news.ycombinator.com
Ben Folds - Lucky Breaks In Music Careerhttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3914810You can see it here : https://www.facebook.com/BenFolds/posts/10150705345312231----Lucky Breaks In Music CareerI got such wonderful responses to my blog about aspiring artists. Thank you. And also, you're all welcome. I do quite a bit of journal writing anyway so this is my idea of a good time. Here's what what fellow had to say.Emil Siravo wrote: "why is it that successful artists can never say how they made the leap from poor and struggling to rich and famous.... theres always that mysterious step that they never explain. I guess cause its very unflattering, that step being 'someone with connections got my ass in the door and gave me a golden opportunity'. I wish more artists would talk about WHO gave them their career and less about trying to hide the fact that to make it in the music industry you must rely on somebody getting you 'in' the door. Sure you have to work real hard and you must be ready to prove yourself when the opportunity presents itself,,,, but that Lucky break is stMay 1, 2012 3:31 PM
bing.com
How to Get a Big Picture for Your Background on YouTubehttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6a8a8f19529949d586ac7b7162dd4cda&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsmallbusiness.chron.com%2Fbig-picture-background-youtube-44362.html&c=9576923919364811045&mkt=en-usIf you use YouTube to market your small business, adding a unique background image can help visitors to identify your brand whenever they visit your YouTube channel. Adding a big picture for your ...Apr 25, 2012 9:52 PM
news.ycombinator.com
My mission to solve the problem with Facebook, Google+ etc.https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3838747Now I know everyone has their own issues with the current state of social networks. Some have issues with privacy, some have issues with too many friends, some have issues with spam. My issue is with all the above, but more importantly I am sick of the fact that I look like everyone else and I don't own the content. I am being controlled and it needs to stop.I am tired of feeling like I live in an apartment complex where I have no control over how things function or look. It's not even like a complex anymore. It's more like a prison.Best quote in a long time..."If you aren't paying for a product, you are the product."Your data is being sold to advertisers so they can find sneaky was to throw their ads in front of your faces. And who is going to take the time out to actually go through on FB and customize your ad experience so they are relevant to you? Not me.For the past year and a half I have been working on a solution to solve these problems and many others. It's been a very difficulApr 13, 2012 8:39 PM
news.ycombinator.com
Advice needed: what's a destitute hacker to do?https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3715834First of all I ask that anyone commenting please leave off criticism of how I got into the situation I did. Trust me, I've already thought over millions of times how I must be an idiot to have gotten into the situation I'm in, and if I could go back and make different decisions I would. But right now I'm not exactly in the best shape to handle criticism, and don't need to be convinced of anything. What I really need is advice for improving my situation, or any info about programs or employers, etc. that I don't know about. I never had a course in high school or college on how to deal with poverty, even though that might have been really helpful right about now.I graduated from a state university in 2009 with a degree in Computer Science. I graduated with honors and a 3.81 gpa. My gpa could've been a lot higher, but I struggled with untreated clinical-level anxiety throughout school which lead to severe procrastination or simply not turning in certain projects. I got a 1520 on my SATs, Mar 16, 2012 11:47 PM
news.ycombinator.com
PSN automatically "roots" your Facebook, no permission granted.https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3691286I have been meaning to link up my modern warfare 3 account with facebook (new feature) so I could see which of my facebook friends play. Today I finally did it and paid very close attention to the permission I was granting to the game. Call of duty asks for permission to access all your basic info, view your photos, and post to your wall. A bit hefty, but I wanted to see who else was playing modern warfare 3 so I agreed. I was logged in, and when I went to my friends list i was informed it found no results so was pretty much pointless. Immediately I checked my account settings on facebook thinking I would just remove access and forget about the whole thing. I was not so shocked to find that call of duty had allowed itself more access than it asked for. I WAS however shocked that there was another app allowed in the last 24 hours called 'Playstation Network' and it had a pagelong list of access permissions all of which were completely open and I had never been asked to allow that. (I'm Mar 11, 2012 9:07 PM
news.ycombinator.com
Ask HN: Does explaining your program's complete design reduce sales?https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3674312I'm working on my very first Android application; and, I've been considering talking through the different parts of my design; and how and where my code is growing organically to support the different ideas that I have.Since I'd basically be explaining every feature and design decision I make from here on out, this leads me to a question. Would I lose sales from my application? I'm very interested in selling it.It's an active wallpaper that plays the Game of Life. I know the market already has one, but I was going to be adding more features to it that would make it more interesting and perhaps a good wallpaper.Mar 7, 2012 4:49 AM
bing.com
The Importance of Business Incubatorshttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6a898043dda14ff8a5e4c1cd22ba4305&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsmallbusiness.chron.com%2Fimportance-business-incubators-34079.html&c=10427929731937384347&mkt=en-usBusiness incubators support the development of start-ups by providing them with advisory and administrative support services. According to the International Business Innovation Association, an ...Nov 20, 2011 3:02 PM
news.ycombinator.com
Ask HN: What's the point with so many stupid people in the world?https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2997502Have you ever tried to sit and write code in a bar? It's nice. It's a hell of a lot more conducive to creativity than working in an office cubicle. You got your drink, you got your smoke. You sit at a table with wifi and a plug and you're invincible until about six drinks in. You look out over the patio at the mountains and you think...this is what life's all about.Then at about 6pm the soccer game starts. Suddenly, the owner of the bar comes out and unplugs your laptop, turns on the TV, and cranks the volume up to 7000000. Even though there's no one there. You say, "Man, that's too loud." And he says, "when they show up, that's what they're gonna want."Sure enough, about 3 minutes before the game starts, the patio goes from empty to packed. People are trying to move your table, your laptop bag. Then suddenly they're all staring, slackjawed, at this stupid TV that's blasting the same shitty commercials it was showing yesterday, last week, last month.HN readers, I'm sitting in that bar Sep 14, 2011 7:22 PM
news.ycombinator.com
Ask HN: YC Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund: Why is #22 blank?https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2960031I just came across the GiftRocket inforgraphic on PG's "Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund". Given it's been 3 years since publication and presuming GiftRocket's done their due diligence, why is there no serious disruption in #22?I'm shocked not only because I'm familiar with this very real problem from a user perspective, but mostly because it's a problem space I've actually worked on before and achieved some modicum of success/career advancement from it at one of the bulge bracket investment banks (which I won't name here for confidentiality reasons).I'm not here to boast, I just want to know what the HN community thinks about this problem and who would be seriously interested to work on this problem with me.I know there's been some HN discussion on this before. I've had a read through them and I've looked at some of the forays into this space (couldn't check out DabbleDB since they're shutting down). I don't think any of them hit the sweet spot as described.I read this list about 2 yeaSep 4, 2011 6:48 PM
bing.com
Real Value vs. Perceived Valuehttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6a8a5a59727f455a8cc7e7e0e5d2709a&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsmallbusiness.chron.com%2Freal-value-vs-perceived-value-20857.html&c=12858280516847855523&mkt=en-usAll businesses have the goal of making a profit, which requires selling goods or services for more money than it costs to develop, produce and distribute them. The selling price that a business asks ...Aug 29, 2011 11:41 PM
bing.com
Real Value vs. Perceived Valuehttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6a89032e2cd74bd0ac11e9897f3c0ab3&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsmallbusiness.chron.com%2Freal-value-vs-perceived-value-20857.html&c=12858280516847855523&mkt=en-usAll businesses have the goal of making a profit, which requires selling goods or services for more money than it costs to develop, produce and distribute them. The selling price that a business asks ...Aug 29, 2011 11:41 PM
news.ycombinator.com
If Software Is Eating The World, Why Don't Coders Get Any Respect?https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2919708Software, as Marc Andreesen said in his famous editorial, is becoming a larger and larger part of our daily lives. Given how important software is, then, you'd expect computer programmer - the task of developing and maintaining software - to be one of the highest-paid, most-wanted jobs. It isn't. Why not?"Hold on", you say, "isn't programming a high-paying job"? Sure, next to the average American worker. But the average American worker is a college dropout. What if you compare programming to jobs for other highly skilled professionals?Consider a 35-year-old, senior Google engineer. He probably makes about $150,000, which is enough to buy a good house and raise a family. But Google wouldn't hire a random guy to fill that job - this engineer probably has an Ivy League or other elite degree, fifteen years of work experience, a very high IQ, strong drive, and numerous other skills (anyone who's been through the Google hiring process can tell you how hard it is to get in).As a doctor, howevAug 24, 2011 6:34 AM
news.ycombinator.com
New documentary #killswitch exposes media consolidation and government collusionhttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2656444#killswitch The Battle over the Internet Educator and Writer Chris Dollar is teaming with filmmakers Ali Akbarzadeh and Jeff Horn of Akorn Entertainment to create the full-length documentary #killswitch. They are raising funds on KickStarter.com to produce the documentary so they can educate the Western world about the fact that big corporations will continue to have more and more control over our news and Internet… unless we do something now. Check out the trailer and learn how to become involved in this project here: (#killswitch trailer) (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/akorn/killswitch-a-documentary-film?ref=live) ____________________________________________Everyone who is a regular to Hacker News knows we have a culture of corruption in Washington and are in desperate need of media reform and legislation protecting Net Neutrality. So, why does mainstream media ignore the massive amounts of corruption and collusion between large corporations and big government, while also ignorJun 15, 2011 9:08 AM
news.ycombinator.com
Online Computer Science BS Degree?https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2599618Does anyone know of a good online undergraduate Computer Science program? My girlfriend is almost done her Masters of Science in Nursing online at Vanderbilt. All her courses are online, she does clinicals at local hospitals and private practices, and flies to Nashville for a long weekend every couple of months. I've been looking for something similar for Computer Science, but can only seem to find programs at scam schools. If it's possible to get the credentials which will give you the ability to suture and prescribe narcotics online, shouldn't computer science be handled similarly?Yes, I am aware of the social implications (e.g. college is a great place to meet people, develop as a person, etc...). I did attend a traditional college, and have about 85 credits. The difficulty is, my business started making money, so I'm too busy to attend scheduled courses. The university wouldn't work with me, at all, so I stopped going. I see value in having a degree, and would like to finish, but iMay 30, 2011 3:28 PM
news.ycombinator.com
I've got a Facebook fan page, How do I get more people to join it?https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2427998Hi all,I've created a fan page for a small family business my family and I run (we have a small music studio). As the relatively 'technical' person in the family (I know just enough html to color the background of page) I got the job of running our facebook fan page.I started reading all those "10 tips for the best…" tutorials out there on the web, but from some reason I am pretty skeptic. I keep feeling people are trying to sell me their services.What I'd like to hear is some good advice from people who perhaps succeeded themselves in building a good facebook fan page. Also, I would like to unfold the mystery behind the real figures. I understand that everyone these days must have a faceook fan page, but how much money \ how many customers can I really expect to gain from this?Thank you,Apr 9, 2011 8:20 PM
geekomaniac.com
Why isn't Singapore as entrepreneurial as Israel? [Part 1 - Technology]http://geekomaniac.com/Over the next few days, I hope to publish a 4-part series on answering the question: Why isn't Singapore as entrepreneurial as Israel?It is a mystery, especially for a Singaporean like me. Both nations have limited natural resources, rely heavily on its manpower for its growth. Yet, why is it that the Singapore government is struggling to make its citizen create its own jobs?Back in May 2010, I had the opportunity to embark on a 10-days trip to Israel, to investigate the reasons behind its entrepreneurial economy.Introduction:From my internship stint at the Singapore's Ministry of Trade, I learnt about successful Israel’s Yozma fund, and unsuccessful TIF Ventures in Singapore. Ever since then, I realized that the Singapore government has been mimicking what the Israeli government does. I signed up for Israel BSM to find out the real reasons behind Israel’s booming entrepreneurship ecosystem and why Singapore is not on par. On the 26th April, as I boarded the plane to Tel Aviv, all gearMar 8, 2011 8:32 PM
news.ycombinator.com
Show HN: Edit Text, See Relevant Images. ~200 Lines Of JavaSripthttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2112230I was experimenting with different term-extraction API's and I came up with this simple HTML5/CSS3/JS thing that shows you relevant images as you enter text. http://bupad.agen.si Basic scenario- User enters text- Terms are instantly extracted from content via Alchemy API- Google Image search is used to find relevant images on Flickr- Images are shown in the backgroundThere are some minor perks like the fact that the image searches are rotating around the color wheel (Google let's you specify a desired color of the image), and content is also stored in LocalStorage.The prototype has a "bug" (HTML5 ContentEditable isn't a good enough replacement for a WYSIWYG, only works in Chrome in Safari) and a few "missing features" (Enlarging images and so on).Right now it's pretty much client-side, everything happens in JS (OOP Prototype and jQ for Cross-site JSON-P requests): http://bupad.agen.si/javascripts/application.js Reasons for posting:I want to gauge the potential and get some feedback. I Jan 17, 2011 2:33 PM
bing.com
What is Final Fantasy Versus XIII?http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx&aid=&tid=6a85ebd5892641dc858428921f3a20eb&url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.ign.com%2farticles%2f2010%2f11%2f18%2fwhat-is-final-fantasy-versus-xiii&c=14836418439552603184&mkt=en-usThere are three different games with the name "Final Fantasy XIII." Confused? You should be, unless you're intimately familiar with developer Square Enix's plans. With Final Fantasy XIII already on ...Nov 17, 2010 5:29 PM
bing.com
What is Final Fantasy Versus XIII?http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx&aid=&tid=6a85cc6693454321a86fe9f86a36fbda&url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.ign.com%2farticles%2f2010%2f11%2f18%2fwhat-is-final-fantasy-versus-xiii&c=14836418439552603184&mkt=en-usThere are three different games with the name "Final Fantasy XIII." Confused? You should be, unless you're intimately familiar with developer Square Enix's plans. With Final Fantasy XIII already on ...Nov 17, 2010 5:29 PM
bing.com
What is Final Fantasy Versus XIII?http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx&aid=&tid=6a85d6ffc859476d89fb75663a267872&url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.ign.com%2farticles%2f2010%2f11%2f18%2fwhat-is-final-fantasy-versus-xiii&c=14836418439552603184&mkt=en-usThere are three different games with the name "Final Fantasy XIII." Confused? You should be, unless you're intimately familiar with developer Square Enix's plans. With Final Fantasy XIII already on ...Nov 17, 2010 5:29 PM
