skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
For the record, I was not casting stones just stating that I was not personally comfortable with the idea of asking people that have had little touch point with the company to write something as the opening touch point for an interview (i.e. I personally would not do it).

For me personally, portfolio would be the first filter. I would only engage people that I felt's portfolio reflected the qualities that I was looking for. If they don't have a portfolio then sure, they have to build something anyway just to prove that they can build something but that is a limited subset most that would be applying will have previous work that can be submitted.

As well I don't see how a few hours could provide anything beyond a very amateur quality mock-up. Sure a few hours and some jQuery UI elements could make something pretty, but I am assuming that you are looking for a little more depth than someone that can just throw some jQuery UI widgets on a page.

For me, I would be looking for someone that has deep dynamic language understanding, a deep understanding of event based programming and how events can be used to decouple UI elements and how that can create elements that can be dropped into a UI framework and auto wire itself up to data events. Someone that understands promises and it's relationship to asynchronous callback based programming constructs. I personally would be embarrassed to submit something that only had a few hours effort in it, because it most assuredly not going to cover all of those core aspects and the ones that are covered are not going to be fleshed out in a detailed level that one should be using to exemplify the state of their skill.

I wish you luck (i mean that with all sincerity), and I do hope the people that chose to engage in your interview do truly enjoy it. For me, it crosses to many personal boundaries to be comfortable with employing such recruiting tactics.

I would like to ask that you come back and give us a postmortem on how the exercise went and ask that any HN'rs that participate contribute to that conversation. I am generally interested in the outcome and the perception of the participants.
The dreaded "IT" label. I counted 82 references to IT in this article.
care to take a guess on the opening day market cap? i'm thinking 400-500M.
Free Monty Python Videos on Youtube Lead to 23,000% DVD Sale Increase
This seems pretty far fetched to me. It's also likely that Elop just realizes (perhaps more so given his background) how much Microsoft wants to be a major player in this game, how much money and talent they're willing to throw at it and knows that there's an opportunity for someone to be there and 'ride the bear' as they go forward. (Ride the bear being a reference to what Gates/Ballmer said they did in Microsofts early days with IBM http://www.pbs.org/nerds/part2.html)
The judicial system is independent of the executive branch. Judges are appointed for life and cannot be removed save for doing something criminal.
It never fails to amaze me how otherwise very intelligent and thoughtful people remain stuck believing that it's relevant whether or not someone believes in God. I must say I can't help feel a little less impressed with people when I learn they are condescending.
From everything I've read, WP7 is really good. However, I think that it's a huge fault of Microsoft that it just hasn't been marketed well. I've wanted to try one... I go to Best Buy, and all they have is one non-functional demo unit (the kind with just a picture of a screenshot). Can you ever imagine Apple launching an iPhone, and not having working versions of it in their store to try out?

I'm skeptical, but hopefully Nokia will give them enough exposure and allow people to actually get their hands on a WP7 phone.
What could they possibly want with all these Twitter clients or owning a large chunk of the Twitter ecosystem?
Craigslist competitor Keepio launches
Very much so. Although I live in South Africa, I try to see one live race every year.
Not blocked on Chrome 10.0.648.45 (dev), most likely your ISP
thanks, that's good feedback. we are actually using ec2 (you can even use your own AMI image).

intended message: we give you the tools you already use and make the ux of scaling to bigger data and getting meaning out of it effortless.

we should also link to people's apps so you can see what's being done already before you sign up.
exactly, just as Android looked to tap into the market of developers who know Java will, WP7 goes for C# developers - of which there are many. Microsoft treat their developers well.
Johnny Lee has put together and shared some amazing work. I remember really enjoying his Procrastineering articles.
> It's like seventh or eighth article in hn top with that mood.

Welcome to HN. I take it you're new here?
Cool story bro.

I was asking Ray what made him an exceptional single founder.
Nokia being Microsoft's puppet is not necessarily bad. Apple was NeXT's puppet, and this worked incredibly well.

Perhaps this case will indeed lead to failure, but to show that, you have to point to some specific problem (and there seem to be many) with Microsoft and/or Nokia other than the fact that they are closely tied now.
I mentioned this multiple times in the midst of the whole fiasco but always felt like a kook for even bringing it up.
FYI, If you want a full system, the Insignia Infocast, which is a Best Buy rebranded chumby, is in the $80-100 range. 8" touchscreen, 800Mhz ARM processor, and runs OE:

http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=1435

it's a nice starting point, if you're looking for an already mostly there system.
For those who don't know, Anybot is YC founder Trevor Blackwell's other (main) company. They are currently shipping a telepresence bot for $15000. (And my understanding is that the bot does not currently support two way video?)

Also, Yuri Milner used the Anybot for the Startup Fund announcement to all the founders in the YC office.

http://anybots.posterous.com/
It is more of a "hardware specifications" driven culture, where design of the software experience is secondary. But in "touch phone" devices, just getting the hardware right can't even get you halfway into making a better product.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_Catholic_scientis...
Power to the people! ;)
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At least they will get something which is better than if they didn't let investors save it. A quick look seemed to reveal they had pretty high salaries though so it's not all bad.
Support for Grooveshark?
He's right, of course, just like Ballmer in 1999 when he caused the stock market to drop 5% by saying something similar...
Peering Into a Reclusive Life
But seriously.

I don't think it's pragmatically relevant. I'm personally what you might call a soft-atheist, and I can tell you that when it comes down to brass tacks, my general disinterest in theism or atheism of any sort does little to inform my coding.

It does, however, seem fair to say that if Wall's self-assessment is to be believed, then at least some part of his personality and personal history, which ultimately led him to developing Perl, was tightly coupled with his experiences in Christianity. Of course, I'm not saying that Christianity is somehow responsible for Perl, or that it offered a unique addition in any metaphysical way. Perhaps a near religious interest in Harry Potter would have done the same thing. I'm saying that I value social and cultural diversity as much as nature values genetic diversity. For the most part, there is a large body that seems to generally be "right," but occasionally, from the outliers and mutations, you get something that is a novel and valuable contribution.

One thing that I love about my personal tendency toward atheism is that nothing is telling me I have to care at all about what someone else's spiritual beliefs are. I'm left blissfully capable of simply looking at what they have to offer humanity, while ignoring the things that I don't think are relevant. In this case, I think the relevance of walls contribution to the world of software development is patently obvious, and anyone who would defame that on some bogus spiritual grounds is, at best, looking to give themselves a quick public pat on the back.
I fail to understand how intelligence and being a theist are inversely related. I've always thought that there were serious limits to what science can prove. There are limits we what we can directly observe and indirect observation is significantly less reliable if you can't duplicate the predicted cause.
Yes, the government could simply not consent to be sued, under the doctrine of 'sovereign immunity':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_immunity_in_the_Unite...

But, the government has agreed by prior legislation to be sued in a variety of circumstances (as described in the above article). And, the government is not a monolith acting with one mind and one purpose, so the courts' sense of justice often (ideally, 'always') trumps blind allegiance to other branches of government. (Judges also enjoy procedural protections against meddling by other officeholders.)

Consider: what the government occasionally loses in judgements it may gain many times over in greater legitimacy and consensual cooperation from its citizens/contractors/subdivisions/etc.
Dual-Pivot Quicksort is an "awesome new algorithm"? Hardly. It's very small step in the direction of Samplesort -- which is asymptotically optimal and has been around for four decades.

Dual-Pivot Quicksort is a demonstration that someone didn't read the existing literature; nothing more.
We have an anybot, and it's worth it for the levity it brings the office. You should also follow our robot on twitter.

http://twitter.com/#!/raelbot
What do you think God is? Evangelical atheists want him to be a straw man poking his head of the clouds Monty-Python-style; but what if God is just a metaphor for everything greater than the reality we are capable of understanding in our tiny carbon-based brains? Do you really want to believe that the only things that matter in life are those that can be hypothesized, measured, and analyzed with physical instruments?

If the answer is yes, that's fine, but remember that you are taking that assertion on faith. There is simply no evidence one way or the other about what lies outside the bounds of human knowledge.
I've seen a 45 minute interview[0] with him. His activism doesn't have much to do with his hackery. He's clearly an NF[1] (Keirsey's Idealist temperament). Most hackers are NTs (Keirsey's Rational temperament), say, about 75%[2] of them.

He's very emotional.[3]

[0] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlBAzvX9Xw4

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idealist_temperament

[2] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=946249

[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kafxFOTepSo
how is m^2 not exponential growth

m^2 is exponential -- in the value 2. But the value 2 doesn't change very rapidly, so we tend to focus on the m component of the expression. :-)
The iPhone as a Cash Register
I also think the current traditional university system is broken. But I have a few projects where I'm trying to help fix things. I got tired of just thinking about it and wanted to take action. Improve the world, plus an opportunity potentially to make a profit as well.
Stop using the term "killer." Please. I see that this is ztan's second submission, so it seems in appropriate to blame him, but for the good of the community I refuse to upvote sensationalist linkbait titles. The article had a title, it was "Low-cost video chat robot," and that is appropriately descriptive.
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I like posts like these, provide a good blueprint for other .NET sites to use as a guide if they end up exploding in popularity like Stack Overflow.
Soon after an iPad2 with camera arrives, I'd expect similar units to be available as an iOS-dock accessory.
Someone asked the question in the comments:

http://blog.serverfault.com/post/stack-exchanges-architectur...
This is not a question, it is basically a post about my preference of using a MacBook vs. a Windows-based laptop for software development. I agree with you about choosing a platform being irrelevant these days... I like MacBooks but also love Windows 7 and so I use MacBooks because it is easier to run both OSX AND Windows in a MacBook than a Windows-based laptop ;)
"Some Nokia employees continually disparage Apple, internally calling it The California Fruit Company," he said.

Classy. Nothing quite like mocking one of the companies that's been ripping you limb from limb for the past three-and-a-half years.
Exactly. All the pulic traded companies have one and only one goal. To maximize shareholder value or in short to make money.

The open source tools, open standards are all just tools they use to get to the goal and earn some goodwill that they can use to make money.
Korea Times: Cyworld Crying on Facebook's Birthday (Google cache, site is down)
The thing I wonder about the most is what their thought process is like. I believe any intelligent person will come to a point where they will question their faith. I'm genuinely curious as to what makes them side with faith.

I know from my own culture that one's personal image is usually the biggest factor when deciding. Atheists are pretty much outcasts in my culture.
Do you think this $500 DIY bot would give a similar level of levity compared to the $15000 Anybot?
Consult with our handy HN proxy desk neighbour list :)

https://spreadsheets0.google.com/ccc?authkey=CIqAl7wO&hl...

Original discussion / inspiration here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1517204

Good luck :)
Can you blame them? Have you truly never made a bitter jibe into your beer at someone who has surpassed you?
Call me crazy, I just live in a bedroom with eastern exposure, and I let the sun wake me up.
This is actually why I love Nokia phones. They have fantastic hardware.

I'm really hoping that letting someone else do most of the heavy lifting for the software will allow Nokia to focus on what we already know it does best.
Better to take that energy and redirect it at kicking the crap out of your competitors than to waste it on schoolyard taunts.
I went through a phase like that, and I still have to be careful not to let it slip into my judging process. Larry is one of the people who helped me get over it. I've met him a few times now, and he's strikingly intelligent and thoughtful. I've met very few people of that intellectual caliber, in fact, and I've met quite a few famously smart people.

The difference between a brilliant theist and a stupid one is that the brilliant one knows enough to know what they don't know. Larry's religion, while strongly held, is not a small-minded one. The Perl community is strikingly open-minded and diverse (there are many gay folks, at least a couple transgendered folks, a huge contingent of straight men wearing skirts, and all manner of folks who choose to live differently), and Larry not only accepts this diversity, he cultivated it that way. Larry is simply not what most atheists or agnostics think of when they think of "religious person".
The question is what good do the patents provide? Apple would still have released the iphone.

Patents & Intellectual property are an anathema to a free society. Though they do allow entrenched interests protect their market from upstarts.
I feel that the product is like a square plug in a round hole.

I would not trust some delivery guy who held up a cheap plastic thingy to swipe my card. Just looks like I am giving up my credit card info right in front of me to gangs in Belarus.

There is all this talk about people tampering with ATMs to get debit/credit card information. How hard would it be to hack their software?

Or may be you don't even need to do it. You just start making look-alikes that actually steal your credit card info.

Am I the only one worried?
Exactly just look at the ifanboys and droiddroolers. They never post anything disparaging about their competitors.
Only for accelerating systems. The system here is spinning, which is an acceleration.
Is there, or will there be, anything like this going on around the SF area at some point? I'd love to take part in something like this, but 3000 miles is a little steep.
i am unaware of this..
can you point to a few links/resources?
For some reason my link bait-ish "Introducing Johnny Chung Lee's $500 Anybot killer" title was changed (censored?) to the current one and I can no longer edit it.
I think a lot of it is indeed "M$ bad herp derp" - I've seen about 30 separate comments all making variations on the burning platform/sinking ship would-be witticism, which is clearly not justified if you take an objective look at MSFT since Vista.

Personally, I'm pleased by the news. I want WP7 to be competitive - that can only help consumers.
How does one monetize a twitter client? I've been using TweetDeck and while its great I haven't looked at one ad. Nor have I paid for anything. Nor would I. I guess I'm not clear how they are worth $25million when they appear to have no revenue stream and are competing directly with Twitter and Facebook.
Lovely result, but as you expect, not really sufficiently elementary. Also, while mathematicians find impossibility proofs among the most useful results, non-mathematicians are usually more impressed by results that show something unexpected is possible.

But I'll keep it in mind.
The Apple story is interesting. I switched from Windows to Mac in 2000 to get on the OS X Public Beta, and it really was all about the BSD underpinnings for me.

But at that point Apple was already on an upward trajectory thanks to the iMac and iBook, with the iPod to come the following year. Granted OS 9 was a dog that has long since seen its day, and the technology in OS X was necessary to create a modern operating system that would enable the kind of UX that Jobs sought. But I question how much of it can really be credited to open source or the geek early adopters per se; certainly it helped, but was it pivotal?
I love me some Twitters and all, but isn't this somewhat self-selecting in the sense that technology leans younger?
First, I would recommend you spend some time to figure out the probability of exit, and the valuation upon exit (including effect of dilution), and do that based on your own analysis rather than just their sky-high optimism.

For example, say your base is $100K (at 100% market). The company has:

10% chance of exit at 50M in 2 years

20% chance of exit at 50M in 4 years with 2X dilution

10% chance of exit at 25M in 4 years with 2X dilution

25% chance of exit at 25M in 4 years with 4X dilution

35% chance of folding or exit at a valuation meaningless for common stock holders

Assuming 3% at 40%, 80%, 100%, 100%

Case #1: = 1.5M + 40K + 80K + 100K + 100K = 1820K

Case #2: = 0.75M + 40K + 80K + 100K + 100K = 1070K

Case #3: = 0.375M + 40K + 80K + 80K + 80K = 655K

Case #4: = 0.185M + 40K + 80K + 60K + 60K = 425K

Case #5: = 40K + 80K + 60K + 60K = 240K

Average = 652K or 163K/yr (63% over base)

Is it good or bad? It depends on your perspective on risk/reward/experience. It is not an immensely attractive offer based on these numbers -- in fact, I would say an okay (not necessary great) offer from one of the hot startups or solid name brand companies is superior to this offer -- but I just made them up so you have to go through your own exercise and logic.

One thing you want to think about is that getting into the right company is far more important than being hired as a founding engineer. I think you'd do yourself a favor in making a detailed evaluation of whether this company could strike gold in comparison to the top ones out there. Is it ground-breaking? Or me-too in a competitive landscape but acquirable? Keep in mind that by joining this startup, you'd be making some commitment that comes with opportunity cost (of working for something even better), so I would say spending more time thinking whether this is a first-tier startup, or more of a second-tier. It is okay to join a second-tier, but demand more.
Unfortunately I don't have access to the Samplesort paper, so I don't know which sense of "asymptotically optimal" you're using here. Quicksort is already asymptotically optimal in the sense that its asymptotic average performance is Θ(N log N), which is the best a sorting algorithm can do.

It's true that dual-pivot quicksort is a step in the direction of Samplesort. (I do understand Samplesort well enough to say that.) That doesn't mean it's not a worthwhile contribution in its own right. Jon Bentley (advisor of Brian Reid, Ousterhout, Josh Bloch, and Gosling while at CMU; later at Bell Labs in its glory days) was quoted as having a substantially different opinion from yours:

http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.java.openjdk.core-libs...

> I think that Vladimir's contributions to Quicksort go way beyond

> anything that I've ever done, and rank up there with Hoare's original

> design and Sedgewick's analysis. I feel so privileged to play a very,

> very minor role in helping Vladimir with the most excellent work!

I am not sure Bentley will be persuaded by your claim that he didn't read the existing literature.
FogBugz + Pivotal Tracker = FogTracker
I think it takes an amazing disregard for evidence to hold on to being a Christian. We're not really talking about deep mysteries of the universe here. The Christian myth is so obviously false to anyone who takes an even casual look at the historical evidence.

So how is it that the human mind, while being so good at reasoning in one sphere, can be so easily defeated in another.

I have nothing against the culture or ethics of Christianity or Christians. I was raised and hold dear those ethical teachings, myself (well, some of them). It's just that it's historical myths are so obviously false - it literally does baffle me that their belief is still so pervasive in Western society (actually, much more in the US than European society).
eh, tens of thousands of developer hours is pretty small potatoes to Nokia. consider 2000 hours a year, give or take, per developer.

Consider that nokia just completely alienated all of their external developers, and likely most of their internal software people.

Even if the windows mobile 7 turns out to be reasonably good, they've just thrown away the software half of their organization. It's gone. If windows 7 doesn't work out for them a year from now? they will have to start over from scratch. Developer goodwill? gone. Developer mindshare? gone. those are some pretty valuable things they just threw away.

Personally, I think their shareholders would have been a whole lot better off if they had sold to microsoft outright.
Hmm. I do use that result in the context of number theory, and I suppose I could bend it to use it as an example of groups in abstract being used in practice.

I'll have to think about that, but it does show promise. The question is, how can I present it as a result that's specifically from group theory being used in number theory? Does that make sense? I'd like to be able to demonstrate something that's specifically group theory, and I'm finding it hard to extract the abstract, in this case.

But it shows promise.
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