fiaz

apologies for the duplicate!

Mental note for next year:

Google's PR becomes ultra lame on April 1st.

I'm amazed at how much effort Google is putting into their little prank.

Great concept!!!

This is exactly the type of thing that I would use given that I do not have an iPhone (or something similar). Even if I did have an iPhone, I think the convenience of punching in the ISBN and getting a direct answer trumps having to launch Safari, navigate to Amazon.com, do a search, select the title, pinch (zoom in/out), etc.

I'm definitely going to try this one out (and this is coming from a hard core skeptic!).

I would suggest adding an SMS interface. Also, if I could get an email reminder of the books I was looking for then that would be pretty cool as well. Also, if I could get some information about discounted bundles then it would be a sure thing for me to actually use regularly.

I agree with JAcobAldridge's comment about a dwindling market. My suggestion in response to this would be to build an iPhone/Android/[whatever] app next and keep all channels open.

I think it's important to emphasize that the beginnings of "failing one's way to success" started with many quotes from Thomas Edison. It's usually a bad idea to generalize any quotation to a rule, but I think in this specific case, it might be useful to say that there is no failure or success, only possibilities.

If anything, making judgments either way is overrated.

I really didn't care much for the original post, and I could care less about this one too.

I DO care about any engineering accomplishments Zed has to offer (almost all are great) - but that's about it.

It definitely does. If anything great came out of Cuil, it was their layout of results.

I must say I was thoroughly confused a minute ago...I thought it was some bizarre Erlang spam-bot that had attacked HN.

Excellent article describing what could be the biggest advance in the web since the launch of Google. However, I wonder if it will be inundated with 99% of the questions being about who Miley Cyrus's current boyfriend is - or some other frivolous usage.

Seems to me that this technology should have been released for some other scientific usage first (if it is indeed that powerful). It could be valuable as an engine for other applications as well in this manner.

I would also argue that one of Google's advantages is that it enables discovery of new information instead of just giving you the one page you for which you are looking.

1) Build a user base

2) Grow a substantial user base

3) Open source (iff your technology is clearly a commodity)

Don't do #3 until you've gone through steps #1 and #2. First you need a platform that has users. Technology without users is like an object that is never instantiated. Open-sourcing for the sake of open-sourcing makes as much sense as promoting a new technology for the sake of new technology (ie technology that doesn't really solve somebody's problem).

I'm actually saying that the rule you have stated above holds true even more so if we take into account the high availability of actionable information. Take for example that with "TARP 1" all sorts of irritating loopholes were exposed in a very short period of time (how long did it take for the general public to be informed of the tax exemption for a specific type of arrow used by child archers??).

I want to emphasize that what I'm stating is that in the past, when critical changes took place, it would be some time before all of the information/knowledge of those changes propagated to everybody and this had an impact on the economic cycle (how long or short they were). In today's "Internet Age", the time it takes for changes to propagate is going to be reduced dramatically.

I should add that a direct consequence (and this is purely hypothetical but not unreasonable to include) is that the volatility of the economic climate will increase with the availability of information.

I agree with the fact that we are in a "D-process", but I'm skeptical about the "long" part. Something new is happening with the widespread availability of information through multiple channels, and I think because of this our economic cycles are "compressed".

My prediction is that the rate at which businesses change/modify/adapt (especially in the financial sector) will be readily reflected in the information that is spread through multiple channels, resulting in a compression of the time frames of the current "D-process".

I second this statement. When I first saw the site, I was instantly annoyed by the bold faced type in the intro paragraph. I think it's worded fine, but the presentation of it threw me off.

very cool...what does it do exactly?

Who ever thought that x^3 transformed into 2x^2 would be useful one day? Of course I'm being facetious in this example, but the simple rearrangement of the mathematical expression above has profound implications for how we interact with the world.

Yes I know that there is a whole derivation to the simple derivative example I've given, but who is to say that the 6174 transformation might have preceded an actual use?

Who's to say that this odd mathematical transformation actually leads to something useful one day?

A more interesting question would be: why shouldn't HN revert to the mean?

EDIT #1: The speed at which I'm being down-voted warrants some further explanation...

The article headline raises a question about the potential decline of HN as a "quality community". The fact of the matter is that with all things being equal, HN is just as susceptible to decline just as much as Digg or reddit - HN follows the same "social news" principle after all.

So then why shouldn't it follow the same principle?

In attempting to answer this question I'm hoping that members will forward ideas to counter this principle in general, given that all things are equal in this space.

EDIT #2 [on a separate note]: I should add that the future of HN (or Digg or reddit) ultimately depends on the demand of the community. If we get an influx of users that want to discuss:

Ruby vs. Python

Emacs vs. Vim

Bootstrapping vs. Funding

Or whatever else comes to mind, then so be it. Btw, we've been good as a community in avoiding religious discussions, so I'm pretty happy to be insulated from the whole Mac OSX vs. Vista debate!

The bottom line is that we can draw parallels to other communities that have risen/fallen based on the whim of the dominant memes that come and go, but eventually the fate of this place relies upon what memes we choose to propagate.

Dubai is a constitutional monarchy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_monarchy

But this doesn't excuse the fact that "debtor's prison" is a horrible, horrible, horrible concept in place in Dubai.

At any rate, for a country in the Middle East, they are a lot more open to Western values than anybody else on the peninsula.

Surprisingly, there's plenty of alcohol and sex there. Gambling is a separate story.

FTA:

If the above seems vague, it’s deliberate. Details are reserved for [whatis9.com] clients. But, the above should be enough for some entrepreneur to be dangerous.

Given the entrepreneurial spirit of HN, let's try to collaboratively dissect each one of these together.

Your quote from the article highlights yet another fallacy - that if you are educated you will make more money. This is marketing at its worst.

It's because of this reasoning I'm surrounded by people who studied CS as a major and learned Java because it was projected to pay well (hint hint about the age level of developers I'm working with lately). The result is that I fix the mistakes of people who possess coding skills that I wouldn't even qualify as AP high school level. My point here is to highlight the idea of choosing an education that compels you to develop yourself into a "somebody" instead of being an "anybody".

Education is polish for the mind. It's best used towards developing yourself as an individual. Unfortunately it has devolved into a tool to charm money out of the system.

This article needs to explicitly state:

1) education is valuable

2) education has become too expensive (implicitly stated)

3) the "hoax" is that of how our credit/debt system works, not about the collegiate system

Already people on this thread are jumping the gun and stating that college sucks and you don't need it. But this is a subjective view and should be taken as such. The only fact that I can get from this article is that college is becoming a financial burden - not that the education obtained is worthless.

There needs to be a way to make education accessible to all. Instead, the cost of getting an education is becoming yet another factor in further dividing the wealthy from the debt-laden.

Dude, you have to still go for it. YC isn't the "end all be all" of success. Yes, it does suck that you see your idea being implemented by somebody else and that they are getting the spotlight. But on the flip-side, this merely enforces the fact that you are thinking in the right direction. I would also keep an eye on Heyzap to see how successful they become, because that shines a clear light on the potential of what could be for you.

I would also encourage you to look at all the other startups that succeeded after others proved the concept before them...

iFilm vs. YouTube

Snapshot vs. flickr

Friendster vs. Facebook

(anybody else feel free to add to this list please)

Plow ahead...if you truly believe it's a great idea, then make it so but in your own way.

My favorite (copied from Wikipedia):

The Unfettered Mind (Japanese: 不動智神妙録 Fudōchi Shinmyōroku) is a three-part treatise on Buddhist philosophy and martial arts written by Takuan Soho, a Japanese monk of the Rinzai sect. The title translates roughly to "The Mysterious Records of Immovable Wisdom". The treatise was written as correspondence to Yagyū Munenori, inheritor to the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū school of swordsmanship. Written for the laity, the book makes little use of Buddhist terminology, but instead focuses on describing situations followed by an interpretation. Its contents make an effort to apply Zen Buddhism to martial arts.

Available in PDF form here:

http://www.daikonforge.com/downloads/TheUnfetteredMind.pdf

Each domain name next to each article headline should be a link that allows you to view all of the articles from that domain.

The ultimate startup

Congrats!

I really appreciate the enthusiasm for the new administration...but this is Hacker News, not political news.

The following had an impact on me:

Tony Robbins

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/tony_robbins_asks_why_we_...

Daniel Gilbert

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_...

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_o...

It's hard for me to pick a favorite. I hope at least one of them is useful to you.

Congratulations Joshua!

I would imagine the following would be of help:

1) think positively

2) set some goals for yourself

3) direct your energy towards those goals

The first step is the key. Without the right attitude the rest of it would be difficult. If you can bang out 2000 words in 30 minutes, then you have a talent that can be used to help others and yourself.

Thanks for sharing - I wish you the best!