Hacker News Reader

abstractwateron Anand retains world chess championship title

Exactly. I find this far more interesting and hacker-news-worthy than most TechCrunch submissions. Holistic vs. narrow scope commentary.

abstractwateron Your Office Chair Is Killing You

Chairs with wheels make it easier for me to lose any ergonomic positions I had found, because of the wheels.

What chair do you use at home?

abstractwateron Why waste time on a foreign language?

I'm an Italian living in the US and I studied English in middle and high school. For a total of 8 years. It was very valuable: I learned all the grammar and studied some literature. I did not learn any conversational skills. BTW I was required to attend class. It made my relocation to the US (happened several years later) much easier. In high school I also studied French for 2 years.

I found the article very short sighted. It seems strange to me that a high school kid can choose not to attend a class. If I had to choose, I would have spent all my time in the CS lab. Forget about French, Latin, philosophy, Italian, History! Now, instead, I regret having studied too much CS and only 2 years of Latin.

abstractwateron Steve Jobs’ response on Section 3.3.1

Developers, like all scientists, want to have choices to tinker with stuff. Especially the smartest. As a consequence the number of smart iPhone developers will decrease and we'll have a higher number of sub-standard iPhone apps. But at least they will all have a consistent look and feel.

So much for "Here's to the crazy ones." I feel more like a sheep that's being told a priori what to do.

abstractwateron Steve Jobs just ruined the iPhone for Clojure

I agree.

So, since Apple is still designing great UI but apparently is going insane, maybe it's time for a brand new Apple to be born. Younger, same UI greatness, not insane.

abstractwateron Steve Jobs just ruined the iPhone for Clojure

I for one would be happy with that scenario :)

abstractwateron 32 years on, K&R's "The C Programming Language" still stands alone

If only said publishers understood how much we value succinctness...

abstractwateron House Passes Health Care Reform

My pre-existing conditions are the #1 reason scaring me to start a business in the US.

Starting a business in the US is overall a lot easier than in Europe, but the advantage would be even greater if entrepreneurs wouldn't have to worry about health coverage.

abstractwateron House Passes Health Care Reform

Very interesting. Can you provide a quote/link of the legislation or some other authoritative sources about this?

abstractwateron Is Facebook Really Just AOL 2.0?

With that many users, Facebook can also make tons of money if they choose to do so. They are simply focused on other priorities at the moment.

abstractwateron Atlas Beta Program Launched

I take it will be a one time charge, not a subscription model?

abstractwateron How to Read Other People's Code -- And Why

once you determine your understanding is correct (there are a number of ways to make sure of it, like asking the author when he becomes available), I think you provide a service if you abridge your comments and check them in. Sometimes it's like fixing a "incomprehensible code" bug.

abstractwateron How to Write Clearly, Think Clearly, and Learn Easily

Should one take Dr. Covington's suggestions when writing a novel, an interesting anecdote,

I really don't think that's what Covington meant.

abstractwateron How to Write Clearly, Think Clearly, and Learn Easily

I wouldn't be so harsh. Yes, his choice of words could have been better. But it's obvious that to exert relevant subjective judgment you need careful reasoning. I think what he meant in this context is that you can't use deductive reasoning as the main learning strategy in literature and history.

abstractwateron Twitter's peak load is only 200 tweets per second

I don't see the value in Scoble's argument, if he has one. I don't see the point of comparing the amount of tweets/sec with the rate of Google queries. They are just very different things, in their essence, purpose, way of usage.

It would be more interesting (maybe) comparing the number of Twitter search queries with Google's, at least we would be talking about similar operations.

abstractwateron Twitter's peak load is only 200 tweets per second

I really really doubt that "all they have to do is append" 140 chars" to a table.

abstractwateron Tales from the trenches: our Y Combinator Interview Experience

An amazing story, congrats to both of you. I do think your long time friendship (and 6 years in business together) gave you and will continue to give you an advantage. That's even apparent from your writing and I'm sure it emerged through the interview (such as when your friend "rescued" you and viceversa). Good cofounders are rare. Good luck!

abstractwateron Google is Evil, Worse than PayPal: Don't use Google Checkout for your business

When things can go as bad as in the Slash7 story, statistics totally lose their importance in my opinion. I will never ever pay for a service knowing that it may turn on me like that.

abstractwateron DHH: Fuck the Real World

is there a video of the talk up somewhere?

abstractwateron Some things need to change

He is a blogger who obsessively writes about startups. He never promoted himself for anything else. People (used to) break into his home to pitch their startups and he actually listens to them. How is this arrogance? Would you listen to someone breaking into your home?

I don't know Arrington, but to me he always sounded like a humble, down-to-earth guy, very passionate about his job.

abstractwateron Cuil Fail: Traffic Nearly Hits Rock Bottom

150K uniques a month are literally nothing for a search engine. That's called failure.

abstractwateron How (not) to get a job at a startup...

I hope you're giving a LOT of stock because for 45K you're gonna get high school kids or part-time college students.

abstractwateron Ask YC: Intact Medieval Towns?

I highly recommend Gubbio in Umbria (Italy).

Gubbio was very important between 1000-1300 when it was independent. After that its decline started, and that's probably what kept the town small and contained. I still remember walking inside Gubbio and how it felt so... medieval and different from other Italian towns. I grew up in a small Italian medieval town but Gubbio is quite unique.

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

abstractwateron The Google Chrome download link is live.

Can you guys run it through http://dromaeo.com/ ? Curious to see how it performs virtualized on a Mac.

abstractwateron JustHackIt: It’s Like a Dating Site For Hackers

Wait... you're suggesting a planned collapse of your own site just to get more press?? It's not cynical, it's non-sensical. This kind of thinking is poison IMO. Just focus on your product and make it perfect and scalable.

abstractwateron You don't have to sell your company to have financial security

I don't think pg and 37s have different ideas about this. They are both very focused on the user. If 37s says no to many customer requests, it's because they think it's best for the user, nothing else.

When DHH says "solve your own problems" it's only because he thinks that if you do have a problem, it's very possible other people have the same problem. Hence, you are "making something people want".

abstractwateron Ask YC: What's a typical stock compensation for joining a series A, 6 months old startup?

There's a planned salary increase up to market rate in 8 months from now (if things go well of course). That's also why I am considering more stocks now. If I start with a market rate salary now, I won't be getting any pay increase later.

abstractwateron Ask YC: What's a typical stock compensation for joining a series A, 6 months old startup?

Thank you very much for your remarks. It looks like I am in a typical ballpark as far as the equity compensation goes, maybe slightly above average. And I am definitively planning to continue to work after this. :) But I also hope in "some" payday, otherwise I wouldn't be taking any stocks.

I could get market rate salary with less stock, but I think I am going with a below-market salary and more stocks. About that, I am still trying to decide the right balance...

abstractwateron Ask YC: What's a typical stock compensation for joining a series A, 6 months old startup?

I should have said this in my post. I'm going to join as a Sr. software engineer. I have around 8 years of experience and a MSEE. I wouldn't say my skill set is unique, honestly, especially here in Silicon Valley.

The product is in stealth so I can't disclose anything about it.

abstractwateron Why Aren't Android Developers Flocking To The iPhone?

The most significant difference IMO is the distribution model. An iPhone user will have one place to look for new apps: the Apps Store. Whatever app s/he is looking for, it will be there or not be at all. That's a huge advantage for a software developer. An advantage the Palm didn't have.

Also: sure, in 8 years the iPhone may be dead and Apple bankrupt, but (1) do you really think so? and (2) do you really need to plan that far in advance?