skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Not a PhD but is a part-time undergrad possible as well?

I'm a self learned software engineer and very happy with where I am but would really like to get a degree in math. On top of that I keep running into immigration / visa issues without a degree and got classified as "not educated enough" multiple times. I was able to offset the degree with certifications here in Asia but that doesn't seem to convince everyone.

I come from Germany's 3-class school system and have a total of 10 years of school experience ("Realschule") + 3 years vocational school on top. Work experience is at 6 years now. Most universities don't even allow me enroll because my 3 years vocational school doesn't count as "normal school", that knocks me down to 10 years of education.

My path to a math degree would be right now:

1. Go back to school for 2-3 years

2. Enroll 4 years in university

3. Think about further studies

I don't mind the 4 years thing or longer part time, but having to put 2-3 years on top just so I am allowed to pay money / enroll seems ridiculous to me.

Anyone by chance experience with this?
> It's still the densest area of the US outside of Manhattan
Do you have a source for that? Wikipedia (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities...) seems to suggest the incorporated city is the second densest major city after New York, but not that San Francisco is the most sense place in the us after Manhattan. It's often cited that Brooklyn is twice as dense as SF for instance. Cambridge Massachusetts is more dense than San Francisco.
Migrating from a Relational Database to Apache Cassandra
Buffalo Trace will probably never change its ways; they have been in constant operation for over 120 years I belive (even through prohibition, selling "medicinal" whiskey). And their products are consistently fantastic.

But age as a signifer of quality is archaic, as distillers have gotten much smarter about how to make a good product rather than just letting things go for a long time and hope for the best. Honestly if you're buying a bourbon older than 10 years you're overpaying for diminishing returns. Most of the best bourbons/american whiskeys I have had are right around the $40-$70 range, and most don't mention age. I feel similarly for scotch but thats far trickier territory.

Source: I worked three years in an upper-scale wine and spirits shop.
It's amazing to me that free software is still strong after all of these years. I can remember back in the early 90s being fed propaganda from my college professors about "the communist" Stallman and his friends. They had made plenty of enemies back then and countless more since. Yet, they kept to their principles and moved things forward to the benefit of billions of people.
Well - it's their business and not your model :-)

The challenge is how do we make it economically viable for both the producer of the technology and the end user to keep it useful and local, while also making it a good user experience?

The thing about cloud-based services is that they leverage scale well, making many things cheaper than they ever could be locally unless you buy a device and use it for long time AND fixes can be rolled out quickly with no lagging install base to cause problems or bad user experiences.

I really do want to have my privacy and keep my data safe but I also recognize that's hard to do without higher cost or more hassle (or both).
I know the biometrics suck, but I haven't considered casual muggers cutting fingers off before...
Who did you build it for? Who is the customer? If you don't know find a rough definition. Then you know who to sell to and that is the important step :)
Could people with houses use legacy PSTN wiring to distribute 12V throughout the house?
How's this company still in business? The entire operation seems to be a massive scam.
Just tried it on our 300/300Mbit link at work, lots of people working today so it'll be heavily under use but:

- Netflix: 240Mbit/s

- Speedtest: 293Mbit/s
Too much effort and money, probably, especially since they have a good spot in the market right now.

However, Jefferson's Ocean [1] whiskey is an experiment where Jefferson's took 68 bourbons aged 6-8 years, blended them together, threw the barrels onto a ship, and sent it on a 6 month sea voyage. Apparently, it yielded some interesting, tasty bourbon. I haven't had it, I havent even seen it in person. But be on the look out, i guess.

[1] http://thewhiskeyjug.com/bourbon-whiskey/jeffersons-ocean-ag...
I've heard the exact same argument from an anti-vaccer :)
A PhD should not put you in debt (if you don't have university/fellowship/RA funding you shouldn't be doing a PhD). The only cost is opportunity cost.
SoftBank Announces Humanoid Robot Pepper's U.S. Debut, Android SDK
In Search for Cures, Scientists Create Embryos That Are Both Animal and Human
Why not put a minimum service life on Firebase similar to an LTS release? I imagine uptake would increase by an order of magnitude.
Great piece. What this means for me is how important it is to have a low latency feedback cycle. Even a cryptic error message, if it's immediate, will let me quickly try enough things to find the correct approach.

One of the most frustrating weeks I've spent was modifying bash scripts to work around wonky functionality on AWS Elastic Beanstalk. Every time I tried something, I had to wait 30 minutes for it to deploy and then examine the error message to see what was wrong.

Of course, in the meantime I would get distracted by something else, so the cycle time was even longer.
Notebook+Gamer+Barato+para+Jogos+Da+Nova+Geração+-+15+da+Serie+7000+Gaming
incredibly inefficiently, and only for loads of 5-10W max... phone wiring is not thick enough in gauge and 12V has very high voltage drop over distance for any appreciable amperage.

there is a good reason why we use 110-240VAC to distribute power in houses.
Ever wondered what the differences between ARM microarchitectures are?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11727085 (29 points, 1 hour ago (a few minutes earlier), 2 comments)
It's a net zero emission as long as the trees come from a sustainable forest.
and now I do as well...which I appreciate
Can't wait for the perp walk!
Alas, it's much harder to sell something to people who are truly content.

This means most self-help organizations are either non-profit, bankrupt, or foster customer-dependence on their line of products or advice or books etc.
Using "https://www.google.com/" as Referer (with the 'Referer Control' extension for example) gets around the paywall
Holmes will have to go and be replaced by a perceived 'grown-up' CEO. That's the only way (and even that is a longshot) the company ever recovers.
So should FB admit there may be accidental bias, or double-down on the "everything's fine"? Seems one way they admit to lying and manipulating, and the other way continues to look dishonest.

Probably should have immediately said they'd review it, then found that, uninstructed, some editors may have shown a "slight bias".

And coincidentally it comes out coinciding with a US "conservative" candidate that's talking about rigged processes and unfair treatment.
I'm afraid I don't understand the nuances between when an ecosystem has healthy competition vs when it is fractured.

Certainly if different systems support different amounts of a standard (eg browsers and the web standard), fractured seems like the right term.

Is the requirement for a fractured ecosystem just different APIs for the same thing? Are ML frameworks fractured? I suppose they would be.

What's the solution? Would you propose a VR standard? I imagine cardboard was an attempt at that. But standards are slow moving - not very effective at innovating.

I think a standard will naturally emerge once we know what should be standardized. But you don't want to kill innovation yet.
> When teaching mathematics, the traditional method of lecturing in front of a blackboard is still hard to improve upon, despite all the advances in modern technology.

i completely disagree on a multitude of fronts

what is meant by 'traditional'? my understanding of plato's academia was it was a forum for discussion stead some silent note taking mass attempting to keep pace with an informer whose information is variant based on how they slept and whether they ate recently

current academic lectures need to go away

i'd rather see professors make succinct learning material, a la well edited video lectures andor notes, and offer them to students as suggested material and have a weekly meeting where the material is discussed

also, technology has always informed mathematics and trying to deny that in lieu of, what i assume is, some personal distaste for contemporary technology and its uses seems disingenuous

when i research mathematics i sometimes take time away with a pencil and paper, but usually only to find new directions to lead an idea; in the vast majority of my work i collaborate with a computer

i like using many mediums for expression, but if i were forced to choose one over the other i would definitely choose the computer

i can always do what i do on paper with a computer, the opposite would leave me severely wanting
No. In fact most newer solar installations are using microinverters to convert to AC at the source. 20-30amps of DC requires quite a bit of copper to go even a few meters.
There is No Such Thing as Free Will
Refactor now  the next dev will thank you (and might be you)
I totally respect your perspective, but SaaS is gaining popularity because software customers are making an informed decision about the tradeoffs of product vs service as a delivery model, not because service providers are forcing the SaaS model on them. Many customers see value in shifting the operations and support burden to the software vendor. I think it's ultimately good that users have more choice in how they consume software. Diversity is positive for the computing universe.
The class-action lawyers must be salivating over "tens of thousands of corrected blood-test reports"
But wait, this one allows you to make your own emojis that you can only use within its app!
Question - is it possible to just learn the new modern C++? How does one do that with a language that has been around for over 30 years? Can you just learn C++11? Don't you come across all kinds of code bases and texts that span many different versions that you have to be able to reason about? I mean certainly this is true of Java as well but I would like to hear other's views.
Will they offer a rebate for this device to burned Revolv users?

Doing that would be a great gesture.

As it stands, I would be wary of purchasing one of these. How long would it last before Google tires of it?
POTS wires are 24 gauge [0] which can handle 3.5 amps [1] so you'd be able to transmit 12V * 3.5A = 42 Watts.

POTS often had 36V on it to power the ringer on phones so you could potentially up the power transmission by running your system at 14V. Some devices which consume a fixed amount of power would use less current, other devices would just use more power at higher voltage.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_old_telephone_service
[1] http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm
http://www.britishtelephones.com/howtele.htm

Is 16 ohms per thousand feet really that high?
Ugh, I hate this phone number as identify business. My pone number changes every time I move and I have to keep paying to have it. I see the benefit to a number that I can easily share but I don't like tying it to the telephone system.

I'll keep using something like hangouts that allows me to keep my contacts when I move as well as a number of other benefits.
The Iran Deal: Myth and Reality
I agree. However, it sounds like they don't really have a real product or anything to sell. I think the company imploding is more likely.
Is the general feeling that Rust is largely going to be the future for programming using a statically typed language?
42 watts seems ok for a very small installation, right? I'm thinking enough to charge a phone and maybe a laptop. And, that would be driveable with a small 12V battery and a small solar panel.
Will Holmes have to face any consequences for her company providing false results and making false promises or can she just walk away with a bag of money?
Moving to closed protocols isn't the whole problem. Everyone used to use AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, which were all* closed protocols. And yet, the developers of gAIM (now Pidgin) and Trillian both developed clients that interoperated with all of these services and others.

Sure, we had five years when everyone was on XMPP. But given that rich history of protocol investigation, what's surprising to me is that progress on support for closed protocols is so much slower now than it was ten, fifteen years ago. Support for Skype, Facebook, Slack, Whatsapp, Signal, Telegram -- is poor or limited, and some of these are even open protocols. (Plus, there's still SMS to support, both natively on phones and via services like Pushbullet on the desktop.)

Is there simply no call for unified messaging anymore? Do people enjoy having to use four different messaging apps now? Are the protocols so much harder to figure out? Or are there simply not enough volunteers?

* AOL had two protocols: TOC was mostly open, but the closed OSCAR protocol offered many more features.
Most post secondary math, especially proof-oriented abstract math- analysis, topology, abstract algebra, probability and measure- all the kind of stuff that Tao probably teaches- really cannot be visualized with modern technology and relies more on pen-on-paper/chalk-on-board walkthroughs. In that context, Tao is spot on that modern tech is of little use in exposition.
I just use this browser extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bypass/ekfnpmbmfml...
quote from the linked nytimes article
"
The dispute is over this sentence: “This agreement shall be effective from the date it is made and shall continue in force for a period of five (5) years from the date it is made, and thereafter for successive five (5) year terms, unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party.”

The regulator concluded that the second comma meant that the part of the sentence describing the one-year notice for cancellation applied to both the five-year term as well as its renewal. Therefore, the regulator found, the phone company could escape the contract after as little as one year. "
She has voting control, which is why she is still there.

[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2015/11/03/theranos-l...
Amazon and Microsoft are both also US-based companies.
No, I haven't, though that looks interesting. Quick thoughts:

16 GB storage is far, far, far too little. That should be upgradeable. The problem with microSD expansion is vfat. That's crippled on both capacity and permissions. I'd also prefer encryptable removeable media.

Speakers. I want my devices to NOT have them. I'll attach via Bluetooth or a wired headset/mic combo. I'd also prefer cameras be shuttered. That's both for protection (lenses get scratched) and privacy.

Other than that, yes, it's headed the way I'd like things to go.
"One family practitioner in a suburb of Phoenix said a Theranos representative dropped off a stack of 20 corrected test reports a few weeks ago. Many of the voided results were for calcium, estrogen and testosterone tests.

The doctor said one corrected report is for a patient she sent to the emergency room after receiving abnormally elevated test results from Theranos in late 2014."

Tort attorneys should be licking their lips.

It would be shocking if Theranos survives this.

Beyond that Walgreens - the largest retail pharmacy chain in the USA and Theranos' wellness center partner - should also be in the crosshairs.

Feels like they should have had some better safeguards for consumers before committing to the 40-store pilot in AZ.
1 reason is you don't have to deal with the red tape of the ILEC. I've read a few stories of people installing solar onto their house. Then, when it's time to tie into the grid the electric company won't certify the install or drags their feet for months.

Even if you do get it tied in any new changes require recertification. I can understand the position of the ILEC. The homeowner just wants to get up and running quickly. The electric company wants to ensure the stability of the grid.
I wonder if this architecture is the same Lanai architecture that was recently introduced by Google on LLVM. http://lists.llvm.org/pipermail/llvm-dev/2016-February/09511...
Please don't post unsubstantive dismissals. If an article isn't good enough for HN you can always flag it, but contentless snark just lowers the signal/noise ratio for everyone.
Now that is an interesting suggestion.
I don't think all the money they've raised so far is sufficient to settle all the claims that will be made against them. The company will not ever be worth enough to settle those claims. In a just world, their assets would already be frozen.
Yikes. SHA1 with no salt?! If your password is under 10 characters and has no symbols it can pretty much be cracked instantly using a standard rainbow table:

http://project-rainbowcrack.com/table.htm

The SHA1 rainbow table with 10 alpha numerics is less than 1TB. This is well within consumer range to load up into a database.
Unraveling a Ransomware-as-a-Service Infrastructure
Declarative Debian packaging spec
Your first hint that Google was very serious about cloud, was when we hired Diane Greene:

http://www.businessinsider.com/google-hires-diane-greene-to-...

Also when Urs publically states he wants Google Cloud revenue to be bigger than adwords, that ain't nothing:

http://www.businessinsider.com/urs-holze-talks-google-cloud-...

I know it's popular to be cynical about Google and how we'll deprecate everything just as it's popular, but that kind of cynicism isn't really good for your health.
This is a big deal.
It basically adds the two factors that made GearVR better than cardboard to any VR ready Android phone: OS integration and better IMU sensors. It basically puts high quality (but not cutting edge) VR in everyones pocket, all you need is a dumb holder with lenses.

My prediction is that this will play a huge role in mass adoption of VR!
Cool how he foreshadows the end of Sun (takeover by Oracle in 2010) in that article from 2002:

"Sun's two strategies are (a) make software a commodity by promoting and developing free software (Star Office, Linux, Apache, Gnome, etc), and (b) make hardware a commodity by promoting Java, with its bytecode architecture and WORA. OK, Sun, pop quiz: when the music stops, where are you going to sit down? Without proprietary advantages in hardware or software, you're going to have to take the commodity price, which barely covers the cost of cheap factories in Guadalajara, not your cushy offices in Silicon Valley."
Except soon one's environment will be enveloped by a cloud of such devices, each monitoring, tracking, and associating without consent.

And, please don't think this is hyperbole. Independently, over the past year, I've caught parts of this same vision from two separate (large) companies. This is the low hanging fruit. The rewards are too high, the costs are low, and there are very few downside (to the companies).
How do you tune the machine for that type of latency? User space drivers? Could you elaborate? Not having to go beyond L1 cache doesn't mean much if it takes a few milliseconds to get that trade out of the network card and on to the wire right?
Agreed. At the same time, companies should invest more in distributed work places. Most of the congestion in the Bay Area and surrounding areas, extending through the Tri-Valley and into the Central Valley, is caused by commuter traffic.
B̶̛̳̫̭͈̝̗̤̲̺̜͍̹̻͇͖̼͈̙̜͆̾̔̑̊̌̿ͫ̒̀̒̄ͤͫͩͨ̏͘̕͞ě̴̸̟͖͕͇͊ͪ͒͜ē̸̌̆ͯ̏͛͌̚͞҉҉̝̤͓̥̱͔̱̩̹̮̲͚ͅ
Man this is not going to be good for the Clinton campaign.

http://fortune.com/2016/03/21/clinton-campaign-theranos/

(but the Clintons have a longer involvement with Theranos/Elizabeth Holmes through their Global initiative and even before that)

This sucks, I would really like something like the Edison machines to work. I really, truly hate needles myself.
Show HN: Sidekick-App, a swiss army knife for drivers
A driving assistant that includes dash cam, trip logging, emergency assist, speed limit display, navigation w/ComfortRoute and a HAM radio like feature that enables drivers to communicate with each other. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sidekick-your-personal-driving-assistant/id957252199?mt=8
A case for publishing research software
The subset of HTML that is actually supported by most email clients is very small (and inconsistent). If you look at the well-formatted emails from AirBnB and Uber, you'll see tables and inline CSS, along with conditionals for the Outlook email client.[1]

[1] http://blog.mailgun.com/transactional-html-email-templates/
If you want a good solution to those types of problems in dynamic languages like ES6 then I think short functions and unit/functional tests are the best approach. Without that it is always going to be a bit challenging.

Having said that I have not seen worse stack traces with 'async/await. I think they are similar.
I am paying to connect to the Internet, if it's slow Verizon fucked up end of story. If Verizon needs to pay netfix extra to get done then fine. Instead Verizon assumes they have full monopoly power and does not care about service, which suggests they need to be broken up.
All claims of information longevity assume that the storage medium will be shielded from the elements. Neither paper nor micro-etched metal disks will last more than a few years if left outdoors.

For stone plates designed to last millions of years, a safe loation might be a vault 100 meters underground in impermeable bedrock in the middle of a large craton. Also choose a low-latitude location to prevent glaciation during the next ice age, stay far away from major faults, and try to predict whether your craton will drift over a known hotspot during the time frame you're concerned about.
How's that possible?
Serious question: why do you believe you're entitled to affordable housing in any arbitrary location?
Git Source Code Review (2014)
The issue isn't what you're 'allowed' to think or criticize, but how to contribute to this community, where we're trying for a higher standard of thoughtfulness.

For example, if you care about Foxconn workers and believe that their situation is relevant to the story, you could post an informative comment making a case for that connection.
Electricity derived from solar panels and stored in batteries is neither free from cost nor free from carbon emissions. The monetary cost and emission of carbon coincides with the manufacture of the solar panels and batteries rather than the generation and storage of the energy unlike many other technologies.

The costs and emissions of solar-derived electricity may be lower than alternatives but they are most certainly not free.
You can write asynch code to look like synchronous code so you can follow the flow. You can also do things like await in for loops which is also the preferred flow a lot of times.
You can use several async calls in order without making a pyramid and with much less code than promises or chaining callbacks across separate functions.

In short its cleaner code.
The much-hyped 'DAO' that has crowd-funded over $100 million dollars worth of ether, is based upon one of the largest contract code seen so far. Even if it has been code reviewed, it's almost certain that bugs remain in there. All it takes is one hacker to find a flaw and $100 million will be gone in an instant
Thanks! One of the points for me is also to be able to customize the software, so that looks like an excellent start.

The hardware is still a problem, I've tried to find microphones like the one on the Echo, but the few that seem to meet the requirements basically cost half of the Echo. I'm not particularly knowledgeable when it comes to microphones, so I may very well be looking in the wrong places.