byteCoder

Very true. Which is why, as a software consultant owner of a S Corp, my salary was always defined to be at least that minimum, to avoid any question.

As the article said, there's already a "reasonableness" test for setting a correct salary for the work that an S Corp. owner does. If owners are still not setting reasonable salaries for themselves (and pay the appropriate additional employment taxes), then we need more enforcement in that area—not a new law.

Of course, this is really just a money grab on behalf on the politicians which affects a limited number of the (most productive) tax-paying population.

The net effect of this is that S Corps that use their retained earnings from year-to-year to build their business (employ more people and spend money in the private sector) now would be saddled with not only the income taxes on that money (which they already pay), but also a 15.3% (up to the Social Security limit) and 2.9% surtax above that.

Next, you know that Congress would love to remove that annual Social Security limit and make all income above the Social Security limit taxable at an additional 15.3%—for everyone.

<sarcasm>Why not? The "rich" aren't paying their "fair share." So, we need to soak them some more.</sarcasm>

"tu quoque" (party A did this so that makes it right for party B) is not a valid argument. If it was unconstitutional then, it's still unconstitutional now (even if it's now a tradition). (Cf. Gephardt Rule)

This reminds me of the service from the 1980s (was it Sprint Mail?) where you could dial up (over a 300 Baud modem), type a letter, and it would be physically mailed to an address.

At the time, it was several dollars per page.

If this is true, my hope is that Apple takes this lack of good faith from AT&T as a good reason to not renew exclusivity after the contract ends sometime next year (2010).

Of course, it's also very likely that Apple and AT&T are playing US iPhone users as pawns in their negotiations. I personally witnessed Scott Forstall clearly playing the audience to boo AT&T at WWDC.

I find it quite amazing that the photographer even bothered to 'shop the photo. It seems to me as irrationality on his or his editors' part.

In this case, I don't think the doctoring of the photo affects the substance of the article. However, that said, this is certainly an ethical lapse that should be soundly rejected by the New York Times' readership.

The only thing I know is that just today my 8 year old son and I were watching cable TV and saw an ad for Vonage ($24.95/month). My son asked me who would get Vonage because you can get MagicJack for $19.95/year.

I guess, personally, I'll stick with Skype.

The layout of their web site is a symptom of the problem, but absolutely not the problem itself. The problem is the economics of news delivery, plain and simple.

As Doc Searls put it recently (and I'm paraphrasing): If you came to me today with a business model where you would cut down lots of trees to make paper, create content to print on this paper on huge presses, and deliver this content 12 to 24 hours after it was written to its consumers at their homes once or twice a day, I'd call you crazy.

So, the longer as the Globe keeps their presses running, the more their ultimate demise is sealed.

Congrats to MLB!

So, what does this mean for the iPhone gold rush for indie developers?

Well, it'll take a perfect storm of loyal user base, deep and frequently updated data, a very useful and functional application, and a price point that the market is willing to bear because of the previous points.

In other words, good luck!

A new religious war is breaking out before my eyes: web apps vs. native apps on the iPhone.

The reality is that there are lots of native iPhone apps that should be web apps. Right now, the web apps don't quite pay as well.

I believe what we're ultimately seeing is the rise of the native/web hybrid application. These are a class of web-like applications that can run in disconnected mode:

* views use HTML/CSS stored locally on the client

* handling of requests from the views is done within the client itself, or dispatched externally to a web API

* sophisticated data structures can be persisted on the client (in mysql, text files, etc.)

* more sophisticated processing than typically occurs in your standard web app

* better access to native hardware features

The technologies are coming together: Adobe AIR, UIWebView/iPhone SDK, Android's WebView, etc. to support this. I'm looking forward to it.

While all the predictions were somewhat negative, but realistic about the economy, to use the term "scary" is media sensationalism at its finest.

Objectively, we all need to prepare ourselves to weather this economic storm. Whether or not that's "scary" is a personal opinion. Personally, I'm not scared. However, I'd like to believe that I will continue to react to the situation in rational ways (unlike the political classes, unfortunately, who seem to be in full panic mode).

Key point: "[Low capital requirement/pure software] [s]tartups can be run so cheaply now (with open-source software, cloud computing, and virtual teams spread across the Web) that many more can achieve profitability without any VC cash."

I truly believe that this is the silver lining for software developers willing to take the leap into the new economy in this cloudy economic situation.

And this article has been posted to Hacker News for what reasons?

http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/ appears to be a better place. Don't upmod me. Please downmod TFA.

Freakishly close?

pi - 3.141592653 is freakishly closer. Scared yet?

Actually, as Nintendo DS enthusiasts, they form part of my application test department already! ;-)

If you think you're too old, then you probably are.

Age is a state of mind.

Actually, at 41 myself (and 3 months into my own startup), I find that as the kids get older (7 and 11), I'm getting more time again to pursue my passions.

I have to congratulate these developers for creating what appears to be a very useful iPhone app on a shoestring with lots of sweat equity.

However, when it comes down to how much it cost, like jrockway said, it's not very meaningful to others. Furthermore, I'm already sick of the prospect of the pissing contest where developers say they can develop another app for even less. Blech.

Imagine the problem that certain companies (who have delayed investing in their products) are running into now that Microsoft has announced no VB runtime will be in Windows 7 (optimistically due in early 2010).

I hope they're starting their migration/risk mitigation strategies now.

What is your name? Bill Gates

What is your quest? To conquer the world with Visual Basic.

At what index shall arrays start? One... no, zero... (arghhhhhhh.....)

I guess I'm a sucker for these programmers of yore stories. Yes, Mel would be an unsuitable candidate for most modern, team-oriented programming positions. But, heck, to be truly one with the machine in understanding all of its nuances is extraordinary. (Yes, the machines were smaller and simpler then, but still...)

It's disappointing that a great majority of software developers (read: corporate programmer drones) have little understanding of what's really going on under the covers of the layers upon layer of abstractions.

Perhaps, if they truly did know, it might make them wonder if their code will run at all?

The current system has an "accuracy" that sometimes can be most closely measured in miles (i.e., it's not accurate at all). Certainly, that's better than positioning in NYC when you're really in Zurich, but not by much.

Thus, any applications that would depend on pinpoint precise location are going to have problems anyway. It seems the moral of the story is (as an application developer) to use the location services as an advisory (but not as an authoritative) service. The user should be given the capability to override or further specify his/her location.

Let me repeat... red light cameras are NOT for safety, but for revenue.

If this was not the case, Dallas, Texas (and several other cities) wouldn't have recently stopped their red light camera program because it was TOO effective at reducing red light violations and, as a result, was a money-losing program.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23710970

Yes, I had that deja vu feeling, too...

The article is a lot of wishful thinking on behalf of its author. The news of the death of the suburbs has been greatly exaggerated.

No doubt, basic bedroom communities with a lack of transportation options for commuting will suffer with increased energy costs. However, the suburbs that provide a balanced business, commercial, and housing ecosystem and have diverse transportation options to the main destinations outside will actually thrive and prosper.

The simple fact is that not everyone likes nor wants to live in more densely populated areas. Believe it or not, walkability can be nice, but not everyone cares about that.

Signed, A Happy Suburban Dweller

/ I actually do love visiting downtowns like Boston and San Fran and walking to places.

// Fortunately, my home suburb in the Twin Cities (Eden Prairie) has hundreds of miles of dedicated bike paths to get around...

// ...and my commute to work is within the suburb itself.

/// Economically, it would take a tremendous shock to get me to move away. Perhaps, I'm just lucky to live in the RIGHT suburb! ;-)

Now, if only the composer could have created music without altering the original sounds by transposing them to different keys, it would have been more impressive.

I suspect that parental assistance on college admission essays has happened for decades. However, with the hyper-competitiveness to get one of a very limited number of admission slots, some parents (wanting to give their kids what they want, not what they need) are doing anything to help them. The modern "helicopter parent" is the stereotype of this type of parent.

The current application process is a bit archaic. Clearly, with the advent of the Internet and the quick and easy exchange of information, colleges should ask for portfolios of sample, graded school work. These portfolios should supplement applications and may be referenced when there's a need to compare the relative quality of two seemingly equal candidates or any question about the authenticity of the a student's application (including essay).

(On a side note, I'm surprised that more software developers don't keep and share their own portfolios of sample work for prospective clients/employers. A representative body of a person's work is clearly more of an indicator of the quality and skill of a person than any statements/certifications on a C.V. or résumé could possibly be.)

Although an interesting essay, I find it a bit ironic that Orwell violates some of his own guidelines in it.

Let's face it, corporate-speak and government-speak sucks.

Writing can be a high bandwidth form of communication. You must write clearly and concisely to most efficiently transfer your ideas to the reader's mind.

If your reader doesn't understand what you've written, then you've failed at writing's primary purpose: communication.

Maybe not an acquisition... Can you say that something else could be "in the air" (http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/01/macworld-theres.html?c...)?

Perhaps, an iPhone SDK based on Adobe AIR?

At the risk of stating the obvious:

1. Obtain Adobe Flash CS3.

2. Pick up a couple books like _Adobe Flash CS3 Professional Classroom in a Book_ and _ActionScript 3.0 Game Programming University_.

3. Read, learn the Flash time line paradigm, and experiment with the examples in the book.

4. Code, test, and distribute your new Flash creation.

5. Profit!

My biggest concern is the "slippery slope" and the "tragedy of the commons" that befell reddit.

It seems that in user-submitted and -voted content, moderation (in both senses of the word) is a problem.