skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Is there a better signal than high-pay for choosing a technical internship? Looking at Alexey's list, with the exception of hedge funds, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox would be my top choices for where to do a technical internship, and they're also the highest paying. I suspect this is because a good engineering culture leads to engineers that cost more and get better equipment which eventually filters down to interns. (Obviously, there are exceptions, though.)

More broadly, is interning at a startup a good place to learn technical skills (rather than marketing, networking, funding, etc.)? Most of the information on running common web stacks, for example (nginx, rails, django, node.js, varnish, postgres, mysql, redis, etc.), is either freely available on the web or even can be bought as a service (heroku, app engine, aws). By contrast, the only way to find out how engineers have solved problems (web serving, analytics, etc.) at truly huge scale (e.g., 10+% of the human population) is to actually see the solutions at a big company (though sometimes companies will publish details of 3+ year old infrastructure). Big companies also tend to have stricter code review cultures, while small companies tend to just need code written now. All of this seems to point to learning significantly more at a (technically excellent) big company, even though the "output" of the intern might appear to be less.

In fact, doing a startup seems like it might be more like resume stuffing than working at Google or Facebook these days. Working at a small startup, you get to talk about your impact, how you built a mission critical piece of infrastructure, whereas at a big company you're probably only trusted to write some small features that are not in the critical path of full time engineers. What's more, you get to say that you worked at a startup, which everyone pretty much respects around California, even if the startup dies or wasn't very technically interesting. But the potential for learning quality engineering through code review and understanding the existing infrastructure seems a lot higher at the big company.
It doesn't piss me off.

But in general, we're all ambassadors for our different communities.
CNN REPORTS OLYMPICS CALLED OFF DUE TO RIOTS.flv
By DDG you mean the "Data Drinking Group", right? I've heard those guys are pretty active on HN.
Show HN: Downtime fun HTML5/Rails project while volunteering abroad
I really like stop motion but I'm no artist and just wanted something simple to to put together pictures and see what happens. So in my downtime I have put this app together to play around with. What do you guys think?
This is a succinct, humorous, and sadly - also extremely accurate description of how these things work.
Hah, I hadn't thought of that. I agree though, it needs to be much more obvious if I'm expecting people to actually find it! I'll play around with it, thanks :)
This is not accurate. The engineers working at Google are talented, hard-working, and intelligent.

Not everyone is interested in starting their own company; some people like working in larger groups on bigger projects and not having to worry about all the non-engineering that goes into a startup.

Moreover, just because you're convinced you don't want to work at a big company doesn't mean nobody should work at one. OP is perfectly reasonable for choosing a new experience to see whether they'd like it or not, even if it's one that's unpopular among some crowds.

And having Google on your resume is a nice bonus. Even if OP decides to stick with startups after, this will help with getting hired and/or funded.
I think I have made my point that people mostly spend money on things that have some percieved benefit to themselves and not because they "care".

That is a given. That is why it is irrational. The fact remains that every dollar given to you feels like someone cares.

I've talked before that I do a little farming on the side. That is some of the most satisfying work I do because there are people - metaphorically - lined up to buy every last morsel I can produce. It feels like the whole world cares about what I'm doing, even if in reality they just want to satisfy their hunger.

But, as I wrote earlier, we are irrational emotional beings. That feeling is what drives us, no matter how foolish it may be when looked at logically.
Without further information, I have no reason to think that the scenario you described is illegal. In fact, I've seen any number of motorists, motorcyclists, and cyclists do exactly that.

Incidentally, the whole notion of cyclists being subject to the same laws as cars is rather ridiculous. Bicycles are not cars, just as cars are not "road train" semis.
Why is coding so associated with monospace type? Has anyone tried using a proportional-width typeface?

The vast majority of use-cases I can think of are simply allowing you to line up the first letter of a line, or possibly an equals sign or something like that. This seems like something a tab-stop or somesuch in the editor could handle with ease, and shouldn't require sacrificing nice-looking text the rest of the time.
They're totally different objects. Unit balls encode distance by being the set of points within some distance from the center. They are thus, loosely, parameterized by a 1-dimensional measure.

Unit cubes are constrained such that all of their measurements are unit length---something which ensures that their volume is constantly 1. They do this by getting spiky, as xyzzyx mentioned. The distance to cross them shrinks as the vertex distance grows.

So they start to look totally different in high dimensions, evidenced by the ball's vanishing measure.
Can you hear that sound? It’s the sound of my eyes rolling.

So, uhm, I’m not exactly sure what you want. Why are you so convinced that this updated design will also fail?
Don't think it's just weekend press, and I don't think the investor community thinks of it that way either. It's sending a statement that they don't necessarily care about rewarding their investors. We won't really know what happens until MS isn't around to support the price.

I'm excited to see what happens when you have a company that explicitly lets investors know that they're out to build products, not manage investor relations.
Ask HN: What is your preferred Python stack for high traffic webservices? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2910953

Introduced me to a lot of webapp stack pieces that were highly worth looking into.
Yes, by Joel Spolsky. Only it's not 100% accurate.

Some people DO use a different 10%, but the grand majority uses the same 10% (and occasionally has a need for something outside of that).
I think a splash page would go a long way. By the name it sounds like it could be something I'd be interested in. Any info as to what it does exactly?
To be fair, most monospaced typefaces are at least to some degree slab serifs to visually compensate for the extra horizontal space (eg. letters like "l" and "i")
I'm going to disagree with them and say that you should trust your instincts, especially if your instincts led you to such a beautiful and intuitive app. Frankly, there is alot of group-think in UI design these days, and I think we need more people out there that are willing to trust themselves and not go with the principle of "lowest common complaints".

If you are building something to make money, then sure go with lean startup principles and A/B it to death. If you are building something as an act of creation, or as a tool that you want to use, and especially if you are building something that has been done 1000x before, trust your own insights and not those of strangers on a talk board.

Being different (not arbitrarily different mind you, but insightfully different) is a huge and uncommon differentiator, and can led you in amazing directions if you stay true to it.

GO WITH YOUR GUT!
As an EE myself I completely agree, this is a textbook SMPS topology used all the time, nothing technically special about it at all. The only interesting take away is that they didn't cut corners as is normally done in consumer gear.
Microsoft wins ban on Motorola Android devices from the ITC
Precision Gear Porn:  Why Mechanical Wrist Watches Are So Cool
I really like it and can see myself using it (future notes is a killer feature), but I'm not a fan of the background either. I'd use one of these: subtlepatterns.com

Maybe fix the logo and navigation to the top of the page.
Or maybe the point is that nobody cares or bothers to check the labels (safety? We don't need this...).

It all comes down to price and most customers (myself included in this case) do not know any better.
You made the dot in the logo jump! It doesn't jump for monthly and future though. It's amazing how much you have learnt and put to use in such less time. I'm jealous too! Plus the design is simple and gives a pleasant experience.

I have used many to-do lists and liked the way you stated that this is not a to-do list, but a do-it list. This gives a feel that the task won't remain undone. And of all the to-do apps I used, I realized later that the ones I have stayed with for longer times are comparatively better looking than the ones I never cared to give a second visit. So, good looking site is a definite plus.

Good luck.
They aren't really that well designed compared to the competition. Apple can only focus on one thing at a time (and cutting corners on everything else).

Example: LED backlight cinema display? Neat! Then they cheap out using a glossy coating, not even a HUD, no scaler, no inputs, the worst stand in the market for a prosumer monitor etc. etc. etc. You'd think that a company claiming to be focusing on quality actually cares about ergonomics, but apple only care about looks and perceived quality. God knows how they can uphold that image when peoples devices fail constantly, I don't even know of anyone that own a working iPod anymore.

They can't even design the cooling for their laptops decently. They are hot and they are noisy (no margins at all), and it's not like you get anything in return. Buying an apple product you should just be happy if you can even exchange the battery.

As always, there is one thing they do right. On laptops it's the trackpad. But the rest just doesn't impress and is at best on par with the competition (but lacking the extra features (which isn't really a bad thing (most of the time) - but it makes you wonder what you pay for).

Apple has obviously gone to extra effort to reduce EMI interference, probably to keep the charger from interfering with the touchscreen

I've yet to encounter problems with any mobile phone during charging, so that makes you wonder whether apple uses a cheaper touchscreen than everyone else, or if other charges are just as good in regards to the EMI interference or if apple has higher margins than everyone else (which I highly doubt considering the problems apple create just to look good (cable strain relief springs to mind)).
True, you'll see some reduction in time though:

1. Less congestion

2. No need to find parking
Slab serifs are still serifs.
0402s and below kill me. I did a bit of time doing rework in the 90s and controlling solder on such a microscopic scale is an absolute bastard. its ok placing it first time but if you screw up, life is pain. Never tried a BGA and never want to. They're pick'n'place territory if you ask me.
True, that did impress me a lot to be honest. I kept expecting it to go boom when they cancelled launch after lighting the engines. Is a very cool capability.
History repeats itself. Apple cables have been fraying since FireWire ipods. I've heard the promise so often its now boring me.
Analyst says Facebook share price "implausible"
Google's purchase of Motorola approved by China, deal to close next week
What is your favorite programming language? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3746692

This had some really neat discussion about the finer points of some languages.
I think you might be right that he was an early player of a patent filing game that has grown to become rather controversial in some spheres, namely software. The only way to know, besides being alive at that time, is to do the historical research.

Can you recommend any primary sources to learn more about this history (besides the patents themelves)? It sounds like you have read some?

On the bright side, not everyone took the Edison approach. Are you familiar with the history of Hans Bessemer and his approach to patents?
And yet there are strange projects going on like allowing bicycles to run red lights: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3311... Apparently the change was discussed in UK too for some test periods and I'm really afraid of it.

The greatest danger in my mind is not that the collision may happen. The worst part is that if I collide with another car at 10mph, the worst that can happen is that both cars will need some new paint, even if I don't hit the break. At the same speed, it's possible I'm going to kill a cyclist - pretty much actually run over him before I start breaking if he suddenly appears in front of me.
I think it harkens back to coding's origins on punchcards. Many compilers still give errors along the lines of "Line 500, column 16", so it seems natural to use a font that incorporates those concepts into its design.

But yeah, I can think of a few people who AFAIK do mostly use proportional fonts, and they do just fine. I think it's mainly a path-of-least-resistance thing.
Why people want to be popular?
A well written article; interesting enough in spite of not having any quotable sources. A more accurate title might have been "Reuters shut-out; Facebook IPO bankers remain mum"
Good point. As a cyclist, I see stuff like this a lot - running stop signs, short-cutting intersections, etc. But cyclists who do that stuff never consider the near or long-term consequences - more annoyed drivers, increasing road rage, etc.

There are consequences to cherry-picking your responsibilities, even if you can't see them right away.
This is exactly why the only place for applications is the desktop with native applications.

The gain in productivity wins hands down against the mess of having JavaScript+HTML+CSS working the same way across browsers and OS.
I don't want to sound negative, but.. there is so much content produced every day on sites like HN that I feel a bit like the past discussions don't matter anymore at all.
I didn't get the impression he was trying to minimize Tesla's actual accomplishments. He seems to be a pretty big fan of all the inventors of the era. He did point out where the comic had exaggerated the actual accomplishments. Tesla was pretty amazing, but so was Edison.

I don't think medium is the defining item for being held to a standard. Comics, as a form, have long been used for commentary. This particular artist did it prior to this with the Game of Thrones commentary that resulted in a lot of serious discussion.

I'm also not very concerned with something listed as editorial or opinion. If you make a statement of fact in error then corrections are needed. It looks like one whole wall of text panel was untrue.
Show HN: hateratio.com, how much hated?
Hi people,

The other day I needed a tool to build quickly a site and wanted to know which one would cause me less trouble.

I decided to start googling about things like "drupal nightmares", "wordpress is driving me nuts" and things like that, and use the relative number of search results to decide which one to choose.

As the process of doing it manually is not very enjoyable I have built this site that uses this same idea. It can be entertaining to search whether Lenin or Stalin is preferred, discover that Romney is more hated than Obama, or that, coming back to my original query, I should use drupal instead of wordpress.

The site is here: http://www.hateratio.com

The current hate algorithm is pretty simple but gives acceptable results. I can improve it but I'm not sure if this site is of any real interest, or if there are existing and better options to do this kind of comparisons.

I'm using Bing instead of Google since the latter does not allow this kind of usages AFAIK. Doing some tests, I found Google results to be more consistent, but Bing's are good enough.

Let me know if you have any suggestions. I hope you like it and find it useful, or at least entertaining.
Sunny Leone was Shy and Uncomfortable
I recently started learning Django for a project I'm working on. I've been reading the django book at djangobook.com, but it doesn't really talk about writing tests. This is awesome, every Django developer should know how to do this.
Again, I do not agree. Emotion or "caring" is a different type of information processing, but that doesn't make it divorced from logic. Emotion is a form of memory and it helps people make snap decisions.

I have two ASD sons. I have read, thought about, and discussed such things quite a lot.

Take care.
Sure. Using html5 canvas, it animates images in 3 different modes: flip, vertical, horizontal and the animation can be controlled like a video via controls. You can also convert the animation to a GIF (I want to add video conversion later) for you to download or you can publish it where it's stored on the site and viewers can view either the canvas version or the GIF version. Random viewers can also make their own GIF version, they just can't publish it if it's not their own animation. It's all public now and very basic as I just needed to get my coding fix while in Ghana.
Godel's Original Paper on Incompleteness: Translated from German [pdf]
As one last point about how the problem is caused by just how big high dimensional spaces are, remember that the n-dimensional unit sphere contains every d-dimensional unit sphere for d <= n.

The spheres are a strictly increasing sequence of sets, but the measures we call "volume" are growing even faster.
Ask HN: How would you refer to a patent on your resume?
Just got word the two patents I assigned to my current employer (per my contract terms) have gotten approved. There's nothing that says I can't mention my role, but outside of Google I don't know if anyone would care I had them or not. Used to have a section with my publications (five books, some professional articles, etc) and was counseled to drop that as "no one is interested". Perhaps this is the same?
For Facebook Execs, More Money Means More Problems
Rhode Island taxpayers will foot the bill for video game flop
I'm guessing the kind of people who have Haskell to push into production are not the kind of people who would be inclined to do that.
The idea is pretty cool actually, but I am wondering: Is the advantage is really that huge over just running a normal PHP stack on the backend server in combination with local memcache?
Well, Python has "self", that you have to explicitly pass. Not the best example.
It would be cool if this feature implied no optimizations applied or something along those lines, making it intractable to use for production code.
Never heard that one before. Made me LOL :)
Awesome new Portal mechanic demo
Some of the Best Practices for Django Development--
I am at a loss for words. Thanks so much for your kind comment; it is inspiring and motivating. When I posted this on HN I really wasn't expecting such overwhelmingly positive feedback from so many great people! In a few short weeks I've found that the internet can be a very rewarding place. I'm not sure where I'll end up at this point, but for now I'm enjoying web development very much. Thanks again! :)
Nice work. There are a few things I find strange, but other commenters have covered most of them.

I love being able to drag around the notes on the "future" tab, it makes it easy to cluster tasks without lots of UI overhead. However I don't see why I can't do the same thing with today's tasks. I also can't send a task to the future tab and vice versa.
Challenge accepted: https://gist.github.com/2666633 - although I just had to update the results from a week ago.
Isn't that what Jobs and Bezos have done?
I'm a Django guy who started picking up some Rails out of curiosity, and that's when I realized how great TDD, specifically, automating behavior-driven testing is in general .. and I was wondering why it didn't seem like a prominent thing in the Django community. Thanks for doing this, please do continue!
Django app providing the features required to use websockets via Socket.IO
Is there any way to "hack" your way into internships once you've already graduated and worked 3-4 years? For example taking 1 course to become a "student" again? All the developers at our company often complain that they made significantly higher salaries $$ (sometimes as much as $20~25 per hour) back when they had internships in college. (This is the way things go in Ohio I guess)
Apple probably doesn't care about the 1c saving by cutting component to bare requirements to be safe. Also you need to include the engineer's time.
Inventing something, and having a patent issued on it is one of those things I consider a "stripe" or "merit badge". You should be proud of it. Not everyone can claim to have done so.

When I read resumes and see "I was issued 3 patents" or "Inventor of 3 issued patents" it really doesn't mean all that much to me; just another (generally positive) data point.

In general I think you would be doing yourself a disservice by NOT mentioning them. Just don't over do it.
Personally, I think a lot of the contention stems from the huge number of 4-way stop intersections in the US. Coming to a complete stop and starting again is rough on a car engine, and especially rough on a bike rider, who must lose and rebuild all that momentum with his own strength. Also, a bike rider starting from a complete start will go through the intersection much more slowly than car traffic, causing an obstruction to traffic flow.

Other countries use roundabouts, and while that's not necessarily the answer, there might be other remedies. California is famous for the "California Stop", where you come to a near stop and roll forward slowly for a few seconds while you wait your turn, which if done systematically, is an option which seems relatively safe and conserving of momentum.

As a rider, I try to time my arrival at an intersection to share the turn of a car going in the same direction and slip through without coming to a stop if I can.
Back in the day, a lot of programming revolved around reporting. One reason I can think of would be laying out columns on reports, on terminals that didn't support proportional fonts.

A lot of people rail against tabs; most of the time, these are people who don't understand them or have never tried to use them.

You see this debate about tabs vs. spaces in code all the time, and I've yet to hear any valid argument about why spaces are better (at least in any modern context). But there is an obvious reason that tabs are better: It's much easier to line things up, keep them aligned across different users' fonts, and realign them if you change the text to cross a tab.
Show HN: OpenGL 1.1 implementation written in pure Javascript (beta)
If only Mac OS X ever got a proper packaging system (one not for installing nice GUI apps, but for deploying infrastructure things like libraries) - then it would be on par. Right now, unfortunately, it's still subpar - doing the same things takes more time. I know theres ports and fink and homebrew, but each of them has its deficiencies, and they regularly step on each other's toes and make a mess of the system.
Apple sold 156 million iOS devices in 2011 alone. Multiply that by the $20 difference and you get 3 billion dollars. I have to assume that R&D of the power adapter cost less than that.
Ways to Hire the Best Tech Hackers.
The Eternal Lorem Ipsum
Yay, CROSSBARS ON THE "I"!

Really, really tired of capital I's that look like lower-case L's. These should be banished.

And the above is the only time an apostrophe makes a plural.