Hacker News Reader

ereldonon Ask YC: Mid-sized, livable, hacker-friendly towns?

i get around on a bicycle in mountain view, palo alto, and the other towns around here. you just need to figure out the bike routes.

ereldonon Zen is boring

the beatnik in the author comes out at the end:

You don't need to go hang-gliding over the Himalayas, you don't need to screw your luscious and oh-so-willing secretary or party all night with the beautiful people. You don't need visions of merging with the totality of the Universe. Just be what you are, where you are. Clean the toilet. Walk the dog. Do your work. That's the most magical thing there is. If you really want to merge with God, that's the way to do it. This moment. You sitting there with your hand in your underwear and potato chip crumbs on your chin, scrolling down your computer screen thinking "This guy's out of his mind." This very moment is Enlightenment. This moment has never come before and once it's gone, it's gone forever. You are this moment. This moment is you. This very moment is you merging with the total Universe, with God Himself.

ereldonon Visualisations of travel times and house prices

definitely. also, i like the data that shows bicycling to be the most efficient form of urban transportation :)

ereldonon How Dumb is Daniel Dennett?

somebody's been reading wittgenstein

ereldonon Sim City is now GPL'd

having spent far too many happy hours playing each iteration of the sim city series (through #4), i can say the game has gotten way more realistic.

sim city 4, especially, has a bunch of skyscrapers from san francisco that you'll get in your cities if you do a decent job of zoning commercial areas.

there's a certain joy to walking around downtown san francisco and seeing the life-size versions.

ereldonon The logical conclusion of MySpace layout cacophony -- from one of my favorite bands

of course its a noise band :)

ereldonon Fake Facebook widget infects 3% of users with malware

looks like facebook has shut this app down:

http://www.marketingshift.com/2008/1/facebook-bans-adware-fr...

ereldonon Digg This: Deal or No Deal?

I'm sticking by the source who told me about Digg bringing in the bank to help them sell. Even if that's not how Digg wants to spin their strategy to Business Week.

ereldonon When non-technologists write about technology: about The Economist's "Technology in 2008"

Jd, I'm an Economist reader because I enjoy its perspective on important political and economic issues.

What else has been slipping, do you think? Can you (or your friend) be more specific?

Thanks.

ereldonon Humour 'comes from testosterone'

I'd never thought of it that way, to be honest:

"He suggested men might respond aggressively because they see the other unicycling man as a threat, attracting female attention away from themselves."

ereldonon Journalists, Bloggers Have a Sorry History at Startups

Then again, there's people like Michael Moritz and Nick Denton out there.

Whether or not you like those guys, they're pretty successful.

ereldonon Google and the Wisdom of Clouds

Anyone else notice that BusinessWeek and the New York Times both just came out with feature articles on how Google is taking on Microsoft via cloud computing?

There are even charming anecdotes in both stories from the same engineers -- people like Christophe Bisciglia.

Happy Holidays, Google PR.

edit: Sorry if I'm coming across as too cynical, but I could have sworn I've been reading very similar Google versus Microsoft articles for years. Of course, that topic is a big deal -- it's just the timing, the lack of a hard-news angle, and the anecdotes in these two articles strongly suggest PR orchestration.

ereldonon The Peachfuzz Billionaires

"No matter the intent, though, the speech seemed to fit the Valley's growing cult of youth, if not a movement, based on 'Don't Fund Anyone Under 30.'"

Under?

ereldonon "Facebook Business Solutions"

I looked into the ConnectU connection a little more. Apparently, there's nothing to it, besides the link being an additional joke:

http://pranks.com/2007/12/15/facebook-takes-it-on-the-chin/

ereldonon Steve Jobs At Home in 1982

The Dude: I could be just sitting at home with pee stains on my rug.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118715/quotes

ereldonon eToro Makes Forex Trade Child's Play

This reminds me of 3D Mail Box, the aircraft simulator meets email inbox.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/24/worlds-worst-email-app-...

The visual representation of data, huh. These people must make Edward Tufte cry.

ereldonon Newest towers will give S.F. skyline a touch of glass

Alternate title: The Glass Box is Back ;)

ereldonon In Hollywood, the future belongs to the writer-entrepreneur

the question is, will the name of the social news site for writers and journalists be "Hack News"

ereldonon Race, genes and intelligence

Exactly. What most studies on racial differences prove are the preconceived notions of the experimenters.

In fact, most scientific studies may be wrong, or at least deeply flawed:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7915.html

When one considers the hundred years of horrific racism present in white culture, it's hardly surprising that such cultural attitudes manifest themselves from time to time in the form of sophisticated scientific arguments.

Whether or not there are genetic differences, doesn't the most accurate approach -- if not the most ethical approach -- seem to be withholding all race-based judgement for the time being?

ereldonon Is Aaron Swartz the Paris Hilton of Web 2.0?

Yeah. Aaron has a lot more homemade videos to make before he catches up with those two.

ereldonon The PayPal mafia

Which one of the YC partners will wear the thick gold chain currently on Reid Hoffman's neck?

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0711/gallery.pay...

ereldonon Departing co-founder of Bebo talks about leaving, Facebook, Friendster and more

I remember hearing somewhere that the amount Friendster offered Facebook then was something like $10 million.

I'm sure a lot of people told Zuckerberg he was crazy not to take the money and run.

ereldonon A Bayesian filter for stupidity

did you keep your comment short to make your point?

ereldonon Ron Paul says his campaign is more than "a few spammers"

to whoever downvoted my comment... you really know how to make friends and influence people!

the funny thing is, i might even vote for ron paul, i just think ron paul supporters need to analyze their own behavior a little more carefully

ereldonon Ron Paul says his campaign is more than "a few spammers"

i was about to say that!

the campaign need stickers like "I spammed 1000 message boards for Ron Paul, 08"

ereldonon "Web 2.0 Is On The Ropes... Kleiner Perkins Has Halted Investments"

Kleiner has invested in only a couple web companies in recent years (including Friendster).

http://www.kpcb.com/portfolio/portfolio.php?consumer

It seems they're not saying they're pulling up stakes but rather saying "we didn't feel like playing in this game, anyway."

ereldonon Harvard Crimson article on Facebook the week it was launched

respect.

ereldonon Cookie tracking: How Facebook could be worth $100 billion?

Okay, so I admit the headline was a bit silly. But some people are going around saying that targeted ads and such will make Facebook worth that much and its something worth looking at.

How would you have valued Google before Adsense and Adwords proved themselves?

ereldonon Jia Shen of Rockyou on self expression widgets and monetizing Facebook apps

jia is not only a savvy entrepreneur, he's a really chill guy. and he takes the prize for Best Haircut In Silicon Valley

ereldonon Ask YC: Tell us how to improve VentureBeat!

Please let us know where we can improve (and what we're already doing well). Feel free to leave comments here, or take the survey linked to, above.