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Inventing a physical product | brk: Been through that a few times.Your path depends on if you want to sell/license a patent (and thus have less control over the end product, company, and profits), or if you want to build a company (which often, but not always, tends to require that you develop more than one product, at least over time).The bigger is... |
Inventing a physical product | URSpider94: I would recommend that you start with a provisional patent application, before disclosing any information to potential partners. A provisional application (which exists only in the USA, to my knowledge) is essentially a placeholder, giving you one year to file the complete application. Since it's essentia... |
Book recommendations for Linux 2.6 tcp/ip | TallGuyShort: Just as an update if anyone cares, I decided to go with "Understanding Linux Network Internals". It doesn't cover TCP or IPv6, but it looks like the perfect level of depth that I'm looking for, so hopefully what I learn from this book will help me figure out the rest of the TCP part by myself.The Linux Ne... |
College business model? | TallGuyShort: I may be the least qualified person to be giving you advice here, but one thing that jumps out to me is that your first could was on discrete math. If your local business wanted to hire software engineers and you're a very small country, perhaps you should begin by focusing on something more practical and... |
College business model? | michael_dorfman: It doesn't sound like there's anything wrong with your model; you just need to continue your funding negotiations.If you've got two lecturers, what are the major expenses? Salaries, and rent for the classroom? How big is the gap between (enrollment x tuition fees) and expenses? What kind of enrollme... |
Have You Heard Conversations in a Constructed Language? | tokenadult: Link to previous HN submission of news article about conlangs:http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=54474Some good websites with lots of information about conlangs:http://www.zompist.com/kit.htmlhttp://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/9219/conlangfaq.ht...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructed_languagewit... |
College business model? | oldgregg: Right now college still has too much residual cachet. New MBAs realize they just got hosed, but high school juniors still obsess over what school they will get into. It will take some time before you have a significant number of people looking for alternatives that they are willing to fund. It's a bit of a ch... |
College business model? | dmillar: I can't speak for everyone, but in regard to CS, I, and many of my colleagues, learned most of our trade from books, experience, and each other.I never really found much utility for lecturers in CS classes in college. I learned just as well--if not better--from a good book. |
Payroll for bootstrapped startups? | nickadams: My company uses Bank of America Online Payroll. We are an S-Corp with no full-time employees other than the two founders/shareholders.The Bank of America option is free if you are depositing directly to a BoA account. Being that both me and my business partner have BoA, this works for us.The free version als... |
Do you up-vote to bookmark? | tokenadult: No, I upvote mostly to indicatea) that I learned something from the post, even if I disagree with it,orb) that the post should be informative to other participants, and I largely agree with it.My downvotes similarly have a two-fold meaning, but they are more rare.I upvote so much that I don't use my list of... |
Do you up-vote to bookmark? | ggchappell: > Do you up-vote to bookmark?Sort of. For me, an upvote means "I'm glad this was posted on HN". Sometimes I'll see a new submission with no comments yet, and I'm interested in what people might say about it, so I'll upvote to bookmark not just the article, but the HN post, for later comment viewing. However... |
Do you up-vote to bookmark? | Ennis: I upvote to bookmark only. Unfortunately it means I don't upvote items that should be upvoted. I upvote comments though. I wish there was upvoting and stars for bookmarking. |
A tool to share bookmarks with only my company? | TweedHeads: Great idea, there are plenty of personal web services that need a business clone and del.icio.us is one of them, same as wikis, twitter, etc. |
Best word to describe this process? | tarouter: how about handpick? |
Best word to describe this process? | arantius: cull (verb)
2. select or obtain from a large quantity or a variety of sources.cherry-pick (verb)
selectively choose (the best things or people) from those availableprefer (verb, preferred, preferring)
1 like (someone or something) better than another or others; tend to choose |
Do you want a "small talk" filter for twitter? | mbrubeck: Check out Philtro ("A Personal Noise Filter for Twitter"): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=730819 |
Have you up-vote someone you disagreed with today? | noodle: i do not up-vote comments i disagree with. however, i also do not down-vote them.i only down-vote the irrelevant/spammy/obnoxious responses. the responses that don't add any value to a discussion.this way, if someone says something unpopular or whatever, they're not penalized (by me, at least). they're just ... |
Have you up-vote someone you disagreed with today? | scott_s: Twenty minutes ago. I actually voted up someone who had responded to me. I didn't agree with their point, but someone had voted them to 0. It was still a valid part of the discussion, so I voted it back up to 1.If I disagree with a comment, and it's at 1, I won't upvote it. But if it's less than one, I'll corr... |
Have you up-vote someone you disagreed with today? | TrevorJ: I always up vote anyone who responds to me with well-articulated points, regardless of whether I agree with them or not. As long as they have taken the time to explain a viewpoint in a manner that contributes to the conversation I feel that it is worthy of consideration. |
Have you up-vote someone you disagreed with today? | anamax: I'm beginning to think that it's time to hide the points totals. |
Have you up-vote someone you disagreed with today? | po: Occasionally, there will be a patient person in a heated debate with a jerk. That's when I expect zebra stripe commenting. I think people will naturally up-vote a comment they agree with more than one they don't. If the tone of all comments is civil, and the argument is well thought out, I wouldn't expect to see li... |
Have you up-vote someone you disagreed with today? | DanielBMarkham: We've kicked this one around since the day HN went public.Single-dimension voting is broken. It's a known bug. Given a single way to respond, users are going to vote emotions over substance on a ratio of something like 20:1.Nobody has a solution that is easy to use.Film at Eleven. |
Ever "think in Google"? | seasoup: Yes.. that is, yes you did too much research online over the past few days! |
Ever "think in Google"? | TallGuyShort: Recently I've woken up thinking in C. I'll say hi to my wife, and immediately check to make sure that in my mind, there were parentheses and a semicolon after I said 'hi'. |
Ever "think in Google"? | jgroch: I feel vindicated: http://afeeblemind.blogspot.com/2008/04/do-you-think-in-goog... |
Ever "think in Google"? | mcav: I've tried to ⌃⌘D a word in a real book before.Also caught myself searching for ⌘Z after spilling something. |
Ever "think in Google"? | rwolf: While focusing on a problem, my google-fu always seems to diffuse. An example from today:ie7 css background-image second try load pageUnsurprisingly, this did not return the results I was looking for. |
Do you up-vote to bookmark? | chaosprophet: Yes, but only when I'm in a hurry. |
How do you record your thoughts? | citation_needed: I use my iPod Touch's Notes app to jot down things I need to do, buy or remember. It's cumbersome, but since it's the device I carry around, it's the obvious choice. |
How do you record your thoughts? | luckyland: The best way to record your thoughts and ideas and commit them to memory is to explain them to another person. Try it as often as the nature of your thoughts permits; it's really effective. |
How do you record your thoughts? | derefr: Depends on the season. When it's time for loose jeans, I carry around a Moleskine. I only ever write, not draw/doodle, but actually putting pen[cil] to paper makes me more likely to sit down and brainstorm out a few other ideas while I've got it out. It's also helpful in that, when you later store the thought s... |
How do you record your thoughts? | est: I use Quotepad on my PChttp://quotepad.info/It's a rebranding of Notesholder Litescreenshot:http://notes.aklabs.com/images/notesholder-desktop-sticky-no... |
How do you record your thoughts? | limmeau: When I'm within reach of my Emacs, I use org-remember to create an idea entry. Otherwise, I usually carry enough calendar sheets on whose backsides I can keep ideas fresh until I can enter them into a computer. |
How do you record your thoughts? | lincolnq: I use Evernote. It OCRs text out of photos I take on my iPhone. I try to take a photo of anything which gave me an idea, and usually looking at the note is enough to trigger the idea again. That text is searchable.I take pictures of whiteboards whenever I've been doing design. It can't OCR my handwriting well... |
How do you record your thoughts? | patio11: I find myself needing short term storage for ideas ("What should I try to do today?" "What needs to go in this class?") and long term storage for ideas ("Why does the screenshot on the home page link to an image which you have to close to continue interacting with the site instead of linking into to a convers... |
How do you record your thoughts? | huhtenberg: I tried lots of things and nothing beats the pencil and paper method. Notes on the concepts or high-level ideas go into a notebook, notes and sketches for an ongoing stuff such as UI designs, ToDo lists, random thoughts on current project - on separate sheets of paper. Latter are not meant for keeping beyon... |
How do you record your thoughts? | symstym: I've found that it's really useful for me to write down my thoughts. In the past I assumed that I would remember any worthwhile ideas, but I've found that's not the case at all.When I'm not at my computer, I use iPhone Notes (about to switch to Simplenote) for short notes and a small notebook if possible when... |
How do you record your thoughts? | TriinT: I blog them. Seriously. Blogging is about explaining my ideas to whoever wants to read them, and thus it forces me to be clear and precise. It allows me to find flaws in my own reasoning.I blog for myself: when I re-read my old posts, I feel like a stranger to them. It's hard to load the old ideas to my brain, ... |
How do you record your thoughts? | le_dominator: Drawing. I draw them and try to make them beautiful, not just throwaway squiggles. My thoughts come fast and translating them into words is like having to edit a paper at the same time as the idea is taking influence over my mind.One day, a ladybug went to a caterpillar and said to him, "You have so many ... |
How do you record your thoughts? | DarkShikari: I have a text file on my desktop where I keep ideas.When I come up with some off-the-wall idea, usually x264-development-related, I throw it into the text file; it rarely takes more than a dozen words. I'm not writing it for someone else, I'm writing it for myself--all I need is enough so that I remember ... |
How do you record your thoughts? | thomanil: I record quick thoughts with pen and paper on a small pad I carry with me everywhere.For more intensive work I use mindmapping. Either on whiteboard, or using http://thoughtmuse.com (disclaimer: I'm the founder of ThoughtMuse) |
How do you record your thoughts? | neuromanta: I draw a "mindmap". It's a simple, star-like diagram, with lots of drawings. Try it out, it's worth it. |
How do you record your thoughts? | nreece: Most of the times, I use the voice recorder on my mobile phone. Vocally expressing a thought is much easier and unconfined. Writing stuff down often results in me forgetting things in between. |
How do you record your thoughts? | kqr2: I usually email myself notes with some keywords attached. Since I use gmail, it's easy to search for them later. |
How do you record your thoughts? | trapper: I use jdarkroom on ubuntu/writeroom on mac. |
How do you record your thoughts? | thunk: Protip: the less you think about this the better. Bics and napkins, your editor, whatever. |
How do you record your thoughts? | keefe: I have a 1 inch binder with three dividers. There is plain paper, lined paper and graph paper with a final section with spare paper for each sections. I have 3 regular folders in there and a pouch containing a 6 inch triangle and typically a 0.5 mm mechanical pencil, occasionally 0.7mm but almost always one of t... |
How do you record your thoughts? | bnomis: If I'm in front of a computer I dump everything into OmniFocus http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnifocus/. It will sync across multiple machines so my notes are always up to date on all the different machines.Voodoo Pad http://www.flyingmeat.com/voodoopad/ is also good for longer writing pieces - it's lik... |
How do you record your thoughts? | chaosprophet: I prefer the pencil and paper route. I have a notebook in which I scribble my thoughts. It's a pain to search for something, but then there's the added advantage of finding something totally unexpected scribbled in there when you're searching for something else. |
How do you record your thoughts? | scythe: I have a personal stenographer. |
How do you record your thoughts? | adrianwaj: Great question, thanks for asking. Once can differentiate between having sparks, thoughts, ideas and completed works.When I was writing a blog, I built up insights and mental pictures in my mind until they became too intense to hold with integrity without written expression and publication (in the lead up, ... |
How do you record your thoughts? | adrianwaj: I create text files and use EditPlus for writing. I then place the text files in a folder and name each file appropriately. |
How do you record your thoughts? | akamaka: I try to think less! (Or, more specifically, focus my thoughts completely on supporting the actions at hand).I also have tended to jot stuff down on scraps of paper, and then collect those scraps into folders on different subjects, but I've realized that I rarely go back and look at them.To quote Rudyard Kipl... |
How do you record your thoughts? | mahmud: Emacs, org-mode; and my org-file is in version control. |
How do you record your thoughts? | colinplamondon: Legal pads- for working through something complex, I just divide the issue out among multiple pages and build up to a solution page that ties it all together. |
How do you record your thoughts? | nrr: When I'm away from a computer, I stick to loose paper products. For lecture notes, this means US Letter copy paper. For scribble notes, this means 3x5 notecards. I'm looking to get a sheet-feed scanner to digitize all of this eventually.When I'm at my computer, I use a mixture of OneNote and Emacs org-mode. I ... |
How do you record your thoughts? | bendtheblock: I keep a to-do list broken down by project plus misc things like blog, aims etc. It's lightweight and online so it's easy to access from 3 of the 4 options above. I just add the thought as a task and come back to it when I'm ready. |
How do you record your thoughts? | ovi256: With a thoughtrecorder. I mean, that's what they were invented for right ?/jk Exercise for the reader : What would a thought recorder be like ? |
How do you record your thoughts? | Edinburger: Everyday meeting notes: low-cost A4 pad. This is my short-term memory - I rarely look more than 2 weeks back.Strategy/product thinking: A5(?) Moleskine notebook. This is my long-term memory. It takes longer to fill and I love looking back on it.To-do list: single sheet of A4 with 'job' and 'next action' pai... |
How do you record your thoughts? | aw3c2: Way too many single papers, cut off parts from other papers, backsides of papers, old envelopes and so on.
I cannot think as creative when I am in front of a computer, I tend to think more logically and concentrated. For me thoughts need creative freedom and that comes best when I am doing things in the house. |
Highest rated story? | neuromanta: Looks like no one knows... should we promote this story, to have the most points? :P Then we would know the answer :D. |
How do you record your thoughts? | warp: I have a fairly large paper notebook in my bag which is great for sketching interface mockups and taking related notes.When I'm at a computer I use a password protected server-side tiddlywiki (pytw). But that's mostly a place to get stuff out of my head and out of my INBOX (think GTD). I don't think these ideas... |
Highest rated story? | gjm11: See http://top.searchyc.com/submissions -- I don't know whether it's kept perfectly up to date, but I'm pretty sure there's been nothing recently to match the highest scores there.Top is "How I hacked Hacker News (with arc security advisory)". Then two from pg: a welcome for new users written at a time when ther... |
How do you record your thoughts? | xcombinator: I use A4 paper sheets I got from photocopier shop that they give me for free( bad photocopies, half pages clear). They are great for trying different things.Very important: I use good quality, fine tip, Universal highlighters. COLORS ARE ESENTIAL. And of course mindmaps.I use a voice grabber with software... |
How do you record your thoughts? | frisco: With an Ono-Sendai. |
How do you record your thoughts? | chanux: Pocketmod - http://www.pocketmod.comIn my phone which is not expensive & feature rich like an iPhone or G1. I key in stuff with T9 in to an sms & save it :)On sticky notes which comes with Ubuntu.On sides of lecture notes :) |
Migrating software to the cloud? | idlewords: I have done this kind of work for clients, but did not get to participate in the actual decision to move to EC2. My anecdotal experience is that cloud stuff on EC2 is more expensive to run and requires a non-trivial amount of configuration/writing of shell scripts to implement.I would counsel a move to EC2 ... |
How do you record your thoughts? | Jem: Assuming I can't get to my blog - which is my preferred method, as it forces me to be clear and concise - I scribble with pencil and paper. |
Migrating software to the cloud? | jacquesm: We've done a fairly thorough comparision of self hosting vs EC2 and have found that for us the money isn't there.Our scaling issues are such that we can slowly add more servers to match our organic growth. We do have it as a backup plan in case we'd ever go faster than we are growing now but that would be a s... |
How do you record your thoughts? | extension: I have a directory called "ideas" full of text files, one per idea - typically a programming project or blog post. I use the simplest outline format imaginable: broken english sentences indented with tabs.. no concern for punctuation or grammer.Ideas typically evolve in my head faster than I can outline them... |
How do you record your thoughts? | bkovitz: I usually record my thoughts by writing an email to a friend. We each do this for each other: serve as an audience. |
How do you record your thoughts? | jlees: A mixture of several topic-specific Moleskines, some A4 pads, post-its, blog, diary and word processing or calendar software. If it's a thought that's linked to something else, or a date, I often (in true GTD style) associate it with that date or object. Most of the time it's my "work", "home" or "daily" moleski... |
How do you record your thoughts? | aquinn: Google notebook is pretty good and i mostly use that. autosave, search, tagging. They don't develop it anymore apparently but it's still usable.
http://www.google.com/notebook |
Recommended VPS providers | malvim: I use SilverRack (http://silverrack.com/) and find it very cost-effective.They have some discount codes you can use, and if you ask them they'll probably give you one. |
What are you using for scaling, monitoring and analytics? | idlewords: Not sure what you mean by "using for scaling". Can you be more specific about what "scaling" means to you? |
How do you record your thoughts? | abrahamvegh: iPod touch for writing things down on the go, but text files or drawings on my laptop when I'm using it. Everything gets synced back from my iPod, so I always have my ideas in a searchable form on my laptop. |
How do you record your thoughts? | bowman: I have tried using Lion Kimbro's method. It was very interesting but too intense for people wanting to be efficient.http://www.speakeasy.org/~lion/nb/ |
How do you record your thoughts? | jparicka: I am sending my ideas to my own email... My inbox got a bit messy lately.... |
How do you record your thoughts? | asciilifeform: I have been in search of a solution to this problem for many years. (The quest is chronicled in this blog entry: http://www.loper-os.org/?p=8)Until my own system is complete, I will continue using a standard "moleskin" notebook (expensive, but I fill it up very slowly and I doubt that a cheap one would s... |
Seeking Comments: Holy Grail of Software | michael_dorfman: The "Holy Grail of Software" is an illusion. Sorry to burst your bubble.How are you distinguishing "coding" from "assembly"? What is code, if not a series of instructions assmbled together in a sequence? What is the assembly of components, if not writing code using designated primitives?Turing showed... |
How do you manage keyword ranking history? | matthewking: Google and Yahoo have search API's that you can use for these tasks without breaking TOS. Most of the software apps around use the API's if you give them your key, or you may prefer to write your own script to use the API's.Otherwise I guess you could just use normal search from your script, but keep it sl... |
Seeking Comments: Holy Grail of Software | mbrubeck: Your "Holy Grail" is what Fred Brooks called a "Silver Bullet":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Silver_Bullet |
Collapsing HN comments? | mbrubeck: Please do! |
How did you really learn a foreign language? | Xichekolas: I took Spanish I in college, then I went to live in Spain for a semester. I highly recommend this language school: http://www.rondapiee.com/I learned so much in four months at that school that I was ahead of most Junior spanish majors when I got back. (I was also highly motivated to learn the language, and ... |
How did you really learn a foreign language? | idlewords: The most effective language tuition I've ever had consisted of daily one-on-one lessons with a tutor who would make me talk and correct me on the fly. If I made systematic errors, he would go over the point of grammar and we woudl do some drills. Every night I had to write a one to three page essay, which ... |
How did you really learn a foreign language? | TallGuyShort: A class can only take you so far. I took four years of Spanish when I was in school, and then spent 2 months in an intensive Spanish course ( several hours a day, every day ). I still felt very much the same as you do now. Then I went to a place where I lived, worked, and socialized with native Spanish sp... |
How did you really learn a foreign language? | gruseom: I studied several languages. Here is my conclusion: books and classes are an inefficient way to do it and don't give you the ability to speak and understand the real language. The next time I want to learn a language, I will go live where it is spoken. I'll still have a stack of books with me, but they won't b... |
How did you really learn a foreign language? | icey: If you can find a way to swing it, being as immersed as possible is the best way to go.I don't know what part of the country you're in (or even if you're in the US), but if you can find a way to start buying Spanish newspapers and watching Spanish television, you'll be in much better shape than if you just tried ... |
How did you really learn a foreign language? | jgrahamc: I learnt French as follows: I did French at school until I was 16 when I did French O-level. I wasn't very good, but I wasn't very bad.I then forgot about French until I was in my early 20s. I met my wife. She's French. I figured I'd better make an effort to speak French.Having someone to talk to meant I ... |
How did you really learn a foreign language? | tokenadult: Listening to the radio is crucial, and there is a lot of Spanish on the radio in most parts of the United States. Going to ethnic restaurants where the language is spoken each time you eat out also helps. My bibliography on the subjecthttp://learninfreedom.org/languagebooks.htmlhas some detailed suggestions... |
How did you really learn a foreign language? | omail: Marry a native speaker. Failing that get friends who are willing to converse with you exclusively in that language. Since it's Spanish, that shouldn't be very hard. |
How did you really learn a foreign language? | dotpavan: "out in the wild" approach- I had native friends who were more than willing to help me, by correcting my mistakes, and ofcourse making fun of it as well.. and referring to a book whose lines I would use in everyday activities, like buying groceries, normal chitchat during commutes, etc..also, this might sound... |
How did you really learn a foreign language? | fogus: I cheated by marrying a Japanese woman and inviting her mother (who speaks no English) to come and stay with us. You pick things up pretty quickly when you're forced to. |
How did you really learn a foreign language? | malvim: I'm from Brazil, so Portuguese is my native language.It's common here for middle-class young people to take English courses for several years. I took one for six years, then one more year of a conversation course. That, along with watching movies and TV (and reading and listening to music, and...) took me far e... |
How did you really learn a foreign language? | domodomo: Let me tell you about the best book in the world for learning language:http://www.amazon.com/Language-Acquisition-Made-Practical-Le...Language Acquisition Made Practical by Brewster & BrewsterIt's from the 70s and way out of print. It's written by these two Christian missionaries who went to many countries w... |
How did you really learn a foreign language? | Mankhool: I studied French in Grade 8, 9, 10, 11 and then had 2 more years of it in Uni. None of that helped me become a French speaker. Some friends own a ruin of a chateau in France and I spent a summer there working on it. That didn't seem to be helping much - until I started speaking with the children of the locals... |
How did you really learn a foreign language? | fuzzbang: I learned Thai by living with a Thai girl who spoke no English. Took about 6 months to become fluent. My suggestion is get a "long haired dictionary" and you'll pick up the language in no time. :)The best way to learn is to have no choice but to speak the language. Then don't be afraid to fail. I learned Indo... |
Any thoughts on our site Tweetflix.com | mgrouchy: Clickable http://www.tweetflix.com .IMO I think this is neat, but that being said, I don't know if I would actually use your service. I think maybe I am distrustful of the review algorithm. I looked at the reviews for "Orphan" and it had "reviews" like"gah. boredom. havent tweeted in a while. no school more y... |
How did you really learn a foreign language? | pavel_lishin: I moved to America and went to elementary school.Total immersion is the fastest and best way to learn a language. Arguably, it's the only way you will ever be fluent.If you want to learn Spanish but can't move to a Spanish speaking country, see if you can find a local Spanish-speaking family to "foster" y... |
How did you really learn a foreign language? | phicou: I learned an unfamiliar language while spending two years in the Peace Corps. They have had many years to refine their language teaching materials. Still, I only learned the basics after 2 months of very intensive training.Once I knew the basics, I was able to learn a bit more from friends and neighbors, espe... |
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