news.ycombinator.com
The PirateBay press release concerning sopa.. Nice read.https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3488077Original --> http://static.thepiratebay.org/legal/sopa.txtINTERNETS, 18th of January 2012. PRESS RELEASE, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. Over a century ago Thomas Edison got the patent for a device which would "do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear". He called it the Kinetoscope. He was not only amongst the first to record video, he was also the first person to own the copyright to a motion picture. Because of Edisons patents for the motion pictures it was close to financially impossible to create motion pictures in the North american east coast. The movie studios therefor relocated to California, and founded what we today call Hollywood. The reason was mostly because there was no patent. There was also no copyright to speak of, so the studios could copy old stories and make movies out of them - like Fantasia, one of Disneys biggest hits ever.So, the whole basis of this industry, that today is screaming about losing control over immaterial rights, is that they circumvented immateJan 20, 2012 2:54 AM
infoyogis.com
InfoYOGIS Supercharges their Internet Marketing and SEO Serviceshttp://www.infoyogis.cominfoYOGIS Launches a New Design for their Homepage and Refines All of its Services in the Process(PR Web) 26 November, 2011 - The Internet is very much saturated with online Internet marketing and SEO services. It is even possible for aspiring webmasters to learn these techniques all by themselves so they can market independently without placing any initial investments. Online Internet marketing firms continue to be in business because there are lots of people that want speedy and reliable results in order to overcome the competition. With websites becoming more fiercely competitive in design, content, and advertising, Internet marketing firms need to step up and come up with various approaches that can help personal and business websites thrive in terms of traffic. infoYOGIS shows confidence in being one of the more flexible solutions in bringing any website to the top rankings.A Fresh New LookinfoYOGIS redesigned their entire website to put more emphasis on their many services that hJan 18, 2012 9:56 AM
news.ycombinator.com
Ask HN: 200k student debt, degrees not very useful. What to do?https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3473836Situation:About to graduate top 10 law school.Top 10 undergrad, BA in random dumb social sciences junk I regret studying (high GPA).roughly 200k student loans by the time I graduate.Performed mediocrely in law school (put in serious effort, but, it's tough, at least for me. Lots of other excellent students here. Did well in some classes, but not most.)As a result, didn't get one of the big law firm jobs I was expecting to justify the investmentBest current law job prospects pay 50k and stay pretty flat (public interest). I've applied to just about every legal position, clerkship, fellowship etc. out there. I've got a gig right for right after I graduate but that's pretty short-term, and I want to think about the future here.Not that into law. Its not as interesting as i thought. Also the opportunities suck -- its status/prestige-obsessed if you want to make good money doing something besides personal injury and hoping to get lucky, and I failed in that competition, top 10 JD aside. Oh Jan 17, 2012 5:12 AM
google.com
Not quite an MIT degree, but MITx may still appealhttp://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5idDZ64eNNZAa_QaPHu79Cepv96wQ?docId=d6b616cf31824571bff84c7769869544Think you can hack it at MIT? If so, the world-renowned university is willing to give you a new kind of credential to prove it. Not a full-fledged diploma — that's still a possibility only for the 10,000 or so students admitted to its Cambridge, Mass., campus. But on Monday, MIT is announcing that for the first time it will offer credentials — under the name "MITx" — to students who complete the online version of certain courses, starting with a pilot program this spring. "This is not MIT light. This is not an easier version of MIT," said Provost L. Rafael Reif. "An MITx learner, anywhere they are, for them to earn a credential they have to demonstrate mastery of the subject just like an MIT student does." The announcement comes as elite universities like Stanford, Yale and Carnegie-Mellon are experimenting with how to use the Internet to extend their teaching to a global audience hungering for instruction on platforms like YouTube, Apple's iTunes U and others developed by universitiesDec 19, 2011 9:30 AM
news.ycombinator.com
Ask HN: how to save on bandwidth cost for the distribution of a free game?https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3363104hello to all,we are releasing a free game for mac and pc early next year. its file size is around 500MB. it would be available for free. right now we are thinking of hosting it in amazon s3, but after doing the math, the cost of bandwidth might become too high for us. we are now trying to find other ways of distributing the games. kindly share your suggestions?could you also share to me your experiences in submitting to the mac app store? do they host your file or do you provide a link to your host? the same with the xbox marketplace, kindly share your experience? xbox marketplace also hosts PC games now.Dec 17, 2011 1:51 AM
news.ycombinator.com
An appeal to web developers and producershttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3359906An appeal to web producers (and a rant)When you produce a developer screencast or record a local developer meetup, conference, speech, please spare a momemt to give consideration to hosting. It is not out of the realms of possibility that the end result - the video - will be viewed in dozens of countries, with varying levels of bandwidth, across a range of operating system, display profiles and even different devices, some people might watch some today, some tomorrow, some people might download it for the flight ahead etc..So please for the love of God, do not use Vimeo or Blip or other niche video site.YouTube is fine!! Understood?Why not Vimeo? All others developer celebrities use it?To me it seems there is a sheep factor following with Vimeo, it is essentially a crappy off the shelf flash video player, pulling video from their akamai CDN account, with various little tricks in place to prevent you downloading the video. Most annoyingly, you cant skip the video until its downloaded, yDec 16, 2011 7:50 AM
get.loyaltees.co
Build Loyalty One Tee At A Timehttp://get.loyaltees.coSimple automated t-shirt loyalty program. A company can set "loyalty targets" within their site or app (50 logins, 25 tweets/likes, answer 3 surveys, invite 5 friends) and when a user hits a target they are sent an email with a link to get a free branded shirt.Nov 29, 2011 8:14 PM
news.ycombinator.com
Ask HN: Please Review My Startup -- a SaaS for Local TV Stationshttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3287367Hi Everyone,I am a solo founder . I have bootstrapped my start-up NewsPVR.TV and now I am launching. I will appreciate any feedback you may have.This is the problem I am solving :(My target customers are Web-admins & Marketing folks at Television Stations with Local News and Programming. )Local TV stations promote their content by Tweets, Email alerts and Facebook posts . These posts/links are driven by their content as opposed to viewers’ interest. A One Hour news show might cover more 15 than topics -- but if a viewer is interested in 4 things --e.g. Price of Gas,Military , Football , schools -- she or he is unlikely to sit through the whole video to get to the bits she or he is interested in.This is how I solve it:My product, NewsPVR.TV, will figure out which exact segments of the news video corresponds to the topics each member of audience is interested in ; it creates a play-list with only these items extracted from the news video and posts it to the viewer’s wall as a video clip Nov 28, 2011 8:03 PM
bing.com
Damian Scragg Discusses The Evidon Proposition In Europe And How It Can Help With Compliance Around The ePrivacy Directivehttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6a8d5ba3c664450ca8e5bb8f44b38984&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.exchangewire.com%2Fblog%2F2011%2F11%2F28%2Fdamian-scragg-discusses-the-evidon-proposition-in-europe-and-it-adresses-the-eprivacy-directive%2F&c=3670259805562354596&mkt=en-usDamian Scragg is the Managing Director, UK, Evidon. Here he discusses the Evidon proposition in Europe and how its solution can help companies comply with the new directive. Evidon helps brands, ...Nov 28, 2011 1:27 AM
bing.com
What Is a Topside Entry in Accounting?http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6a8cf8f85aa64649bb55543723d48711&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsmallbusiness.chron.com%2Ftopside-entry-accounting-34019.html&c=14840557465888997841&mkt=en-usA topside journal entry is an adjustment made by a parent company on the accounting sheets of its subsidiaries during the preparation of the consolidated financial statements. They are necessary for ...Nov 20, 2011 4:44 AM
bing.com
How Google's Money-Making Machine, AdWords, Actually Workshttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6a8d0e038db64d8da59b864d4649fa09&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Finfographic-how-googles-money-making-machine-adwords-actually-works-2011-11&c=15101914256978786722&mkt=en-usGoogle makes 97% of its revenue from advertising. The majority of that comes from search advertising, which Google sells in a product called AdWords. The basics of AdWords are pretty easy to ...Nov 16, 2011 10:23 AM
bing.com
How Google's Money-Making Machine, AdWords, Actually Workshttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6a8d32d07d8c4ebfb68d5c31772b2e8a&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Finfographic-how-googles-money-making-machine-adwords-actually-works-2011-11&c=15101914256978786722&mkt=en-usGoogle makes 97% of its revenue from advertising. The majority of that comes from search advertising, which Google sells in a product called AdWords. The basics of AdWords are pretty easy to ...Nov 16, 2011 10:23 AM
news.ycombinator.com
Can a Product Inspire Responsibility? Why Aesthetics Matterhttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3217779One of the negative traits that came as a result of a somewhat priviledged lifestyle as a youth was that I didn't take care of my things. If I tore up my khakis playing neighborhood football in the back yard, my folks bought me a new pair. My Audi got destroyed bit by bit while going through pledgeship in college. And I have been through more than a couple of PC's. (I'm not proud of these habits)But I noticed something odd about two items when they were sitting next to each other today on my TV stand today. They have been through a lot with me and are still in excellent condition?! People say that Steve Jobs was amazing for creating such innovative products that "just feel good in your hands." They are right, but I would venture to take it a step further. I have had an 80 gig Ipod Classic for over 3 years now and a Macbook Pro for over a year and a half. I have never felt such dedication, loyalty and responsibility for a material item in my life.The feel of something in your hands is iNov 9, 2011 10:25 PM
bing.com
The Difference Between a Single Source & Sole Source for a Contracthttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6a8cfea5170a4f5e91b848acfb11f18a&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsmallbusiness.chron.com%2Fdifference-between-single-source-sole-source-contract-32618.html&c=10477282310946212465&mkt=en-usCutting corners in business is rarely a good idea, but trying to find the best deal possible is one of the most effective ways to drive profits. This is especially true for companies that rely on ...Oct 26, 2011 6:36 PM
bing.com
Poisson's ratio at 200http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6a8d62262e7c4dab8bf761902da98bef&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fnmat3167&c=4937018578155025155&mkt=en-usAn understanding of a material's microscopic architecture is important to improve its mechanical properties. Poisson's ratio, which celebrates its bicentenary this year, continues to provide a good ...Oct 23, 2011 5:00 PM
bing.com
Changers Unveils Solar Battery, Social Energy Savinghttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6a8d8bccee9a4ec8a2c777fea878af4c&url=https%3A%2F%2Fuk.pcmag.com%2Fnews%2F113783%2Fchangers-unveils-solar-battery-social-energy-saving&c=7659278789913779038&mkt=en-usA German startup, called Changers, believes that one of the best ways to save power is to do it socially. Changers began taking preorders this week for its Changers Starter Kit for $149, which ...Oct 20, 2011 6:27 PM
news.ycombinator.com
Study HN: Linear Algebra 1. We're on.https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3060521A couple of weeks ago, a bunch of us decided to put our internet time to better use and (re-)learn linear algebra together (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2993321). Most have the book by now, so... let's do this! If you missed that thread and want to join, please do so. There's nothing you have to do other than learn.The book is "Linear Algebra And Its Applications" by Strang, 4th ed., ISBN 0030105676. We'll work through one chapter every two weeks. There are a lot of exercises. Let's discuss ones that are interesting, nontrivial or both. Questions and insights about the material are welcome. The first 5 chapters have Review Exercises at the end. Let's call those "mandatory" and discuss them at the end of the two weeks.Housekeeping:1. We'll do this on HN unless it becomes intractable or the landlord asks us to leave.2. Put "Study HN: Linear Algebra 1" in the subject line. Then we can find posts like this: http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=%22linear+algebra+1%223. If youOct 1, 2011 5:28 PM
online.wsj.com
What is RIM's target market?http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204422404576597061591715344.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStoriesI have also copied and pasted the article since WSJ has a paywall.As Research In Motion Ltd. executives prepared early this year for the launch of their first tablet, the PlayBook, one big question loomed: Who was the device for?Some executives, like RIM's technical visionary and co-chief executive Mike Lazaridis, saw the gadget as an extension of the BlackBerry, long favored by corporations and business people. Others were pushing for more focus on ordinary consumers, people eager for games, music and movies, according to executives close to the company. "There's an internal war going on around the marketing message. Even the guys at the top don't agree," one executive close to the company said at the time. The split showed through in a campaign RIM planned with its ad agency. It envisioned using humor and celebrities like New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady—but also the tagline "Go Pro"—said two people familiar with the situation. By the time the PlayBook went on sale in AprilSep 30, 2011 8:27 AM
bing.com
Google Intros AdWords For Video, Folding In YouTube Featureshttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6a8d33e11e3546eea74fccf0d4273c62&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsearchengineland.com%2Fgoogle-intros-adwords-for-video-folding-in-youtube-features-94838&c=1679440760376637664&mkt=en-usIn a bid to unify its advertising interfaces and improve reporting for YouTube video ads, Google is launching a limited public beta of “AdWords for Video” — which includes four “TrueView” video ad ...Sep 28, 2011 9:53 AM
bing.com
How to Handle an Employee Who Doesn't Take Initiativehttp://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6a8d644240644b16ba9f16c5b2e3fc5a&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsmallbusiness.chron.com%2Fhandle-employee-doesnt-initiative-23809.html&c=8809378921645764247&mkt=en-usWhen an employee has a lack of initiative in the workplace, it can be difficult for a manager or supervisor. This problem can manifest itself differently, from refusing to take on extra work to not ...Sep 16, 2011 9:07 AM
