Like a Google Blog post or something?
| null | 1 | 14 |
2007-08-28 13:14:14 UTC
|
47,404 | 47,375 |
edu
|
Is reddit down?
|
twism
|
Down for me for about one hour and a half. Now it is up.
| null | 4 | 16 |
2007-08-28 13:21:28 UTC
|
47,405 | 47,375 |
nickb
|
Is reddit down?
|
twism
|
it's up :)
| null | 7 | 16 |
2007-08-28 13:23:25 UTC
|
47,409 | 47,310 |
ivankirigin
|
How valuable are designers to a startup team?
|
kyro
|
This was discussed a bit here:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33568
|
Compared to the value of having coders on a team, how do designers stack up? Is it common to have a designer on board, or to just a design firm? Also, have the majority of teams accepted to YC had designers on the team, and if not, what have they done? Perhaps pg can best answer that last one.Thanks.
| 6 | 17 |
2007-08-28 13:31:49 UTC
|
47,410 | 47,375 |
edu
|
Is reddit down?
|
twism
|
FYI: http://blog.reddit.com/2007/08/reddit-downtime.html
| null | 1 | 16 |
2007-08-28 13:34:01 UTC
|
47,417 | 47,348 |
mynameishere
|
Norman Borlaug: the greatest person to ever live?
|
rms
|
If a country's carrying capacity is 10, and the population is 11, then you get starvation. If you raise the carrying capacity to 20, the starvation ends. Until the population hits 21. That is not a sustainable process.Meanwhile, the ratio of people to non-food natural resources has increased, resulting in pollution and crowding.
| null | 1 | 13 |
2007-08-28 13:45:56 UTC
|
47,419 | 47,376 |
gibsonf1
|
New hydrogen generating technology "competitive with gasoline"
|
charzom
|
Wow - lets hope they pull it off!
| null | 2 | 13 |
2007-08-28 13:49:23 UTC
|
47,426 | 47,425 |
transburgh
|
Oh the Irony
|
transburgh
|
"For me, search and ads are almost the same." -- Google executive Marissa Mayer, 2007.
|
"We expect that advertising funded search engines will be inherently biased towards the advertisers and away from the needs of the consumers." -- Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, 1998
http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html
| 1 | 9 |
2007-08-28 14:03:29 UTC
|
47,433 | 46,974 |
Neoryder
|
PG on Y Combinator
|
drm237
|
hmmm? PG's a serial entrepreneur? really? no disrespect meant but really?EDIT:saw speling mistakes
|
aul is a great guy and has built a huge following in the startup community. I have a lot of respect for him and what he has done. Y Combinator is a great story. Paul agreed to share some details with me. Here it is live and uncut.
| 1 | 50 |
2007-08-28 14:29:26 UTC
|
47,435 | 47,425 |
brlewis
|
Oh the Irony
|
transburgh
|
The quote is from appendix A:http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html#a
|
"We expect that advertising funded search engines will be inherently biased towards the advertisers and away from the needs of the consumers." -- Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, 1998
http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html
| 4 | 9 |
2007-08-28 14:40:40 UTC
|
47,437 | 47,376 |
Kelevra
|
New hydrogen generating technology "competitive with gasoline"
|
charzom
|
It sounds like the aluminum is consumed. Aluminum is plentiful stuff, but energetically speaking, it's very costly to refine. I sure hope this goes somewhere, but I'm not holding my breath, all the same.
| null | 0 | 13 |
2007-08-28 14:44:14 UTC
|
47,439 | 47,425 |
wschroter
|
Oh the Irony
|
transburgh
|
Followed by:"Hey Sergey, take a look at what these guys at Overture are doing..." - Larry Page
|
"We expect that advertising funded search engines will be inherently biased towards the advertisers and away from the needs of the consumers." -- Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, 1998
http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html
| 3 | 9 |
2007-08-28 14:55:01 UTC
|
47,440 | 47,348 |
anamax
|
Norman Borlaug: the greatest person to ever live?
|
rms
|
> The fact that Norman was a great-grandchild of Norwegian immigrants to the US makes one wonder how many talented people are going to waste given the current almost epidemic prevalence of xenophobia in the US and in Europe.In what universe are Norwegians discriminated against in the US? In this universese, there are whole states populated with Scandahoovian immigrants and their descendants over the past 100 years. Maybe the Swedes and the Norwegians throw down in America, but the rest of us can't tell the difference.
| null | 0 | 13 |
2007-08-28 14:55:58 UTC
|
47,441 | 47,427 |
aston
|
How do you share YC Winter Program application?
|
pbnaidu
|
Subversion was how we did it. Works pretty well. Maybe overkill if you don't already have a repository set up.
|
I am in the process of filling the YC 08 winter program application. I have filled the application and I would like my friend (co-founder) to fill some parts and review the application. How do I share the application, do I need to share my user name and password or is there some way to do this?
Thanks in advance and sorry I didn't know where to post this question.
| 1 | 1 |
2007-08-28 15:04:52 UTC
|
47,443 | 47,427 |
rms
|
How do you share YC Winter Program application?
|
pbnaidu
|
I did it in text form in Google docs, allows for simultaneous editing.
|
I am in the process of filling the YC 08 winter program application. I have filled the application and I would like my friend (co-founder) to fill some parts and review the application. How do I share the application, do I need to share my user name and password or is there some way to do this?
Thanks in advance and sorry I didn't know where to post this question.
| 0 | 1 |
2007-08-28 15:22:20 UTC
|
47,444 | 47,310 |
anson
|
How valuable are designers to a startup team?
|
kyro
|
Find a hacker-designer, even if it means expanding from 2 to 3 cofounders. Or become that hacker-designer.Good design and flow is critical, especially for consumers apps. I'd say that 2 of 3 of our founders consider design as one of our core competencies and I think its made a huge difference. But even if its not a core competency, make it one of yours! Our 1 non-designer cofounder learned about and talked to other startups about design, and ended up coming up with our biggest design improvement to date - removing the whole "website" from the frontpage. If you go to Anywhere.FM, you'll notice we don't take you to a "website" and this change reduced our bouncerate by 50% (compared to the Alpha release). This certainly trumps most technical feats we've accomplished to date.Finally, its good to have multiple opinions (but not get locked up in minor details), so that the UI targets a wide audience - not just the audience the designers are most in tune with. Its easy to target only yourself, and we probably still suffer from that today.
|
Compared to the value of having coders on a team, how do designers stack up? Is it common to have a designer on board, or to just a design firm? Also, have the majority of teams accepted to YC had designers on the team, and if not, what have they done? Perhaps pg can best answer that last one.Thanks.
| 1 | 17 |
2007-08-28 15:23:41 UTC
|
47,445 | 47,390 |
cellis
|
What Really Buys Happiness?
|
kkim
|
money?
| null | 3 | 9 |
2007-08-28 15:23:46 UTC
|
47,446 | 47,425 |
yubrew
|
Oh the Irony
|
transburgh
|
You are misinterpreting that statement. What they are referring to in the above quotation is when search results are altered due to change in advertiser dollars. Kind of like when Yahoo used to have top advertiser links above the normal search results, and undifferentiated from the content.Google, as a result, made a separate, distinct location for advertisement links. Because they separated the location of advertisements from the search results, they preserved the integrity of the search results.This structure has not changed, as you can clearly see sponsored links are separated from search results:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=pizza
|
"We expect that advertising funded search engines will be inherently biased towards the advertisers and away from the needs of the consumers." -- Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, 1998
http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html
| 0 | 9 |
2007-08-28 15:34:24 UTC
|
47,447 | 47,427 |
danielha
|
How do you share YC Winter Program application?
|
pbnaidu
|
Copy it to a texteditor and pass that around.Or use Versionate.
|
I am in the process of filling the YC 08 winter program application. I have filled the application and I would like my friend (co-founder) to fill some parts and review the application. How do I share the application, do I need to share my user name and password or is there some way to do this?
Thanks in advance and sorry I didn't know where to post this question.
| 2 | 1 |
2007-08-28 15:39:41 UTC
|
47,451 | 47,415 |
plusbryan
|
Top 100 "Undiscovered" Web Sites
|
jkush
|
so far I see iminlikewithyou.com and likebetter.com. woot!
| null | 3 | 9 |
2007-08-28 15:43:29 UTC
|
47,456 | 47,310 |
german
|
How valuable are designers to a startup team?
|
kyro
|
Design is very important, I'll say its as important as code, If your code is great and your UI is just bad, people won't use your app.
It's a huge advantage to have a designer in your team, mostly because a startup changes so fast that depending of an outsider to redesign or add new features will just don't work.
I think design is not just looking good, but being easy to use and understand.
|
Compared to the value of having coders on a team, how do designers stack up? Is it common to have a designer on board, or to just a design firm? Also, have the majority of teams accepted to YC had designers on the team, and if not, what have they done? Perhaps pg can best answer that last one.Thanks.
| 5 | 17 |
2007-08-28 16:06:35 UTC
|
47,462 | 47,421 |
nickb
|
CSS @ Ten: The Next Big Thing
|
ivankirigin
|
Yes, just what we need... more ways to make webpages look shitty, bloated and unreadable. Over the past 4 years, I've personally done at least two dozen usability studies and every one of the tests showed that simplicity always trumps elaborate design. No matter what you're trying to accomplish, you're always better off sticking to what people expect. People are used to Verdana, Times, Arial. I hate some of these fonts but people will test better if you stick to those fonts. Also, a lot of fonts just don't look great on screen and test even worse on readability. MS spent a lot of time on properly hinting these fonts so they are easy to read. By giving beginners this web fonts option, you're giving them more bullets to screw things up.Now, one place where you think this stuff would help is Linux. Since Linux doesn't come with these "standard" web fonts, you need to substitute. Problem is that you cannot just put a link to these fonts inside your CSS since they're copyrighted by MS. So we're back to square one.Rant: I wish Opera, MS etc. spent some time working on getting CSS2 working properly! They're already pushing for CSS3 and yet BASIC stuff, like box model, is all over the map and you still need hacks to get stuff working in multiple browsers. How about these companies (cough, MS) spend time getting the bugs out of current code so they can pass all those CSS tests instead of pushing even more useless stuff? Opera's JS is still subpar and supporting it takes a lot of tweaking.
| null | 0 | 17 |
2007-08-28 16:10:21 UTC
|
47,464 | 47,147 |
primiani
|
Teenage Girl's MySpace Layouts Worth Millions, Drops Out Of High School
|
vlad
|
First post!!Very inspiring, saw this on digg. I am glad to see some women internet entrepreneurs. Also, that sector of the market is very hard to break into, try doing a search for myspace layouts. These websites are plagued with ads. She said in her article she focused on user design and branding which is key. As much as we all hate myspace. We have to think also, there is a new younger breed of myspace users that are learning html, javascript, css, etc. becoming web designers/developers who might not have learned or wanted to learn elsewise. That is what I think is still great about myspace and other customizable sites.- Joey Primiani
| null | 6 | 88 |
2007-08-28 16:19:50 UTC
|
47,465 | 47,415 |
mynameishere
|
Top 100 "Undiscovered" Web Sites
|
jkush
|
Why do so many big-name webpages use automatic slideshows? Does ANYBODY--and I mean, ANYBODY out of 6 billion people on earth--sit and watch auto-refreshing slideshows?Damn, there's a lot of youtube clones out there.
| null | 0 | 9 |
2007-08-28 16:22:46 UTC
|
47,469 | 47,452 |
geebee
|
Don't call me a software engineer
|
greendestiny
|
I agree, and I agree with the reasons the author listed.But ultimately, I'd dismiss this as a minor irritation if it weren't for the efforts to license Software Engineers under the EIT/PE path. In the end, I don't care if they call me a hacker, or a programmer, or an analyst. If it didn't matter, I wouldn't even really care if they called me an "engineer" (though I'd put something else on my business cards). I majored in math and got a grad degree in Industrial Engineering. Call it math, call it engineering, call it hacking. Whatever.But I truly agree that any attempts to license the people who create software under the PE path - ie., undergraduate ABET accredited engineering degree, followed by the EIT exam, an apprenticeship, and the PE exam, would be utterly stupid. The exams are difficult and rigorous, sure, but what to they have to do with code? Very, very little. I think that 5% of the questions may have something to do with software, and they're pretty lame questions. The path would deny entry to the most talented, and give a peripheral group tremendous power to decide what talented people can and can't do. While the term "engineer" is pretty general (think "sound engineers" in the recording industry), I'd still rather avoid any ambiguity here. I absolutely deny licensed professional engineers any claim whatsoever over software development, and I'll avoid the term to ensure that I don't continue to confuse them and others about where I (and almost all the good hackers I know) stand on this.
| null | 0 | 5 |
2007-08-28 16:26:16 UTC
|
47,470 | 47,383 |
primiani
|
Digg Gets A Major Makeover
|
transburgh
|
I like the new layout. If I had some criticisms, I think the design is a little too cluttered. Also, when there is a video posted on the homepage, my eye goes right to the video instead of the news. Therefore, it should be separated. I am sure the reason why the wanted to combine it was that the video page was getting far less views than the news page. Most people submitted videos to the news page to get the most hits. This design also gives room for more ad space.
| null | 0 | 3 |
2007-08-28 16:27:34 UTC
|
47,479 | 46,887 |
inklesspen
|
Doing more with less: Apple's most controversial app to date - iMovie '08
|
nickb
|
It's either love it (because it lets you get things done easily and quickly) or hate it (because you were good at iMovie '06). But the goal for iMovie '08 was to be able to make a movie in a half hour with no experience. And I think they've met that goal.
| null | 0 | 4 |
2007-08-28 17:02:37 UTC
|
47,483 | 47,348 |
henning
|
Norman Borlaug: the greatest person to ever live?
|
rms
|
How many of us only know about Norman Borlaug because of Penn Jillette talking about him?
| null | 2 | 13 |
2007-08-28 17:09:38 UTC
|
47,485 | 47,482 |
pg
|
The Surprising Truth About Ugly Websites (they perform better)
|
nickb
|
This guy is confused. There are a lot of ugly sites that perform badly too. In fact, the average ugly site probably does a lot worse than the average nice one.I think what he means to say is that (a) simplicity is so
important that simple and ugly works better than beautiful
and complex, and (b) if you have enough drawing power by other means, you can get away with bad design.
| null | 0 | 18 |
2007-08-28 17:15:03 UTC
|
47,488 | 47,442 |
danielha
|
Crystal Tower, the startup dorm, loses elevator service
|
nickb
|
Ugh. I hope it's fixed next week when we move in.On the top (12th) floor.
| null | 3 | 6 |
2007-08-28 17:30:11 UTC
|
47,490 | 47,275 |
danielha
|
Are there going to be any changes heading into the Winter '08 program?
|
blored
|
19 groups wasn't too bad (from a founder perspective). You won't get close with everyone, but the community is in full force.Just don't pig out on the rice at dinner.
|
Will the median age go up? Will dinners be held on a different night? Did the large batch (19 groups) work out OK?
| 1 | 6 |
2007-08-28 17:33:18 UTC
|
47,491 | 47,400 |
sanj
|
The Pmarca Guide to Startups, Part 8: Hiring, managing, promoting, and firing executives
|
luccastera
|
It is distresssing to see how many mistakes we made.Luckily that was then.
| null | 1 | 24 |
2007-08-28 17:36:00 UTC
|
47,493 | 47,348 |
herdrick
|
Norman Borlaug: the greatest person to ever live?
|
rms
|
I always thought Orville Vogel was the father of the green revolution: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orville_Vogel Must have been regional bias.
| null | 5 | 13 |
2007-08-28 17:39:24 UTC
|
47,498 | 47,497 |
rms
|
Boingboing redesigned: nicely minimalist, despite all the ads
|
rms
|
Perhaps most interestingly, they enabled comments with the help of a (full-time?) community manager to keep things from turning into the Techcrunch comments.It makes me wonder how much money they make. Anyone have a ballpark figure?
| null | 0 | 8 |
2007-08-28 17:48:01 UTC
|
47,499 | 47,494 |
nickb
|
How Google could beat Facebook at its own game
|
amichail
|
I agree. They could but will they? Google has been executing well only in the ads area... they've performed poorly in all other ones.If Google were smart, they could combine Gmail, Orkut, Picassa and Blogger into a single social platform. But that would not guarantee success.
|
Google could obtain a social network graph quickly from gmail accounts. Moreover, it could release a platform similar to Facebook but take it another step further by providing free hosting on its massive computer cluster.There would be some sort of revenue sharing system in place for apps created using this platform.
| 0 | 2 |
2007-08-28 17:48:57 UTC
|
47,500 | 47,375 |
joshwa
|
Is reddit down?
|
twism
|
It's back up... and for some reason it seems like without the heavy traffic, the quality of posts on the front page is way up. Could just be a coincidence, though...
| null | 2 | 16 |
2007-08-28 17:52:55 UTC
|
47,505 | 47,400 |
terpil
|
The Pmarca Guide to Startups, Part 8: Hiring, managing, promoting, and firing executives
|
luccastera
|
Weird how he does that PC thing of gratuitously using the feminine. That peaked in the early 90s and has mostly disappeared now. It rings especially false in this industry, where female CEOs are so rare that they're automatically famous on that account.
| null | 0 | 24 |
2007-08-28 17:57:05 UTC
|
47,511 | 47,497 |
Alex3917
|
Boingboing redesigned: nicely minimalist, despite all the ads
|
rms
|
That's the first thing I noticed also. It looks much less busy despite having significantly more ad space.
| null | 2 | 8 |
2007-08-28 18:11:45 UTC
|
47,512 | 47,147 |
edu
|
Teenage Girl's MySpace Layouts Worth Millions, Drops Out Of High School
|
vlad
|
68 points? what happened today? it has been because reddit has been unavailable?
| null | 7 | 88 |
2007-08-28 18:12:52 UTC
|
47,529 | 47,487 |
ecuzzillo
|
Google Phone
|
vlad
|
I'd buy it.
| null | 1 | 8 |
2007-08-28 18:47:12 UTC
|
47,536 | 47,449 |
oditogre
|
Fred Wilson: Favoriting Ads
|
charzom
|
So do I give an upvote if I like the ad, if I approve of it, or if I'm actually likely to follow up on it with a purchase? An ad could easily be one of those and not the other two, and I don't want to send mixed messages to advertisers. Of course, I use adblock and flashblock on most sites (a few sites I do allow ads), but if this caught on enough to convince advertisers to stop using crappy / annoying ads, maybe that would change.
| null | 1 | 11 |
2007-08-28 19:00:43 UTC
|
47,537 | 47,452 |
donna
|
Don't call me a software engineer
|
greendestiny
|
how about software architect
| null | 1 | 5 |
2007-08-28 19:03:29 UTC
|
47,538 | 47,482 |
acgourley
|
The Surprising Truth About Ugly Websites (they perform better)
|
nickb
|
At one point Ebay wasn't so ugly, it was more par for the course. While it was rocketing to popularity it had a simple and clean design (iirc). Of course, since then it did two things wrong:1) never kept up with current design expectations
2) never really refactored despite a feature influx.
| null | 3 | 18 |
2007-08-28 19:10:46 UTC
|
47,539 | 47,449 |
donna
|
Fred Wilson: Favoriting Ads
|
charzom
|
What would their business look like if Adpinion worked with someone like Cox News?
http://www.coxenterprises.com/corp/home.htm
http://www.coxnews.com/index.html
| null | 2 | 11 |
2007-08-28 19:14:38 UTC
|
47,543 | 47,487 |
vegashacker
|
Google Phone
|
vlad
|
I hope it has some programmer-friendly features. I crave a small, inexpensive device that would let me leave my laptop home on trips. I.e., it would allow me to program on it. The problem with this dream of mine is that it necessitates having a text editor on the phone, and tiny keyboards means it's hard to issue Emacs commands.Now, I do think Google will do a better job than Apple has in letting their device be "open", so I think that will be good for programmers. We'll see.
| null | 0 | 8 |
2007-08-28 19:17:14 UTC
|
47,545 | 47,421 |
henning
|
CSS @ Ten: The Next Big Thing
|
ivankirigin
|
Oh boy, a new generation of annoying, unreadable websites!This along with Flex (who needs to copy/paste/bookmark things on the Internet?) is going to make the web of the future really fucking annoying. I can't wait! Dare I say, it is a GAME-CHANGER. Yeah, I said it, whatchoo gon' do?
| null | 1 | 17 |
2007-08-28 19:22:38 UTC
|
47,550 | 43,202 |
danw
|
AT&T cripples BlackBerry to make iPhone more appealing
|
jsjenkins168
|
There must be a way of making the operators irrelevant
| null | 0 | 8 |
2007-08-28 19:44:15 UTC
|
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