9/2     what are the hot new startups in SF nowadays?
        \_ sixapart, hi5, bebo, digg
           \_ I agree with you there with bebo... but why would you want
              to work at 6a?  they don't pay very much, all their drama
              is all over the internet, i actually have a lot of inside
              info about this company.
              \_ He didn't ask where was a good place to work, did he?
                 I forgot, I should have added Linden Lab, though I personally
                 would not consider working there, they are a "hot new
                 startup."
                 \_ You're right, I just assumed he would want to work
                    somewhere that didn't suck.  My mistake!
           \_ sixapart is definitely not new, and arguably not hot.  Unless
              you think of imploding bodies as hot.  hi5 maybe, bebo yes,
              digg yes.  I'd add slide to the list, though I'm obviously
              biased, and you should ping me if you want to work here. -dans
              \_ What do these companies do? I haven't heard of any of them.
                 \_ sixapart: originally built around MoveableType blogging
                    software.  Sells MoveableType as well as hosted version
                    of MoveableType called TypePad.  Acquired Livejournal
                    several years ago.
                 \_ hi5: yet another social network.
                    \_ Not just any, the 11th most visited site on the Interweb-
                       won't-ever-amount-to-anything-thingy.
                 \_ bebo: yet another social network.  Big in the UK.  Rumors
                    were flying about a Yahoo buyout a few months back, but
                    this did not happen.
                 \_ digg: collaborative news/content sharing and filtering
                    site, basically Slashdot for the masses.  Has a *lot* of
                    users.
                 \_ slide: we make embeddable widgets and applications that
                    people like to add to their social network profiles and
                    web sites.  We have a *lot* of users.
                    -dans
                    \_ Thanks for the responses. No offense to you, but
                       these startups seem to be rather lame. I wouldn't
                       want to get a PhD in CS in order to code for social
                       networking web sites. Is there anything really
                       groundbreaking or novel out there?
                       \_ Why not come with an idea yourself?  (Not trying to
                          be snarky).  I had what I thought was a really
                       \_ Why not come up with an idea yourself?  (Not trying
                          to be snarky).  I had what I thought was a really
                          good idea for a startup, but honestly I don't have
                          the courage to bet 5 years of my life on it. -- ilyas
                          \_ If you fail, it will probably take you less than
                             five years to fail.  Also, if you consider
                             factors other than money, e.g. experience, it's
                             not a zero-sum proposition. -dans
                             \_ yeah, I'm sure working infinite hours for
                                shit money in a failed venture is a great
                                positive life experience.
                                \_ Like you would know. -dans
                                 \_ I know.  It sucks.
                                    \_ I respectfully disagree, but then your
                                       experience was probably different than
                                       mine. -dans
                                \_ Believe it or not, it is considered really
                                   great on your resume if you have started
                                   your own company and failed.
                                   \_ I believe it.  I also believe that
                                      a failed startup is a huge drain on
                                      your life and there are plenty of other
                                      productive things you could be doing
                                      with your life that don't involve
                                      such suckitude.
                                      \_ Only a fool would enter into a
                                         startup expecting to fail.  Also, as
                                         I mentioned in my comment above, the
                                         experience is not necessarily one
                                         that can be generalized as
                                         'suckitude'. -dans
                                         \_ 90% of startups fail, so only a
                                            fool would enter into one expecting
                                            to succeed.  -tom
                          _________________/
                          \_ Don't be a douche bag.  Quoting cute statistics
                             that you probably can't reliably source doesn't
                             say much for your credibility on the subject.
                             Last I checked, you never left the cradle of
                             academia. -dans
                                            \_ Yet somehow, two of the three
                                               startups I worked for went
                                               public. -ausman
                             \_ Last I checked, I had 10 years of industry
                                experience before I started working at
                                Berkeley, and you had no fucking clue.  Let
                                me check again...yup, still true.  -tom
                                \_ 10 years where, doing what, if you don't
                                   mind sharing?
                                   \_ I do mind sharing personal details with
                                      anonymous cowards.  Send me mail if you
                                      really care.  -tom
                                      \_ Whatever.  You made a claim about
                                         your tremendous clueful experience.
                                         If you aren't willing to back that
                                         up, then just whatever, as usual.
                                         Either way, changing tapes 15 years
                                         ago has nothign to do with the
                                         world of industry today.
                       \_ I'd argue that, unless you're going to spin you're
                          thesis into a startup, you wouldn't want to get a
                          PhD in CS in order to code for most startups.  Since
                          I haven't worked for any social networking sites, I
                          can't speak directly from experience on the relative
                          interestingness of the problems they face.  As for
                          Slide, widgets may not sound like something terribly
                          PhD in CS in order to code for most startups.
                          Since
                          I haven't worked for any social networking sites,
                          I can't speak directly from experience on the
                          relative interestingness of the problems they
                          face.  As for Slide, widgets may not sound
                          like something terribly
                          interesting, but, having seen how the sausage is
                          made, there are interesting challenges.  In
                          particular, gracefully scaling to support the volume
                          of traffic we handle is non-trivial.  It also raises
                          the question, what kind of interesting conclusions
                          and relations can you draw from such a huge data
                          set? -dans
                          P.S. I think Google's BigTable is pretty novel, but
                          it requires several layers of Google infrastructure
                          to recreate.  I'm curious to see if couchdb, which
                          looks superficially similar to BigTable, might serve
                          the same purpose.  Okay, its not a startup, but it's
                          groundbreaking.
                          \_ If a bomb took out myspace, facebook, bebo,
                             slide, friendster, digg, no one important
                             notice.
                             \_ *shrug*.  Are you trying to make a point or
                                just trolling?  Personally, I think the ideal
                                \_ No, I think my statement is 100% accurate
                                   \_ Like who, Senator Ted "the internet is a
                                      series of tubes" Stevens? -dans
                                      \_ No one important cares about the
                                         internets anyway. It is all just
                                         a big waste of time and will never
                                         amount to anything.
                                of the net as a democratic medium is a
                                worthwhile one to shoot for.  I guess you
                                feel otherwise. -dans