Hacker News Reader

ecqon Bill Gates pledges $10bn for a 'decade of vaccine'

This is fantastic news. One suggestion though, I would rather spend majority of that $10B in training, building the infrastructure, etc. so that 3rd world countries can produce their own vaccine/medicine/etc.

it's sort of like the old Chinese saying: Give a person a fish, and you feed them for a day. Teach a person how to fish, and you feed them for a lifetime.

ecqon Calif. awarded $2.25B for high-speed rail

$33B for Afghanistan but only $2.25B for California?

ecqon Will there be an iPad App gold rush?

This all comes down to where the developer can make the most money, a native app or a web app.

Someone also mentioned the infrastructure and resources needed to support a web app to support thousands/millions of users. as opposed to basically nothing for a native app.

ecqon The iPad Big Picture

good advice

ecqon The iPad Big Picture

My wife absolutely loved the iPad so much she wants me to buy her 2. one for her and one for her brother. (and maybe one for me if i'm nice to her)

This thing is going to be huge.

ecqon Is Apple Evil?

that's not going to happen.

ecqon McGraw-Hill axed from iPad launch after CEO leaks on TV

http://www.linkedin.com/companies/macmillanmcgraw-hill

looks like macmillan and mcgraw-hill are the same companies.

ecqon Is Apple Evil?

no ones forcing you to use Apple products. You're free to use Windows/Linux/Nexus one/etc.

:-)

ecqon Apple iPad biggest news is Apple A4 chip. Now they fully control supply chain

i'd love to see a vmware/parallels app for the iPad. imagine being able to run os x/windows/linux on this thing.

ecqon Is Apple Evil?

EDIT: absolutely agree user experience is Apple's no. 1 priority.

ecqon Is Apple Evil?

"And the iPhone OS will only run software that they specifically approve. No Flash or other alternate runtimes, no one-off apps or open source customizations. Just total control by Apple. It’s a frightening future.

I don’t know why they’re doing it."

I'll tell you why. because Apple's number one priority is the user experience. You need that kind of control if you want the best possible user experience. And it works for them and their users. 99.999% doesn't give a shit about your concerns.

That's the reason why iPhone sales trumps Nexus One/Droid/etc.

ecqon How A Great Product Can Be Bad News: Apple, iPad, and the Closed Mac

It's really easy.

You use the iPad to:

- read a book - surf the web - organize/look at/show off photos - watch videos/movies/tv shows - listen to music - send/receive emails - play games - use maps/calendar and the 140k+ apps available in the app store

Anything else, use a Mac (or Windows/Linux).

ecqon Ask HN: Great books you read in 2009?

Great books i read in 2009

-The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort - hilarious

-Inside Steve's Brain

-Paypal Wars - old book but still very informative and relevant

-Viral Loop by Adam L. Penenberg

ecqon Why Existing Databases (RAC) are So Breakable

RAC + Dataguard if you use Oracle

ecqon Harvard study: Computers don't save hospitals money

Harvard study: Computers don't save hospitals money

They save lives..

ecqon Ask HN: Who's hiring (take 3)?

Ning is hiring

http://about.ning.com/jobs.php

ecqon Google Chrome OS will have no native apps, data will be stored in the cloud.

Current operating systems already support multiple computing paradigms (including the ability to run apps and store data in the "cloud"). Forcing people into a specific paradigm has been historically proven to be disastrous (Network Computers, Javastation, etc).

ecqon Ask HN: What's the best first business book for a programmer?

Most of the books I read are usually business profiles/bios of founders/companies.

1) iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business

2) The Google Story

3) The Perfect Store: Inside eBay

4) Paypal Wars

5) Barbarians at the Gate (not tech-related but one of the best business books of all time)

ecqon Smashing the stack for fun and profit

wow I still remember this. a classic by Aleph One.

Another tutorial pre-dates this by ~1 year. It was written by mudge.

http://biblio.l0t3k.net/b0f/en/howto_write_buffer.txt

ecqon Amazing startup pitches (Loopt, Mint, Dropbox, etc) [videos]

This is not a startup pitch, but it's also helpful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-ntLGOyHw4

ecqon Amazing startup pitches (Loopt, Mint, Dropbox, etc) [videos]

thanks. this is very helpful.

ecqon Ask HN: What is your Home Page in your browser?

cnn.com

ecqon Scoopler (YC S08) Digs Up Some Funding, New Features

Congratulations guys!

ecqon Amazon Relational Database Service

Actually they do offer Oracle in the cloud. All the features of Oracle full with Grid Control access, etc.

Amazon did a demo at the Oracle Open World a few weeks ago and it looked promising.

http://aws.amazon.com/solutions/global-solution-providers/or...

ecqon Ask HN: Who changed your life?

remember coding in Pick/Basic 12 yrs ago.

ecqon Good investment for a tech guy?

1) pay off your debt 2) buy a 2 - 4 unit apt. live in 1 unit. rent out the rest. 3) invest in your self (certification/training/mba/etc)

ecqon Windows 7 is the best operating system on the market

You'll still find a few of the niggling quirks found in Windows versions past. For instance, the OS still requires "activation" by a 25-character code, an anti-piracy measure that annoys legitimate users while doing little to crush actual pirates.

rofl

ecqon D. J. Bernstein

the best programmer is the person who have made the biggest difference in people's lives.

it's not measured by the no. of lines of code, bugs,etc.

ecqon Poll: What is your primary *nix distro on your home machine?

OSX

ecqon Databases Should be Dynamically Typed

you can use SYS.ANYDATA and SYS.ANYDATASET if you use Oracle. I'm sure other databases support similar feature.