jsjenkins168

You can run OSX on hardware besides Apples.

http://wiki.osx86project.org/

If your schema is simple, you might want to check out SimpleDB. No need to setup tunnels (queries are handled over HTTP), and latency is super low when querying from an EC2 instance with both end points being inside AWS networks. You are also not charged for traffic between EC2/SimpleDB.

Marketing maybe yes, but telecom probably not.. The era of the telecom "deck" will die July 11th, 2008.

Google has said that they intend to offer an "AppStore" for Android, much like Apples.

The differences however will be: 1) You do not have to use it. 2) They will take much less than 30% (so they say)

While I agree with you for small-scale apps made by individuals, I think AppStore is a problem for startups looking to monetize their apps on a larger scale. 30% is a huge chuck off your total revenue any way you slice it. And remember, there is no legal alternative to AppStore for the iPhone.

Then they may go back to Android, when they realize Apple is taking 30% of their app revenue first.

Hey Steve, I thought Java was "dead"?

You are partially describing what GWT does. Except that it doesnt do much special in the way of CSS yet...

But in terms of Javascript/HTML/AJAX, it compiles separate versions for each browser (which are automatically loaded), virtually eliminating the need to handle various quirky browser behaviors. And any standard Java app server works fine for the server side, nothing special needed there.

I am shocked at the market cap loss YHOO is experiencing right now due to this story.. I've seen breaking news drive stock price fluctuations but this is pretty extreme.

A class on queue theory is great background for network programming.

This is starting to seem more common. Posts I see under new section that make me cringe inevitably shoot up to the top of front page. And seems like an increasing number of good posts are getting drowned out.

Agree downmod would be helpful. Even if it had a very high karma or HN usage period requirement in order to use I think it would help the community.

With the iPhone though we are potentially talking about the platform of the future.

Do you want a single monopoly controlling this? That type of situation has historically been bad for innovation.

As an analogy, how would things be if every internet web app created had to operate at the mercy of another company? Startup A has a great idea and wants to release an innovative new webapp. But they need to pay and have permission to do so, must operate in a tightly defined sandbox, and must share profits that they make. And the webapp could be kicked off the internet at anytime for breaking these rules.

Does that make you comfortable?

You are definitely not alone. I'm pretty worried myself. A phone to realistically compete with the iPhone (especially at its new lower price point) is nowhere in site and the walled garden seems to grow with each Apple announcement.

AppStore could be another Facebook platform situation where Apple kills startups at will simply by releasing their own version of a application. And Apple wont need to push icon updates, their apps can run as background services just fine.

I'd like to be optimistic about other emerging mobile platforms, but everyone else is so dreadfully far behind and thats a bit concerning for a developer.

To be honest, the only mobile application distribution site which will likely matter in a year will be the iPhone AppStore. Its likely to go live this month. Google has mentioned they will come out with their own app distribution site for Android but it is unclear when this will be or how much impact it will have.

The iPhone is going global and with the carrier subsidies, it will be cheap. My suggestion is to focus your efforts there.

The interns emails are posted in the comments. They really aren't that bad, and definitely dont warrant such a response from a CEO in my opinion

I recall Apple themselves saying late June for the App Store go-live. They could have pushed things forward however, but I doubt it.

Have you considered using Amazon SimpleDB? Its a very simple and fast way to persist data. Avoids the scaling and implementation headaches associated with a typical database.

why?

A 42" screen 4 feet away will only appear the same size as a 21" monitor 2 feet away. Remember its all about view distance. Any distance at least 1.2x screen width is usually considered acceptable but if you want the screen further away for being able to show more people thats fine. It will just diminish the perceived size.

If you use it frequently you might strain your eyes though, focusing between near and far all the time. If you start to get a headache you could just try moving it closer.

As was pointed out by tptacek, this approach is not secure because the javascript can be rewritten in transit. Also consider that javascript-based hashing will be extremely slow and could interfere with the user experience if the browser bogs down. And IE may show an error that performance is slow on your site.

There just is no way around it, the only way to be secure is use SSL to share secrets when you register. From then on you can just transmit an authenticator (stored in a secure cookie) comprised of an expiration timestamp, any identifying user data (like userID), and a non-malleable MAC digest of the expiration and userID. Doesn't protect against replay but it helps to enforce a short expiration for the authenticator. With this approach you'll only need to use SSL for the initial login.

This is the best explanation of web authentication I've encountered on the net [PDF]:

http://prisms.cs.umass.edu/~kevinfu/papers/webauth_tr.pdf

I predict as web applications get increasingly complicated, javascript will be viewed as more of a low-level language which will be compiled down to from higher level abstractions. Not because javascript is a bad language, but because browser fragmentation is so bad. It may not just be Java (in the form of GWT), but other languages as well.

Google has actually been doing this for a while now, even before GWT. Much of the javascript that is used in their apps is generated via compiler in one form or another.

Because browsers suck and native javascript behavior is not predictable across platforms.

In GWT the browser is abstracted and you dont worry about it. You write AJAX code and it always works. Firefox, IE, iPhone, whatever.

Writing the code itself is not where the real time investment is with ambitious ajax projects. Its wasted in browser-related quirks and debugging. Being able save this valuable time and focus on building something cool is worth it in my opinion.

Also GWT is just plain faster.

You were using GWT 3 years ago? Do you work at Google or something?

This wouldnt have been a valid claim until very recently, like GWT 1.5 so not really old news. GWT 1.5 compiled javascript is super fast relative to older versions.

This is really cool. If you incorporate collaboration functionality it could also be very useful for presentations or online meetings.

How can they claim no PS or Diff fluid? If they have power steering, it will need lubrication, even if it is electric pump driven. And even if the diff is open (non-LSD), the gears will need lubrication. That is a bit fishy to me..

W3C, please hurry up with HTML5. This is getting ridiculous. I wonder if anyone will actually use this over Gears, Silverlight, AIR, or Prism?

So much fragmentation and I only see it getting worse..

I dont have any experience with hardware, but have developed using Ericsson's Parlay X libraries and they are very easy to use:

http://www.ericsson.com/mobilityworld/sub/open/technologies/...

Its a useful library if the service provider you're trying to gain access to exposes Parlay X access to their network. Very easy to send/receive SMS, MMS, etc from your web application as they library wraps all the SOAP calls for you.

I like checking out other peoples startups, but your post seems almost like a advertisement rather than a RFC. Are you looking to get feedback or just attention?

Even if this was as the title implied, I am doubtful it would be anything worth while without the right people. By right people I mean young, highly amititious, smart hackers.

And I am skeptical that you would find these types of hackers here in Austin. I'd love to be proved wrong though.

After living in the SV area for a while, how would you now compare it to Austin? I'm considering the exact move soon myself. I love Austin, but dont think the atmosphere is as conducive for young hackers trying to start a business. Its a bit hard to stay motivated when people around you dont take what you are doing very seriously.

Sorry, was just a bit confused when I saw iPhone web application framework because I usually think of involving server-side when I see that term, and from that perspective there is little difference between the iPhone browser and others.

Being able to easily stylize your pages to achieve iPhone-like appearance is definitely very useful.