skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I've had a bit longer to think about this than the rest of you -- I discovered that the vote totals were being inadvertently leaked earlier today -- and I have to say that I'm impressed with the quality of the results. Leaving pinboard out of the picture[1][2], I think the voting selected a group of companies with tremendous potential: AutoMicroFarm has the potential to develop scalable technology which completely changes how food is produced, Feynman Nano has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives, and Casepad has the potential to make a huge industry dramatically more efficient[3].

I hope YC does something like this again in the future, but I'd suggest a different approach: Rather than asking HN to help select startups to fund, I'd suggest asking HN to help select startups to interview. This would solve the problem of needing an out-of-band mechanism to determine if an application is "real" or not; worst case, YC would end up paying travel expenses for some companies they decide not to fund. I suspect that the advantage of having extra eyeballs ensure that they don't overlook promising startups[4] would easily justify this -- not to mention the possibility of saving YC lots of time on in-house reviewing.

The one biggest danger I see with this is the potential for vote brigading; I suspect that we would have had more of that if it was announced at the start that votes would be a significant deciding factor. One possible way of solving this would be to limit voting choices, e.g., ask each person to pick one out of a small subset, so who only turn up because they want to support a particular candidate would usually end up filtering themselves out. I suggested this to Dan, but he thought that there wouldn't be enough voters to make this feasible; I'm not sure I agree with him.

Obviously I have no idea how this experiment is being viewed from YC's perspective -- and it sounds like YC won't know how they view it for a while yet either -- but as an external observer I'd say that this was a very interesting and very successful experiment.

[1] I'm sure that most people who voted for pinboard did not do so because they thought it would be a good investment. This gets back to the "it's not really clear what YC is trying to accomplish with YC Fellowships" problem which I've mentioned in earlier threads, but the original call was to "fund startups", not "fund your friends".

[2] I think that YC could gain a lot by creating some other mechanism to bring people like Maciej into the system -- something like an "honorary YC founder" status. But I don't think funding is the answer here.

[3] I'm a Canadian and not particularly familiar with the US legal system; but I've seen enough of it to know that (a) there's a huge amount of money there, and (b) they desperately need an infusion of technological competence.

[4] I'd be interested to know if any of the three had applied to YC via the normal route: Did HN identify good startups which YC missed, or would YC have funded these three anyway?
I found it interesting (and surprising!) that Bill Gross endorses a UBI in this essay.
> he made me feel uncomfortable in the end

This kind of statement is broad, and covers anything from "he said he'd use the money to breed a race of robotic nazi grizzly bears" to "his voice reminded me of my ex-spouse's".

YC is y'all's thing, you run it however you want, but the lack of details here does make it seem like it really is about the fact that Maciej routinely criticizes the whole VC/startup fairy tale that YC peddles, and that changing the rules at the last minute is the only way you came up with to dodge having to work with him.

I generally agree with what Maciej has to say, and have a fairly negative opinion of YC (despite enjoying the HN community, and respecting some of the people involved with YC) - I thought I'd be pleasantly surprised by YC here and see what happens when they're willing to work with one of their smarter critics.

But in the end, there's just disappointment, and no reason to reconsider my perception of YC.
At Flexport, a security audit revealed we were vulnerable to this. So we made a linter to detect it. If you use React like we do, maybe our linter will be useful to you too: https://github.com/yannickcr/eslint-plugin-react/pull/582
Outdoor Security Cameras for Home
What I think is very curious is that Apple isn't mentioned even once on this whole page. And yet it's behind much of the trends and pursuing many a technology listed on it.
Never been tried? There's a green padlock next to my address field. That looks like a try. :)

And OK, let's say it's never been tried. Those cars are going to be part of that internet.
There are probably ways he could have conveyed that better. Judging by the outcome, smarter people than me came to that same conclusion.
> We're grown-ups and don't have to like each other to work together effectively.

This times 1000. A working relationship is not a friendship nor does it require any particularly strong "rapport". Though the idea that there's no difference between a working relationship and being best buds is, I guess, not uncommon in SV---something to protest against the next time an experiment like this is run, I guess.
WordPress适合会员的网站模板 – Regal
That's the problem with with this. You know and I know that posting a Twitter message about your HN post is against the rules, but that's because we're HN nerds. Maciej isn't.

I understand completely why the complete rulebook on how you can't and can't promote your posts isn't posted clearly on the site. Voting ring suppression is an arms race, and posting the current rules helps the vote-ringers.

But a general statement about not soliciting support for applications could have been made clearer. And, more importantly, the vote ring really had nothing to do with this. Kevin Hale didn't want Maciej in the program. That's all there was to it.
Already do exactly that with Ansible.
Is this a surprise?

Scalping was made legal in New York a few years ago, pushed by a legislative leader just sentenced to 12 years in prison for bribery and extortion.

The old law barred resale for profit, which kept scalping underground and prices under control.

Now you have conditions where a monopolist (Ticketmaster), who also operates a scalping^H "resale" site who (shockingly!) is having trouble stopping bulk buyers. I'm sure the usurious fees they earn on ticket purchase and resale encourages them to halt the process.
I'm afraid the whole process lost all credibility. Please, do not repeat it. It's just disenfranchising for the community as a whole: it doesn't matter what we vote for, if YC will decide on their own as they would normally do.
I think you would need to have two separate stats: one for number of founders and one for team size. Some companies might already have employees that are not founders but the YC application only refers to founders IIRC.

The data I would like to see would be industry related but there isn't a specific dropdown for that and would be hard to do with keywords. I'm surprised that more than 2.5% of applications are looking to enter spaces that Uber is either in or the applicant thinks Uber is going into. I suspect that is more due to Uber's distribution potential than their transportation business but really don't know. Definitely surprised it is half of Google in the fear factor.

You have one seriously impressive HN profile.
Etymology of 'charisma' is fascinating. This wasn't a concept western society had before weber liberated it from religious usage in the late 1800s; after that it entered historiography as an explanation (or perhaps just a description) of leadership ability that can't be explained in objective terms.

Not sure words like this aid our understanding of situations.
I'm not sure why you can't see it, but Amazon is definitely there, on the most popular terms ranking list. [1]

[1] http://themacro.com/images/articles/startupzeitgeist17-0e624...
Or, from the other side of the problem, raise supply. Hire a second cast and do more shows.

Problem is that everyone wants to see the major stars and won't be as interested in a different cast. Or maybe they will. The touring show opens in Chicago this fall. We'll see.
Well, to be honest, that's why there are no iOS apps worth a god-damn. We got a bunch of junk as apps (programs now). So much wasted effort and time.
GAMERS GONE APE S#%T COMPILATIONS
That specifically refers to submitted stories.

I think it is dodgy to have an online election, and then disqualify participants for mentioning it to people who might want to vote for them.
"no one has time to learn everything"

right. No one has time to learn endless js frameworks, injections and reinventions of the wheel. So (1) read the fucking SICP book, (2) learn about the business problem you are trying to solve, put 1 and 2 together and "get stuff done".
Tell that to my last client.

I tried to put together a workable MVP as quickly as possible. The designs that I thought were aspirational designs for a finished product that would be completed eventually, but no, the CEO really wanted all of the fancy transparency, the exact button spacing, the exact imagery and fonts (despite the fact that they used fonts that weren't licensed for app usage...sigh...).

So we spent tons of time that was supposed to be MVP instead making a polished final product.

And then the CEO threw a new set of art to us and asked for a third redesign (ours was apparently the second, after the initial developer resisted making major design changes). And then a FOURTH redesign.

It amazes me that this guy (continues!) to get funding. But he's managed it. :|
I appreciate your contributions to HN and am interested that you're skeptical(?) as well.

We're looking at a few "wowee!" graphs that are showing the differences between fractions of a percent. I mean, the claim is "850% growth" of Slack... as it goes from 0% to 1% of "mentions" in some randomly associated keyword analysis. "AI" went from 0.41% to 0.7% of "mentions" in 4 years, looks like it's taking over! Blogging is no longer popular, because it went from 1.5% to 0.5%, but "messaging" is so popular now because it went from...zero to 1%?

What does any of it mean? It looks like the type of analysis where the conclusions are drawn ahead of time. I'd be more interested in seeing the diversity of replies; if only a small fraction of companies see, say, the big guys (FAANG) as competitors, who do the rest list?
Man A walks into a bar and says hi to a stranger, and then tells a joke and then winds up telling a story and somehow by the end he got to know 5 people there and they all really liked him. Man B just went and sat at the bar.

Do you mean to tell me it is "popular opinion" that ascribes Man A as charismatic in this scenario?

Addendum: I've heard it said that when you're talking to Bill Clinton, he makes you feel like you're the center of the world.
This summarizes why this all rubs me the wrong way. YC already has a well-oiled machine that vets startups. The whole point of the YCF was ostensibly to try something new. If you're only going to give money to people after an "interview" which can be the sole eliminating factor, what's the point of a popular vote at all?
That's a perfectly reasonable goal for a high school or someone performing self study. The whole point of a university is to impart knowledge of subtle things.
> It was their first real test of Viv, the artificial-intelligence technology that the team had been quietly building for more than year.

I think they mean "first real demonstration." It would have been tested thousands of times before reaching the board room.

That gripe aside, the real test (for me, at least) of whether a service like this will be usable is whether it can run offline without uploading my entire life to the mothership. I won't use Google Now or Siri or anything similar because it would make my life (even more of) an open book to a single huge provider. It's bad enough that Google (through Gmail) has access to my emails, I don't want them having a log of my moment-to-moment location, voice conversations, routines, etc.
I'm really rooting for AutoMicroFarm. I'm in the process of moving from the Triangle area, with a large interest in aquaponics. It's very surreal how similar our paths could have been...
I was an applicant and I understood from the start that the votes would influence it but that YCF would make the final call. It was clear to me before I applied that YCF would have a final say. I'm sorry it's confusing you.
The original hypothesis was:

> If Hacker News could fund startups, what startups would it fund?

The answer was clear and overwehlming: The people chose an understated business model helmed by a charismatic leader who they passionately believe in. We choose an antiestablishment founder over the status quo.

You asked the question and you didn't like the answer. It's your house so you're within your rights but I can't say I'm pleased with the way this was decided.
I am not sure feeling uncomfortable around someone or not having a connection with them is a reasonable excuse for a company that wants to encourage diversity and reaching out to disadvantaged groups. Racial bias in workplaces is largely the result of people hiring those who are most like themselves. I think if your goal is to really to be inclusive, you should take people on their merits and abilities, not on the minutia of how you personally feel about them.

Disclaimer: I didn't vote for Pinboard and hadn't even heard of them before this voting.
Quit and mess around aimlessly for a while. You rightfully called it finding your future.
I can already order my pizza with an app or with Yo Dominoes... and they cost the same...

Not sure if it's because the person on the phone is doing other stuff at the same time or if it's more like eBooks where they cost the same as Paperbacks because "more profit".
This comment has nothing to do with mine.
This is something that has made me hold back from applying for development positions. I like to really understand the how and why of things (and feel like that is what expected of a developer), which is why I started learning CS concepts after being frustrated following tutorials/books that just asked you to follow the specific steps for the framework.

I have done Harvard CS50 and am working through Berkeley cs61a (with the goal to then do 61b/c), the Stanford database class and reviewing maths on Khan academy. I'll likely apply for a front-end position first even though I enjoy back-end more because I don't feel like I am at the level that is expected of a back-end or fullstack developer.
Very simple: will call tickets with photo ID.
Right. I agree that Slack is nowhere close to overtaking email in absolute terms. But I suspect it is growing faster than email. Your figures project email users growing by 11.5% over the next four years. Slack is growing by that rate every quarter (at least).
Flipboard's mobile site is amazing at this. 60fps on mobile.
Now do you see the problem with how YC chose to explain Pinboard's exclusion?
> I hope YC does something like this again in the future, but I'd suggest a different approach: Rather than asking HN to help select startups to fund, I'd suggest asking HN to help select startups to interview.

Yes. Were this the case this time, I suspect there would have been zero complaints.
Scorpion Sting and the Chicken Story
As long as tickets are transferable, this just sounds like capitalism working.

How much money do staffing agencies, warehouses, ecommerce sites, and the entire middle man industry make each week?

I salute the ticket resellers. Thank you for creating a secondary market for tickets.
I anticipated this outcome by becoming profitable eight years ago.

But I still want my $20K.
Scalpers can make money by making an inordinate margin on a few seats and leaving the rest of the seats empty.

It's in the shows interest (energy, PR, etc) to have all seats consistently full.
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I have been using Twean + uBlock element blocking for awhile now:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/twean/mgdbopghpkjm...

Since I always disable image preview in the mobile app, I find Twean suits my needs perfectly.
The Maciej I know was definitely not disinterested in winning that YCF spot.

Did he want the YCF spot, or the $20k? I don't know him, but the fact that his immediate response was "I want my twenty grand" reinforces my belief that Kevin made the right decision here.
Tom from Utiliz here. While dissapointed to miss out we were pumped to get into the final 20.
The Q&A was enlightening and enjoyable.
Good luck to the winners and thanks to Kevin and Dan.
Since having kids, I've become better at dealing with managers. ;-)
I don't think PG is making an empirical argument, it's based on intuition and then tries to just offer a few instances that are at least nominally consistent with the idea. Nate Silver recently said about Trump, "voters are much more tribal than I thought", and if you assume most voters don't know anything about candidates other than "it's a guy on the TV", they wouldn't respond to whether this guy was a yes man for Johnson or whatever, they just respond to who they like the most on an emotional level, and that's going to be whoever is the most charismatic during their campaign.
Exactly -- you grow in many ways. I'm a father of two with one more on the way and I've often wondered what I might have achieved if I had the efficiency and discipline I do now before kids when I had more time... Yet somehow I'm now achieving more with less time.
The real savings would come if you have a pizza bot that made pizzas without much human intervention and a drone picked it up and dropped it off and flew back to base.
I would like to thank everyone for the feedback and the discussion.

I've been plugging away at CADWOLF for a while now to get an MVP going and I am really just a few weeks from a solid code base. The feedback I got let me know that I was headed in a valid direction. This whole experience was great.

On a side note, I'll be referring to the company as "the one that came in fourth" for a while. I also may be setting a record for YC rejections. Is there a solid number on that somewhere?
$50 is more like a starting price; they jack you up to $75 after 6 months (been there, done that).

Also, you're assuming someone has internet service where they live and a stable enough situation to sign up for long-term service. I was thinking more like mobile internet service, which is how people in developing countries use the internet (and they don't pay the ridiculous monthly rates we do either).
The San Francisco Giants were doing this since 2000 for season ticket holders

http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Giants-Web-site-facil...

Could there be something else stopping ticket sellers from doing the same?

edit: a word
According to an episode of Acquired[0], none of Siri's original technology is present in Apple's current products. Siri originally licensed Nuance's (also an SRI spin-out company) voice recognition technology and built some pretty (comparatively) simple tech on top of it, never changing out the speech-to-text engine. All current players (Google, Amazon, etc) use neural nets, so Apple scooped up many Nuance employees to double down and compete[1]. Rosenthal and Gilbert agreed that Siri was a failure: "the only thing I use Siri for is setting alarms." I'd have to agree from personal experience. They chalked the failure up to the disadvantages of a UI where the full extent of the functionality is hidden and difficult to understand, leading to bad experiences. I imagine this technology will have many of the same struggles.

[0] http://www.acquired.fm/episodes/2015/12/14/episode-5-siri

[1] http://9to5mac.com/2014/06/30/why-is-apple-hiring-nuance-eng...
What is the biggest cost in the equipment?
I'm sure a big part of it is engineering but there must be expensive hand craft part as well.
I agree with you on everything. But also with Kevin and Dang.

Getting into YCF even with 100 more votes than the next 3 combined is not a right. If YC doesn't feel comfortable working with him and think that he'll negatively affect the batch and the alumni network, that's their call. (Just take this thread for example, what was supposed to be a post mortem of the contest and a place to give suggestions and feedback has turned into a complaint fest).

I did somethings which the mods didn't approve of in their judgement and my application itself was disqualified (it was ranked at 5 by upvotes) but I don't feel entitled so I'm not complaining.
It's such an obvious solution that there must be a good reason they're not doing it already. I refuse to accept that they simply have not considered that.

My guess is it's something in the "that's just not the way it's done" family... Perhaps their venue controls ticket sales and doesn't care, or they have an intermediary like Ticketmaster who doesn't care.
Or maybe it's more of a logistics concern, like they just think that doing such a thing would necessitate too big a change to entry procedure, likely slowing entry down too much? Or a more general logistics concern of they're not set up in person or online to do it that way, and changing now would be more trouble than it's worth?
I just wish Signal was easier to get through a firewall.

"You need to open TCP 31337 and all UDP ports in order for Signal to work."
Emphasis mine.

http://support.whispersystems.org/hc/en-us/articles/21369721...

When I first read that I was sure that must largely apply to the calling (voip) features, but testing showed me I was wrong. I couldn't even make messaging work through a firewall so now I sourly use Telegram instead (no private chats by default in telegram??).
KOREAN Idols Gone Sexy Video
Put me down as one who does not want to OWN an autonomous car. I don't. It is ridiculous to tie up so much capital in a vehicle I use no more than 1-2 hours a day, max.

But I would LOVE a world in which I can call an autonomous car to my door whenever I want one, just like I'd call Lyft today. Or book one in advance to drive me a greater distance and wait to bring me back.
Only if your agenda is to show growth. Context is important.
I don't see a distinction there. It refers to submissions, and Apply HN posts were submissions, a.k.a. stories in HN's sense (posts that aren't comments).

Certainly it never crossed my mind that the rules about voting rings would be any different than with regular posts. HN users are passionately opposed to the voting system getting gamed; we'd have been skinned alive if we allowed it. But tptacek makes a good point about that not being obvious to everybody.
The "benefit" is that it causes a "trusted" tab to change, not a new one that a user might expect to be tainted. If I open a link from HN (for example), read it, and close the tab, I'd expect to be back at HN. If the link changed my `window.opener` url to a fake-HN, I could do some action that asks for a password or some similar data. It's more likely to succeed since the user already trusts the existing window/tab/site.
navigator.hardwareConcurrency provides the number of logical CPU cores. Additionally, GPU detection is possible with WebGL extensions. That said, this is clearly incomplete from what data would be ideal.
I dont understand why you need to slice PSD like it's Web dev in 1999. Does iOS/Android not have something like "Bootstrap"?