dhuck

the new york times has had something similar to this for years.

you can highlight words and it will show a "question box" that you can click to see more information about the word, google search, etc. it's displayed inline so you don't need to navigate away.

it's a nice idea, but it's terribly annoying.

these are pretty sub-par questions that were probably written by a marketing person: "But completely opting out of the platform won’t allow you to play any games and other third party features on the site?"

and this is one of the first times that i have ever seen 0 comments on a NYT post, especially on a topic this controversial. am i just missing something? where are all the comments? (when i tried to post mine, i got a message that all comments are pre-moderated.)

compare this article to the last Q and A with Eliot Schrage: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/facebook-executive-...

EDIT: there are also no comments on this NYT facebook article that came out the same day: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/technology/27facebook.html.... it looks like facebook is pulling strings to quash dissent.

could it have been an intentionally planned ... mistake?

I'm in Maine right now. Here's a warning message from chatroulettemap.com that I see when I visit:

"We'd like to advise maine.edu to stop using student's names in their hostnames. We've decided, at least for the time being, to hide IP & host information as some user-identifiable information was found in some entries."

Get in touch with your school newspaper (if you have one.) I wrote for mine throughout college and I know that editors are ALWAYS looking for articles from people like you. Trust me, the campus wants your voice, you just have to be proactive about it.

user: tdavis created: 287 days ago karma: 911

it really disappoints me to see users with very high karma levels making such obscene, unnecessary and completely non-hacker-news-esque comments. you are hurting this community: please stop.

I live outside of Boston, where the median home price is way north of 500k. And living in a rich area doesn't make you rich - I can attest to that personally, too: I rent, I eat ramen.

But I know that if someone made this proposition to me, in the Boston area, I'd expect something in return. I don't think asking for a meal or some beer is out of line. It's more symbolic than anything.

If you're not in the position to buy me a dinner in exchange for a few hours of my services, then I really wonder if you're in the position to start a company. No offense intended - but if you are about to go the VC route, then the VC will be asking you to make a lot bigger personal bets than a simple dinner.

But anyway, this is all speculation, and HackerNews isn't a place for speculation. I'd go back and edit my comment, but the edit window is expired. C'est la vie, mod me down accordingly.

My apologies if I offended anyone.

I really didn't have anything negative to say about the Craigslist post - we've all seen this sort of naivety before. Most of us have even been there.

But what really bothered me personally is that this was posted in the Boca Raton Craigslist area. If you can afford to live in Boca (median home price: 420k, http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bpretire/2006/snapsh...), you can afford to at least provide some form of compensation (beer? pizza? caffeine? hell, just take me out to dinner and I'll help draw up some cost estimates.)

Maybe I'm generalizing based on an area (and who has spare cash around nowadays anyway), but I'm so tired of people with plenty in the bank asking me to develop an idea for free.

If you have a "considerable history in marketing," you should know better.

do you have any links to those "well-worn rules of thumb"?

i'm looking at building a "purchase!" button, that's obviously quite important in the whole scheme of my site, so i'd really appreciate anyone pointing me in the right direction...

tumblr.com - it's slow going finding cool people, but they are out there. use the explore page.

other blogging sites with location services might be helpful as well.

I think one line of thinking in acquisitions is not just to get control of a product, but rather to take that startup team under the Google wing.

I am a firm believer in the idea that the most important asset that a company can have is its employees - even Google. Granted - acquiring a company and forcing the employees to work within the Google system is a piss-poor way of getting someone to work for you, but ultimately, how else can you get those crazy entrepreneaurs to work for you?

This acquire-to-hire plan backfires all the time - under performance, stagnation of the acquired product, etc etc, but I can see the appeal to it. At least, in theory.

this is my favorite quote, from the "Be Silly" section: "If you want to publish a paper in economic theory, there is a safe approach: make a conceptually minor but mathematically difficult extension to some familiar model. Because the basic assumptions of the model are already familiar, people will not regard them as strange; because you have done something technically difficult, you will be respected for your demonstration of firepower. Unfortunately, you will not have added much to human knowledge."

be silly. do something completely different. the normal ideas that techcrunch spits out day after day are played out, do something revolutionary.

I think it's important to note that this was not a public meeting for all CEOs of all companies everywhere - just their portfolio companies. Sequoia asked the CEOs to keep everything private, but then the notes leaked, then the slides leaked, and then Sequoia was forced to discuss it. Splitting hairs, maybe, but I think it's an important distinction.

yeah, that's fine. script kiddies run scripts that other people make. but very few people can say that they took down yahoo. i mean, that's not a typical script kiddie success story, is it?

talk him down all you want, but i remember what it was like when this guy was doing his work (however you want to judge it.) he made headlines. script kiddies don't make headlines, what they do has already been done and automated before them. there was something original to his work, even if he was just using an original combination of scripts. that makes him a hacker, imho.

I love biking: I ride a fixed gear to school almost every day, it's only a few miles and I can get to class faster if you include the time it takes to park and walk to class.

The health benefits for riding a bicycle are a fantastic reason to start and continue doing it.

But one thing I would just like to point out to everyone - you are going to pay for fuel, either way. You might not be paying for oil when you bike, but you definitely need to pay for food. If you are trying to lose weight and reduce your calories, I guess you can afford to eat less, but eventually you'll need to eat a lot (really, it's a noticeable increase) of food to make up for your exercising. And that costs money - so I really wonder about the savings gained from biking.

This shouldn't detract anyone from riding a bike, I'm just sayin'.

i come from a somewhat similar background (i'm 23).

to add on: this is why i'm very happy with .NET. the overlap between web apps in ASP.NET and client based apps is large. no mac or linux, obviously. recently i've started building a small windows app again, and i've been so pleased by how quickly and smoothly it's been - even though it's been years since i've worked on a windows app.

when i first saw this post title - i instantly thought in my head, hey - doesn't rescuetime do that?! i absolutely love their product. i'd work for them in a heartbeat if my skillz were better.

i don't think client-based apps are dying, at all. if anything, rescuetime is showing that they are on the rebound. good work, guys.

Couldn't agree more with the idea with about ignoring companies that say they need $5-$10 mil in order to be a "viable business." Today's companies (look at ycombinator) can do that with much, much less. $1-$2 mil seems like a good level - more than I would personally need! :)

To restate/clarify my original point (messed up the thread, my bad): getting a valuation of $25 mil to $50 mil, with a TOTAL investment of $1-$2 million is very hard. Google and a few choice companies may have done that, but I think that's definitely the exception. A lot of good companies are out there that aren't Googles (take over the entire market in 5 years) that deserve investment, as well.

These investments might not produce a valuation of $25-$50 mil after 5 years (like Google, etc etc) - but maybe they would after 10, 12, 15 years. This is where I think we agree.

I bristled at this: "A business that needs no more than $1-$2 million in financing to become a $25-$50 million (exit value) company, simply by executing the core business plan."

That is an insane requirement for return. I'm not sure how that's even possible - or if any company has even managed to do that. Someone prove me wrong?

said another way: you can't lose money you don't have

that might not help, so here's a picture of a pack of corgis on a beach, hope it helps: http://media.tumblr.com/b9vfl4b63eh5j0pmcEfbxxxGo1_500.png

I have nothing against Mr. Perkins personally. I think he's a great investor - and he's undoubtedly a lot smarter than I am. I have nothing but respect for the man's accomplishments, I just take offense at how he chooses to spend his money. Now, granted, yes, it's absolutely none of my business at all. I would hate to be told how to spend my money, so it's hypocritical for me to judge him on how he spends his money.

But with that said, I just think it's a waste.

You can't moor a boat this size in a normal harbor (yet). And in a lot of ways, bigger isn't better (especially for a sailboat, as tlrobinson mentions below.) I read an article about a visitor on Larry Ellison's ship that said it was like walking in an empty mall. That's just how it feels - huge, imposing, but utterly empty.

I think it's hard for us to say if he gets the value out of his boat or not (and it's not our business anyway, true.) I speculate that he doesn't because I see this boat as just another conspicuous display of wealth intended to validate Mr. Perkins' ego. And if you can't feel secure about yourself without a big boat - then I really think you should reevaluate your priorities in life.

"Should everyone stop [displaying their wealth] because the brokers on Wall St made a couple of stupid bets?"

No, of course not. If we take away that - then what reason do you have to try to make it big?

The source of my "hate" of money is that I think people (especially Americans) think money is the answer to everything. To quote Blow - "Money isn't real, it only seems like it is." Over the long term, a big boat will not make you any happier than a smaller boat. Anything that you buy eventually will lose its luster. That Lambo? It'll feel awesome that first day, but then the second day - you're a little bit more used to it, and it loses a little value to you. By year 10, what is it worth to you?

I just feel that if people recognize this - that you eventually get used to all this stuff that you buy - than they wouldn't need to spend so much money on themselves. There are people starving in this world, dying of illnesses that could be treated, and Mr. Perkins is sitting in his empty mall of a boat. I personally feel that's immoral.

But he's free to do what he wants - and I'm free to take potshots at him from an internet forum. If he doesn't want to make this world a better place with his money (and honestly - he might be doing that as well, I probably am not giving him enough credit) - he's free to do that.

(Another important thing to consider is that this boat will be used to entertain hundreds of people, and not just for carrying around 12 guests. So it has many more uses then I am giving it credit for.)

laut: "It isn't his fault that the financial system is a mess. Turn to politicans and voters for that."

Anyone who demands greater and greater returns on their investments, at any cost - is the cause of this mess. Greed produces this demand. Poor people and rich people can both be guilty of being greedy, but it is people like Perkins and company that have the power because they hold the chips, and it is their demands that get heard over everyone else. Thus, the richer and greedier that you are - the more likely it is you that caused this mess.

And to clarify, I hope the boat doesn't sink with anyone on it. I don't wish that on anyone.

Quote: "“The issue of length is important to all these guys, and the way you know that’s the case is how often they tell you that length is not important,” said Mr. Kaplan, who sailed on the Maltese Falcon on its maiden voyage from Istanbul, where it was built, around the Greek Islands to the French Riviera."

In a lot of ways, this story should be right up my alley - I am a hacker, I'm very interested in starting my own company and finding someone to finance it, and I have spent many days sailing on my dad's sailboat. Sailing is a wonderful pastime - something I'm sure most hackers would love to do (you have to work within a set of strict parameters in a given system, but you can beat the system - temporarily - with the smallest adjustments to your equipment.) That's cool - and very hackerish (imho.)

But I'm sickened by this boat. As cool as it is - and the technology behind the sails is damn cool - it's just a disgusting waste of money. Do you really think that Perkin's gets his value out of this boat - or do you think it's just another exercise in Who-Has-The-Biggest-Dick?

We all want to have the biggest dick (excuse my language), but it's very important to recognize who you have to step on to get to that point. How many companies got shit term sheets because Perkins had to finance a boat that can never be fully enjoyed? (Larry Ellison wants to sell his megayacht because he can't even park it in normal harbors - he has to use industrial marinas to dock up.)

I think it's extremely appropriate that this boat is sailing into an American harbor for the first time as our financial system is going through one of the biggest moments of turmoil in decades. You can't make up that kind of stuff.

Personally, I hope it sinks.

Babson College is hosting an open business plan/idea competition. I'd be right up there with my plan - but my prototype (sadly) isn't ready yet. So I'm hoping that one of the Hacker News teams can come in and claim some glory. Right now the competition is very light on technical teams, I think a HN team could have a very good chance with a good prototype.

Here's the dirty deets: 23 companies/plans right now, $75 entry fee (it's a legit contest, legit school: http://www3.babson.edu/Newsroom/Releases/BabsonForumthis-yea...), $30k award: $20k cash, $10 services (I presume this means with Highland Capital, which is helping judge), US residents 21 and older.

THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED: a good prototype (not necessary, but after checking out the competitors, you'll need it to get into the top 3 for the free flight + presentation in front of VCs), a very short, basic business plan (executive summary, business model description, competitive advantage, management bio).

Good luck!

I use to agree until I started to enjoy cooking... (cheaper, healthier, and all that.)

Eating can bring a lot of joy to your life, preparing meals and enjoying with someone seems (imho) to contribute to a better, more well rounded lifestyle (equaling more productive hacking session.)

... food for thought (ducks).

Maybe for you, but some people can pull it off.

Jeff Immelt, CEO of GEO (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_04/b3767079....) boasted that he worked 100 hour weeks for two decades.

I've heard plenty of stories of people working crazy hours (the Mint.com guy built his prototype doing 100 hour weeks I believe) and then pulling back to something more reasonable (or not.) Sure, it might not be sustainable in the long run - but hell, life in general isn't sustainable in the long run. Sometimes you gotta chase those dreams, regardless of the cost.

I never made any serious money with AllAdvantage (less than 40 or 50 dollars total) - but I was in pretty active on a message board with people that were earning serious cash. The people with several thousand referalls were sometimes pulling in several thousands of dollars in monthly checks (albeit, only about 6 months maybe.)

Say what you will, that's a hell of a return for basically putting an affliate link up on a busy website (one guy was running a basic wallpaper website.) AllAdvantage might have gone bankrupt, but it paid out $49 mil to a lot of small site owners in one year. That's pretty cool.

(Business model never had a prayer, though.)

5000 hours just to get the thing in the air - kind of ruins the whole thing from a purely cost advantage perspective. Just imagine what you could build in 5000 hours...

Not to take any credit from this guy at all. He deserves mad props (heh heh) for this project. Truly a hacker in every sense of the word.

Why wait for the users to come to your site?

If you let me import my last.fm profile - and scrap all of my friend's profiles (they're linked from my profile) - you should have all the data you need to start recommending music or generating some interesting charts.

Overall, it's a great start. I think there's a lot of places you can go with it - definitely places to improve upon Last.FM and such.