skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
He isn't being very fair: where the goal at first was to be as right as possible, it later became "to piss off as few of the 300 guests as possible". I'm not sure what exact procedure he had in mind for businesses, but in a situation where "votes eliminate the interesting edges, leaving only the boring residue that no one hated enough to vote off the island" applies, you're just not talking about the wisdom of crowds anymore, this wasn't possible in his earlier examples either. An important factor to the wisdom of crowds, and a key difference between his earlier examples and his later examples, is that people vote independently, without even talking about what they're going to vote.

For demonstrational purposes, I will now take his holiday meal situation and apply actual wisdom of crowds to them. This isn't a very usual situation, but this is about properly applying the wisdom of crowds.

Instead of people stating what they dislike, people may nominate a meal, and afterwards, everyone votes for the meal they want to go with. Like in the Wants to be a Millionaire examples, people cannot talk in this process - they cannot state what they dislike. Instead, the fact that some people can't take spicy food will show in the results, but beside that, every individual will pick a meal that isn't boring, and the end result will be just that. "Allergic to garlic" and "doesn’t eat anything green" are rather specific complaints and were not taken into account, so let's count those 3 people as unsatisfied, but the success here is that most people will in fact be satisfied with the meal.
Lamborghini is launching luxury smartphones and tablets
Pointing that fact out is the point of the post, I believe. Interesting that it does that. The new Maps app would definitely benefit from Apple releasing a website, for emailing directions and desktop browsing and such, but it also isn't exactly Apple's forte.
Should my start-up be afraid of iOS6?
Facebook marketing is a closed loop.
Hi garagemc2. Where specifically were you looking so I can improve?

http://alanhollis.com/ has an overview of my skills.
http://alanhollis.com/cv/ has more details of my experience.
That's more than any other laptop brand. Plus, Apple just has 5-6 models, whereas the other brands dilute their offerings with 20-30 models each.
You should've linked directly to it when you posted, and then make a comment about it, instead of posting it like this, because I barely understand what's going on in your post with all the tags and whatnot.
He doesn't go nearly enough into depth to say anything surprising. That "C/Am" is by far the most common is not surprising at all; C major is the first key any music student learns.

I wish he separated out the major keys from minor keys. It's easy to tell the difference; almost no-one writes pop music in the natural minor (which shares a key signature with the relative major), as it has no dominant fifth. Rather, melodic and harmonic minor keys are used, which have a distinct key signature from major keys (both have the 7th note of the scale raised to accommodate a dominant fifth chord). This should make them easy to detect.

The "Chord Use" chart also does not say much; C, F, and G are the I, IV, and V chords of the key of C major (the Roman numerals indicating their relative position in the scale), which together form the basic pop progression. Much more useful would have been to bin the chords relative to the key in which the song is written, rather than as their absolute pitch.

What I would also like to see is a histogram of chord progressions, e.g. I-IV-V vs. I-IV-ii-V vs. I-vi-VI-V etc. His preview of next week hints at this, but again he should use relative chord names rather than absolute chord names.

The preview graph, "Chords following em", is not very surprising either. Since this is an absolute chart rather than a relative one, we must assume that the data is reflective of the chord's use in the most common key (C). (Em will rarely occur in a song written in Am; rather, it will be altered to an E7 dominant chord.) Of the other chords available in the key of C, C and G both share two out of three notes with Em and thus are unlikely to be used due to lack of motion between them. Bdim is rarely used in C.

This leaves Dm, F, and Am as likely to occur following an Em. The E and B notes of the Em chord are a half-step below the next higher note in the scale, so they will tend toward upward motion, meaning the next chord will likely contain an F or a C. F contains both of these, hence its prominence in the graph. Both Am and Dm contain one of these notes; however Em->Am is an upward (downward) skip of a fourth (fifth), which is a resolving motion – it is likely that the next few chords following these two will be Dm, G, and C, to continue this motion. Em->Dm, being a skip of a second, does not share this property and hence should not be as common.
Why would the II chord follow iii? Can you cite some examples of that?

The only pop/rock use of II that I can think of is as a turn to drive II7 -> V7 -> I.
I assume Steam will let you view it on any computer where Steam is installed and you are logged in.
I see. How does this compare to just doing flat-rate quotes?

I guess my aversion to even quoting daily, is the notion that you can be brought up to speed quickly enough to effect any good change (and add value) in just 1 day.

For instance, if you are supposed to be optimizing code in a legacy web app - do you set a minimum number of days that they have to commit to, for something like this? Or do you just stick to daily?
If you are from Europe (or Australia) you probably want to buy it from their website directly since it's $9.99 there.

I'm from Europe and the price on steam is 9.99€. Never really understood why they never lower the price when it's in euros.
Turned down by YC, only to see my idea receive funding this year. What gives?
I applied to YC last year and was subsequently denied. I was a one man show without a beta to present. I have been quietly working on my idea since, and finally have a co-founder to work with.

One of my (now) competitors just closed a funding round, a YC alum; for several million dollars. I have two questions.

Should I continue with development given the circumstances and just make mine better or yield?

Also, why on earth was I denied by YC only to see my idea get funding and mentorship with someone else? It is frustrating. If they went through any other startup incubator, I wouldn't have any reason to be upset. I should have launched first. But I came to YC first. I don't see why I wasn't chosen. To see a replica of my idea out there is a slap in the face.

I applied for the Summer funding cycle, LAST YEAR.
You didn't think calling a photoshopped picture of Freddie Mercury "hungry gay with aids" that bad?
Reason: It's easier to play these chords on a 6 string guitar, which has been the dominant instrument of choice for pop song composers.

The first C chord on a guitar is easy to hit with no finger twisting required. It's also easy to switch between the first C, Am, and G chord, you can even do it quickly and repeatedly while drunk as you can imagine many pop songs are written. The first F chord requires a little more careful finger placement but still easy to get too. Sure enough you hear this over and over in pop songs, some simple sequence of C F G A chords over and over.

Not surprising that the complex guitar chords that require six pencil-thin rubber fingers and a degree in music theory to know how to play aren't heard as often.
are you talking about the barclays PINsentry? if so, it's a chip reader.
Now that's the kind of headline I'd give to my article if I wanted it to reach the top of the HN front page.
TwitMail , Best way to share you email to Twitter , Scoble Interview
Shutterhire - eBay for photographers
Any feedback or advice?
Next Big Gaming Company in the Middle East?
I am a freelancer too, and this podcast it's really good. http://rubyfreelancers.com . For getting more clients ask your current client for referrals, if you made a good work they will be happy to help you. And use social media to maintan contact and reach other clients and freelancers (They too can send you some work )
Just a search engine you go to. I was already paying a VA to trawl through most of the sites that it scrapes so using it saved me a few dollars a month.

I'm quite sure there's a paid service at a similar sort of price range to what you're describing that does email you. Don't remember the name atm.
Count me in, I'd love to see what you came up with.
“Defensive Patent License” created to protect innovators from trolls
Played correctly, democracy is the best government in all cases!

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=87937
I have no idea what I just watched, what they're trying to sell, or what they want me to do.

It's even harder to figure out because one of my plugins blocks whatever it is that loaded when I launched an Incognito window: http://i.imgur.com/WaSuk.png

Super extra bonus fun: the video starts playing automatically, which became a terrible idea the second that browsers implemented tabs.
IPhone meets Guitar = visual music awesomeness
It's only partially OSM based, the Maps app cites TomTom and a few other providers in addition to OSM. At least for my city, OSM is showing a few roads Apple doesn't.
Eben Uptons conflicted view on RasPi per student
Eb is a weird key to play guitar in.

Van Halen did it all the time. (Tuning down a 1/2 step is not uncommon among heavier rock/heavy metal bands. I'm not entirely sure why though.)
If this is like the Air (which I'm waiting for the teardown), then I'm not sure how normal people are supposed to upgrade the memory as it's soldered, while the hard drive is upgradeable (though probably not feasible for non-techies unaccustomed to opening up their laptop).
True, I think logic suggests most people find it convenient to just click the result link on Kayak, which has made it so easy compared to Oribts, which has its own booking engine. So I am guessing they just make a very small percentage of the sale just for referring.

If as you say the hotel search is the real deal, it makes sense. Which leads me to the next thought, wonder why hotels haven't caught up with the airline industry in having a fairly realistic price listing on their own site? In fact, most of the times I am ok just booking using priceline bidding for hotels.
Secrets of Body Language
I have sunk several hours of my life into Civ5 (and played very few multiplayer games).

The thing about the series is that I can sit, build a large empire and take my time. In every non-turn based game (AOE) etc, everyone rushkills and shoots for metrics like FC (fastest castle) etc. without building a lasting empire. The civ series allows me to truly enjoy this aspect of the game.

OTOH, in Civ5 I have found the battles sorely lacking (the AI is not clever and artillery can do some very solid damage) so I feel cheated a bit. I still haven't found a game that combines the elements of Civ5 I like and also demands a good battle strategy.
This is similar http://freelancefunnel.com/
Buy a dedicated navigation app. The Navigon and TomTom iOS apps are every bit as capable as a dedicated GPS, but cost $50.
I wish I had a URL that you go to immediately and put in your email address.

Ok, will try and get that up asap =)
Er no, it upscales. When you put a 640x480 image through an old lcd that supports only 1024x768, then it needs to scale the original image up, hence it upscales. Same if you put a 1080p image into a retina display which has a much higher resolution: it needs to upscale.
What percentage of their traffic comes from paid advertising?
I have feature suggestions for hipmunk. I really hope you, or some other flights search site brings these two things:

1. Find cheapest flights between two countries (country->city, city->country, country->country). Some people don't mind traveling a little just to reach the airport from where they can find cheaper flights.

2. Bypass stopovers which levy transit visa. You can easily find my location so you can identify places where I will need to get transit visa even for stopovers and give me option to ignore flights with those stopovers.
Link to the study linked in the article (PubMed prepublication abstract):

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=west%20stanovich%20m...

The psychologist Keith R. Stanovich is quite controversial among other psychologists precisely because he writes about what high-IQ people miss in their thinking, but his studies point to very thought-provoking data and deserve to be grappled with by other psychologists. I have enjoyed his full-length book What Intelligence Tests Miss

http://yalepress.yale.edu/YupBooks//book.asp?isbn=9780300123...

which meticulously cites much of the previous literature on human cognitive biases and other gaps in rationality of human thinking.

And here is the submitted article's link to a description of the Need for Cognition Scale:

http://www.liberalarts.wabash.edu/ncs/
Nationwide's box. I don't have one to hand to go look.
So your "disrespectful" assessment shows me that either you did not read my post fully

Honestly, I did miss that you made the point about reversing gender roles. I don't know that it changes matters much, though. My argument that asking co-workers out is no big deal, would remain the same in either case. Normal, mature, well-adjusted adults of either gender should be able to handle politely turning down a co-worker, IMO.

or you are just trying to win.

^sigh^ - Win what exactly? I don't know about you, but I'm not in a debate or a contest of any sort here. There are no winners, or losers or anything else. It's just a friendly discussion, for crying out loud.

Why does someone have to be "mature and well-adjusted" to be employed in this country.

They don't have to be, but I'm operating on the assumption that most people are. And I don't think we should change our whole fundamental approach to going through life, to cater to a few people who aren't.

Job descriptions don't usually list having to handle harassment as a duty.

I never said they did, or should. You seem to be operating on the assumption that asking someone out is automatically "harassment" which is absolutely false. If I ask a female co-worker out, she says "no," and nobody ever mentions it again, and nobody treats anyone differently as a result, and we continue behaving as reasonable adults, are you really contending that someone was "harassed"?

In a workplace, you have to cater to EVERYONE

No, you don't.

What if Sally (or Ted) was right out of high school and was not a "mature, well-adjusted adult".

Then you help them become mature, well-adjusted adults. The context doesn't change anything in that regard. There are all sorts of situations a green, right out of high-school kid might not be prepared to handle. If that comes up, and they spazz over it, you help them learn and adjust and grow.

A more appropriate course of action for Ted would be to ask if Sally wanted to get coffee outside of work, without implying any advances or sense of relationship (i.e. dating). An approach like that would allow Sally to decline the offer without the same kind of negative consequences.

Sure, did you think I was suggesting that Ted approach Sally and say "Hey, wanna go home and fuck?" (or vice versa)? That would be silly in pretty much any context. I'm talking about politely asking someone to join you outside of work for some non-work related activity, where the encounter is clearly intended to be personal and might or might not lead to a romantic or sexual interlude.

What are his options? He can go to a supervisor. If the supervisor doesn't care and writes it off, he will feel terrible.

This is absolutely no different from the previous scenario. His option is to politely tell Sally that he isn't interested. This only becomes an awkward situation if she refuses to acknowledge that and continues to make an issue of it. Just like if the roles were reversed.

Finally, just because you are a male and might enjoy female advances doesn't make it true for everyone.

I never contended otherwise.
We do it all the time - it's YC 101.

We have two Android apps and we get our share of 1-star drive-bys. Usually less than 5% of those actually follow up with a feedback.

We answer EVERY user feedback including international users. I have Google Translate permanently open as a tab and reply in both English and their language.

Our responses have done three things for us:

- It's converted almost every 1-star we've received into a 5-star

- Our users praise us with lots of 5-star ratings just for our customer service

- We get far fewer impulse 1-stars. They read the comments and see that we really do follow up and fix things so they try that first.

I've also handled many very angry emails. With those I take time to explain fully what's going on as passively and politely as I can. Every one of those has turned around positively.

Finally, we don't like to say stuff like "Really sorry that you had to experience that". These days that sounds like the insincere spin we hear from big companies. We just get to the point and use a happy emoticon. I only apologize if it fits the mood.
You don't have to be a separate person to be someone's puppet.
Disney Launched an MVNO on sprint network 5/6 years back which has all of the features mentioned in the article and more (Parents can set allowances for kids to more content) and failed simply because there was no market for it (at the time).
Very good analysis. I wasn't even going to comment, since my reaction (personal impression) to the article was "too bad there might be 2 of the 1300 songs that have chords that don't sound like crap" - since they all do, there might be a couple of dozen well-orchestrated popular songs over the last several decades. (I should add that, despite this fact, I do avidly listen to popular songs and don't have a problem. I wouldn't try to reverse engineer their chord patterns though...)

At least your response tells me why this is the case. Thanks!
While I agree with your story, I do not think the difference comes from credit/debit. I have a debit card and I do not get any credit with it. However it has a VISA logo and I can still successfuly make complaints to my bank to get transactions reversed. I think the benefits are thus provided by VISA/etc, regardless of what services your bank provides through the card, like credit.
Show HN: my iBooks Author design and publishing guide
I wrote a guide to iBooks Author, Apple's digital book design software. I just posted it for sale on my Shopify store.

I'd greatly appreciate any and all feedback regarding my blog and Shopify store (both rough, I know), my website copy, the concept, the price, and so on.

Blog post about the guide: http://inkslingerindustries.com/2012/06/announcing-how-to-make-a-book-with-ibooks-author/

The guide in my Shopify store: http://store.inkslingerindustries.com/collections/frontpage/products/how-to-make-a-book-with-ibooks-author

Thanks!
Completely agree. It bit me once: I submitted a link to a free epub book (hosted on GitHub), titled

Backbone.js Fundamentals [free ebook, epub]

(here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3831954)

it surprisingly made it to the front page (250 votes), but soon a mod changed the title to

Backbone.js Fundamentals

So, a lot of unsuspecting visitors (my guess is about 25000 - my personal experience tells me most front page links get 100x visits more than their votes) clicked on this link, expecting to see a web page but end up downloading a random epub. Very soon the poor guy's GitHub account was suspended temporarily due to excessive bandwidth usage.

I felt very bad and angry at the time.
Exact same thoughts here. Statistics analysis is completely irrelevant when it comes to music (and any form of art of course).

That said, the whole attempt is impressive (from an engineer's perspective)
I have no problem with flat rate quotes. I only have a problem with quotes broken into abillable hours.

My general M.O. with project quotes, which someone on HN once called "the first truly new, clever billing technique that I've seen" but I just call "the way Dave and Jeremy were writing proposals and statements of work when we started Matasano", is simple:

* Make a conservative, honest estimate of the total number of billable days/weeks required to complete the project.

* Quote the total amount that time works out to as if it was a project rate.

* Clearly state in the SOW that if additional time is required beyond the quoted amount, additional person/days can be staffed at a pro-rata daily rate.

The result is a project-based quote on time-and-materials terms.
We do the same thing with oil, I don't see why water would be any harder. Though granted, oil has higher cost and different outside factors than water, so I really can't make any 'is it economical' claims.
You probably not know that many pro audio and video guys then...
Main ruleset yes, but FreeCiv has separate civ2 ruleset which should closer to Civ 2.
Sorry, I should have been more clear. I meant multiple projects in the same workspace, like what netbeans or eclipse has (or even Sublime).

I really like being able to navigate in all my open projects at the same time. Not having it is a no-go for me.
I think its crass, tasteless, offensive and annoying. However, with the troll filter on, I cant really get that upset about it...
If you'd rather not just accept your current level of cognitive bias, the web site Less Wrong has a bunch of articles by and for people trying to become less wrong about things. Anecdotally, I've noticed that people I know via the Less Wrong community tend to be decidedly less full of crap than average, so it seems to work. For example, here's a series of articles on the subject of avoiding excessive attachment to false beliefs, which I found to be generally entertaining and insightful:

http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/How_To_Actually_Change_Your_M...

Any of those articles are a good place to start, so don't be intimidated by the amount of stuff there.
Discover Bank storing passwords in plaintext
Thanks for this!

I guess this is just validation that the idea makes sense.
1. YC is about people, not ideas.

2. If they launched before you, it definitely wasn't because of YC funding. Especially if you had a huge head start.

3. There are a lot of replicas of everyone's ideas out there. Lighten up, Francis.
Well said. Thanks for the advice, Thomas. I probably just need to be more assertive, which I'm slowly getting better at.

With regard to retainers, what is a typical retainer discount (percent is fine) for (mostly web) software development consulting?
I see...ok, well keep your eyes peeled - if you are interested :)
A bit of a tangent but this is one of the top reasons I buy Apple laptops. Sleep/Wake is pretty much flawless. I occasionally had some hangs on wake back in Tiger or earlier versions of Mac OS, but never with Leopard or later.
A very good post on this by Matt Strassler from earlier this year:

http://profmattstrassler.com/articles-and-posts/particle-phy...

There were apparently two problems:

1. An improperly calibrated clock
2. A fiber optic cable was not fully plugged in. This led to a little bit of light leaking out from the cable, which lead to a (very small) delay in recognition of the arrival of a pulse on the fiber.

Yes, modern physics experiments are pretty complicated and lots of things can go wrong!
So if you open up a book like 'Music Theory for Complete Idiots' there's a section on "Chord progressions" that essentially has what you'd recognize as a state transition table for "what chords will sound good after this chord?" and I'm pretty sure there's a row that looks like [iii => IV, vi].

Coming up with a computerized vocabulary for the elements of coherent large-scale composition structures would be more of an interesting area to research than individual chord transitions, because the latter is really a solved problem.
Was only the other day that my mate pointed out to me that 451 is DEA if you transcribe it. And after all, there are all kinds of paper and they don't all catch fire at one given temperature, do they?