skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Hey man,

I was in your shoes about 2 years ago. After college I joined a biotech start up, then launched my own startup (dailysite.com) which failed. After those experiences I joined a lab and wrote code for them for two years and realized I needed an mba to understand what is going. So today im at mit's mba program.

I would be more than happy to chat with you on the phone with suggestions. Just email me your number (somid3 at gmail dot com). Here are my suggestions.

If you want to stay in the entrepreneurship world, you need to hook up with someone who understands an industry. I like the suggestion of consulting or getting into web design. Why? Because you will get to know 20-30 clients very well. And you will understand their needs. That is how 37signals got started for example.

If you dont have the setup to begin a consulting gig, I'd suggest go to technology conferences and get inspired. Tell people of your experience, and be honest about your previous experiences -- share the good and the bad -- and the folks at the tech conference will understand your shoes and give you better suggestions.

I hope this helps, but again, if you would like to chat shoot me an email.

Cheers! O.
I'd much rather be automatically taxed at checkout than having to keep track of all my online purchases year-round when it comes time to file my tax return.
Question: each 'server' is made up of cheap commodity hardware - but is the storage side of things handled elsewhere? YouTube alone takes 2 days worth of new video every minute - and stores multiple bitrate versions and the source video. That alone, for example, would cause problem for 900,000 commodity-sized hard disks...
The gist (from reading the paper) is to compute a ranking of the choices based on past performance that optimally selects the best bandit based on incomplete (and stochastic) observations.

I can understand some hesitance to post the exact algorithm because, like anything that fixes the large number of heinous flaws in basic hypothesis testing, it gets complicated.

Worse, the paper presents a number of algorithms which appear, at first glance, to be very simple and performant. The primary problem with that is they are analyzing a very simplified version of the problem; assuming independence greatly reduces the practical flexibility of the algorithm.

Anyway, the basic flavor of the algorithm is to try to spend most of your time running the choice with the highest average reward (click-throughs, dollars) with some deterministic or stochastic correction for the chance that a worse performing model just happened to have the highest average at this point in your test.
I really like the way you implemented the "drag to create a branch" mechanic, it feels very natural. Did you come up with that yourself? Have you seen it elsewhere?
Method for finding convergence of ... - Google Patents
I did. Co-workers starring wasn't a problem.
Maybe I'm missing some of the math, but the only number this whole article seems to be based on is hearsay Google power usage of "less than 1% of 198.8 billion kWh" Somehow this number gets extrapolated to "Google may be running its entire global data center network in an energy footprint of roughly 220 megawatts of power." Which then means "the company is probably running about 900,000 servers" against previous "guesstimates have placed Google’s server count at more than 1 million."

My goodness, a 10% difference from the old guesstimates on stats like "less than 1%"? This article didn't do much for me.
Diablo 3 Real Money Auction House Details
if they do promise change it's forgotten as soon as the election is over

I largely agree with your sentiment but I think it's important to consider that with our current government it is not reasonable that we should expect them to adhere to election manifesto promises.

We have a coalition government because no single party was elected with a majority vote. The government results from a compromise between the two parties and thus their election manifestos should be considered void.

It's because of this that I feel a little sorry for Nick Clegg over the student tuition thing - the public have held him accountable for a promise that should be considered void since he wasn't elected.
Boston/Cambridge, MA

Crimson Hexagon is looking for awesome developers: web developers, backend hackers, and everything in between.

We use machine learning to measure public opinion about major brands, politics, etc. using the social web as our datasource. We've collected, indexed, and are constantly mining an archive of over 50 billion web and social media documents, adding another 1+ billion each week. We especially need devs interested in scalability, search, and big data to help us keep up with all of the content we collect (including the full Twitter firehose).

Small team (just 4 engineers), mostly Java shop, plenty of free food and beer, just closed a $5mm Series B, and growing fast.

Drop me a line at stefan@crimsonhexagon.com
London & San Francisco: Javascript, iOS, Bus dev intern

WebMynd is doubling revenue every 3 months, team every 6. Join us!

Don't build the next social coupons site for pets, apply to solve tough problems for real customers. We're a team of 9, growing fast, who like to work hard, play hard, and make the world a better place for devs.
We're hiring Javascript, iOS and IE add-on developers, and a bus devt intern, in London and San Francisco: http://www.webmynd.com/jobs.php

We'll be 15 by the end of the year. We make cross-platform app development simple - it's like HTML5 on speed: http://www.webmynd.com/html5

We're well funded with paying customers, so you'll get proper pay, benefits and recognition. As an international founding team, we've found work trips away to be hugely productive and fun - we're going to Montreal in August and have been to Puerto Vallarta, Barcelona, Vienna, Playa del Carmen and Berlin in the last 12 months.

Join us! Email jobs@webmynd.com with links to projects you've worked on and why you'd be great for the role.
Agreed. It's just content filler, of no worth whatsoever.
Reading the language of the bill, I'm unsure on one point: what about those states which do not have a sales tax? Here in Oregon my income tax is slightly higher but I pay no sales tax. This is good for:

* the poor

* local commerce (we get out of state folks buying)

* tax code complexity

If this bill passes and the "framework" enforces a federal sales tax I will be most put out.
That's an overgeneralization. The Old Testament is littered with examples of the Israelites failing in battle because God was not with them at that particular time. But He was still their Jehovah.
Bear vs Baboon vs Tiger
Yes the PS3 has been busted wide and you can install and play games from the HDD instead of the BDROM. What you can't do is get access to PSN. Sony has been putting system updates into new and upcoming games and the crackers have updated their custom firmwares to do the same.
I think it was just a misreading.
My suggestion was that being a part of a couple would provide stability, financial and emotional. I've been in both, and know i'm far more courageous with someone in my corner.

Plus, while I agree that this may affect his hunger for the business, I personally understand that my entrepreneurship is for the benefit of my loved ones, and not in-and-of itself valuable.

Conversely, I'm offended by your suggestion that for a woman to be in a relationship is somehow detrimental.
Eugene, Oregon - fulltime - internship possible - noremote - H1B applicants welcome

On Time Systems is a small company that specializes in solving large-scale search and optimization problems. We used to be a research lab at the University of Oregon, but we are now more focused on writing software than writing grant proposals. We're currently looking for software engineers to work on Green Driver (a smartphone app that uses real-time data from traffic signals to help drivers find the fastest route (http://imagreendriver.com)) and ACFP (Advanced Computer Flight Planning), the flight planning system used by the US Air Force for routing cargo planes and tankers worldwide.

Although our core IP is in optimization, bringing these solutions to market requires complex client-server applications with challenging network, user interface, and database components. We have code written in Python, Java, C, C++, Objective-C, and other languages. An ideal candidate will have a strong background in algorithms and will be comfortable writing both high-level and low-level code.

Benefits include: medical and disability insurance, 401Ks with matching, sabbaticals, massages, a game room (ping pong, billiards, DDR, etc.), relocation package, pick your own hardware, your own office with a window, tuition reimbursement (including flight school if you work on our flight planning software), exercise equipment and locker room, and his and hers company bikes.

The work environment is friendly, informal, and intellectual.

Send your resume to jobs+hackernews@otsys.com
New York City

Minus is looking for frontend, backend and mobile devs in our midtown office. More details on http://Min.us/pages/jobs ! :)

Email me john@minus.com with any questions.

Cheers
Google's storage is built on servers. http://labs.google.com/papers/gfs.html

You can easily put 6 disks in a server, and they may have some specialized designs that hold more.
"Are you saying it's because he would be an old frail man?"

Yes. The only video 'evidence' linking OBL to 9/11 was a video of someone who looks nothing like him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41UAnkQARFs

If the government had released actual high res photos and videos of the body it would be clear that the 'fat osama' in the video above wasn't really him, and therefore that the only evidence that OBL was behind 9/11 was completely fabricated.
Delhi, India

Visual Website Optimizer http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/careers.php

We require engineers to work on our LAMP stack based application. We work on scale (1300 requests/second) and use advanced JavaScript/CSS techniques to make A/B testing work. Join us if you want to make a dent on website optimization space.
Being a liberitarian, I don't ever think the solution is to regulate; especially in this AirBnB case, where it is a mutual agreement between two people. Its different then driving, because only one of these two people can be hurt by the agreement. The onus to protect oneself should ultimetely rest with the owners/travelers.
I'm calling BS on this. LOTS of python gets used in places you don't expect. I've had backend stuff running in python for years.
Washington, DC
Reston, VA

We are looking for experienced Java developers.

http://w.moreover.com/public/company/moreover_jobs-sr_java_d...

Also looking for candidates in London and Dayton, OH.

I can tell you it is a small company and you will be able to shape the product and work with interesting technologies.

Full time work. No contractors. Office located in Reston Virginia. Email in my profile.
Berlin, Germany

IPTEGO is looking for C/C++ developers (http://www.iptego.com/jobs/software-developer-cc) and Field Application Engineers (http://www.iptego.com/jobs/field-applications-engineer). No remote work, but we can help you relocate. A bunch of HN lurkers would like to meet you!
Could that be the basis for an IP based startup? Seems like a clever hack of the patent & legal system surrounding patents. Of course once there is 1 of these, there will be copycats - which could lead to a race to capture the largest share of patents. Patent wars indeed.
That doesn't work in the UK!!
Not true. They practiced it when they were being slaughtered, too.
What if you genuinely innovate, patent your innovation and hope to exploit your IP ? One or more likely, several, pool members will sue you, force you to join the pool and thus destroy your advantage. If they have an established manufacturing division and supply chain, they can churn out your gadget before you even come up with a name. If your innovation is in any way disruptive to their business model, you'll have plenty of legal broadfires thrown your way just to make you go away.
I know what you're feeling. I have never exercised my right to vote in a general election for the simple reason that, since I have been old enough to vote, the mainstream political parties have all been close to the center idealogically. I didn't see any point in using my vote. If I ever do it will probably be a tactical vote to try and prevent an extremist party (right or left) from gaining traction.
You've got too many pronouns without antecedents in your post. The merchants are not liable to collect sales tax, but customers may be liable to pay it under their state law. This is called a use tax: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_tax

Exact details vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction... and in fact that's the problem this bill is intended to address. A federal framework is necessary to avoid the problem of being required to track an arbitrary number of non-Federal frameworks.
Boston/Cambridge, MA

HubSpot Labs is looking for an experienced Python/Django hacker that can help launch more free tools on grader.com that millions of users will use.

We usually don't recruit remote folks, but in this case, I'm making an exception.

Drop me a line: dshah {at} hubspot.com

p.s. We've been twice voted the best company to work for in the Boston area. You should find out why at http://BostonBattle.com
Let us see:

- You gained domain knowledge in an industry
- Found a problem and proposed a solution
- Developed a software to solve the problem
- Sold the software to a few clients

I don't see how this is a failure at all. There are many reasons any venture will fail. Don't blame yourself for it. Your experience will definitely come handy in the future. Try hard and best of luck!

BTW,

>> "I am good at both programming and designing"

If you are based on Bangalore and are interested in joining a startup, please send me your resume. I work at http://zovi.com and we are looking for good developers.

We will help you get ready for your next plunge into entrepreneurship.
REASONS FOR ENGAGING A CAR SHIPPING COMPANY
The same one where people are hoping this rapture thing will work out for them because they hate gays.
New York, NY: The Council on Foreign Relations is hiring a Web Operations Manager.

CFR publishes ForeignAffairs.com and CFR.org. We're looking for a broadly skilled web generalist with a background either in web development or server administration. In this role you'll have your finger in both pies :-). CFR is a great place for the intellectual hacker. If you are interested in foreign policy, current events and/or politics, you'll enjoy the opportunity to work alongside the thought leaders that work here.

Full job description: http://www.cfr.org/about/career_opportunities/openings.html#...
If interested send me a note. gmunson (at) cfr (dot) org. No recruiters please.
I think a more general "fix" for this would be to just ditch state sales taxes and go for a more general % of income state tax.

Yes it means I'd get hit for more money tax wise, but would eliminate the utter and sheer horror that is state and local sales tax code.

That or something more like Britains tax code, though collect for the state the person is in for a flat % and pass that along. But really I think this whole debate sidesteps the real issue our local/federal government has with local vs nonlocal sales tax.
Here is another paper that looks promising:
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.109....

From the abstract: The multi-armed bandit problem for a gambler is to decide which arm of a K-slot machine to pull to maximize his total reward in a series of trials.

The problem is: should he continue to pull the arm that has given the best payout until now, or try another arm he doesn't yet know much about to see if it has a higher payout?
The slate problem still assumes each machine is independent (i.e. you want to pick k machines, but picking a particular machine does not effect the probability function of other machines). The ordered slate problem adds one more variable and deals with two dimensions, but it doesn't deal with an arbitrary number of dimensions.

Think about it - if you don't know which of the variables aren't independent, you're effectively searching an exponential space. You can prune it a bit but establishing that some variables are in fact independent, but the space of possibilities is still enormous. You can use standard multivariable function optimization techniques and set up correlation tests to guide the pruning, but you still need to use NHST at each one of these steps.
Shameless plug -- I'm making a HTML5 animation tool called Radi that outputs to canvas for realtime rendering. It also supports the <video> tag, so you can seamlessly mix vector graphics and pre-rendered video.

It's available as a free beta (currently Mac-only):
http://radiapp.com
If it was truly innovative how would your technology exist in the patent pool?
I really wish Google or one of the big email providers would add an unsubscribe button. It would try to do the right thing in the unsubscribe flow, and apply a personal filter, but not penalize the sender.
Sun is called Sol in Spanish, do you think there are two suns?
The UI on this is lovely.

What is keeping my office from switching to this is sharing ability. Instead of a file base system, consider having it work like google spreadsheets where I can create a link, specify if it read only or editable, and share it around.

A nit pick. Your directions are well written and awesome, but when I create new items, please slide them down so they don't cover my ideas.
Why I Quit My Job, Dropped My MBA Plans and Joined a Startup
Thank you. That was all I wanted to see on Adobe's site, but it just provided more bullet points. Why not advertise what your advertising with your advertisement?
Though I haven't read this specific bill, the philosophical point of having to collect sales tax in some form is a necessity. The money ultimately has to come from somewhere. Regardless of your views on income taxation, very few people would argue AGAINST a consumption tax (unless you're either brilliant or crazy).

Much like the fast movement of our economic system and the rise of "corporations", the rise of the internet has outpaced our government's ability to operate. This is painfully true when it comes to collecting taxes.

Honestly, at this point, a National Sales Tax would probably be one of the better things for our country, as much as people hate it--it works.
Serving our new extraterrestrial overlords might prove to be very lucrative.
Do you have solid numbers that confirm your claim that Python is becoming less popular?

This is a honest question, in my environment I see Python being adopted in various places now that is maturing.

BTW: it hasn't been a "new and hip" language for quite some time, version 1.0 was released in 1991 and 2.0 was released in 2000. The pure novelty-seekers left a long time ago.
New York, NY - Yipit

Just off raising $6 million, we are looking for the 12th member of the team(when we posted this last month, we were looking for our 8th).

Come join us on the ground floor of one of the best startups in New York. Right now, great companies like 10Gen, FourSquare, Hunch, SeatGeek, and YCharts are all here growing together. Silicon Alley is going through a renaissance and you can be part of it.

-UI Lead Architect: Our interface sits on top of over 350 daily deal services and is used by hundreds of thousands of people. We need you to own that interface.

-HTML5/CSS3/jQuery Developer: All user-facing activity relies on these technologies. We will commit the full resources of the team to supporting you.

-Python(Django) Developers: We work with the latest technology including: Amazon Web Services, RabbitMQ, Gunicorn, Nginx, and Git. This should excite you.
Go to http://yipit.com/about/jobs/ to apply. Email steve@yipit.com with any questions.
Beowulf was defeated by the dragon, but that doesn't mean that actually ever happened...

Anyway, Judaism still strongly exists today, despite any hiccups it had, as opposed to other things like Baalism or whatever. They are therefore the "victor".
Keeping is not just allowed, its our natural right.

Wearing is, as well, but it's waiting on another SCOTUS decision for affirmation.
Ten Weaknesses of Google Plus | Google Plus Users
Most of the 10 micro-seconds is spent receiving the UDP/TCP packet, decoding it, building an order request and sending it.

Only a fraction of this time is left to make a decision. ;)
For me, this is the missing link. A good quality pico projector in a smartphone. This is the device that will make handheld devices the ultimate gadget.
Adobe is a content creation tools company. Photoshop will be around long after Flash is dead and buried.
If the organization that asserted management of the pool did it as a non-profit or not-for-profit, then it could work. Fragmentation and wars occur for power and control.
Hey reymook, great story.

A similar thing happened to me. The startup that I was building was going all right business-wise, but constant, relentless pressure from the financier was ruining my life (I programmed, he paid and did sales).

I had a nervous breakdown and left the business. To pay the bills, I told everyone that I know that I was freelancing back in the world that I came from - building digital advertising sites. I was embarrassed, broken and burned out.

It was the best move that I ever made. I ended up only working for small startup web production companies. One of those companies loved my work and we got along famously. They ended up offering me an equity position in their company. I brought sales contacts into the business that were too big to work on my own. The result is a booming business. We're doing just awesome work that I never thought I would be doing.

While it sucked (and still sometimes sucks) to do project work, we're paying down some debt and planning to pivot our services company and potentially add a product to the mix.

I don't know if you can do exactly what I did but my point is that you need to chill, do awesome stuff for small companies and have faith that you're doing the right thing. Like another reader said, something good will happen.

Life doesn't work out as you plan but if you let it take you where it needs to, it can work out better.
> No matter what happens, you aren't going to find work in Michigan. You aren't connected and from the sound of it your resume is very light, and you don't have a network, so contracting and freelancing just isn't realistic for you

I disagree with this. Speaking from experience, it is very possible to fill up on remote freelance gigs. In fact, I work in Northern Michigan, which has a much slower economy than West Michigan and the Ann Arbor area. You don't have to take work from only Michigan.

If you're starting out, keep your rates lower until you get a feel for the work. You may find that you like being a full time remote freelancer.
> One or more likely, several, pool members will sue you, force you to join the pool and thus destroy your advantage.

What are they suing you over, if your work is truly "innovative"?
You provide python and beanshell as options, yet the templates seem to be ruby-only. You should put demos of both examples in all languages you support
http://hep.physics.utoronto.ca/BerndStelzer/higgs/

^^ 5 - 1 page explanations of the Higgs Boson
Even in a casual interview Knuth feeds you enough nuggets to make you think for some time, e.g. the Jevons Paradox he mentions at the end (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox). His faculties and rate of work does not seem to be affected by age (he's 73!), he's the Euler of CS (although I hope he lives longer than him).