skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Reference 1:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE6650...

Reference 2: http://thenextweb.com/apps/2011/09/03/why-the-music-industry...
"However, in my experience (which is now fairly extensive), this scenario is a vanishingly rare one."

Wasn't there just recently a link[1] on HN about a startup that was bailing (and returning the remainder of it's VC) because it was only growing at 20-30% per month?

[1] http://blog.ridejoy.com/from-carpool-to-deadpool-ridejoys-st...
Yes, you can sign up for free (https://www.writelatex.com/signup), and there's a lot you can do with a free account.
> in the end we have no idea what it looks like -- is it >0.5? No clue.

No, that isn't true. The proof Colin gives is quite explicit. There's an explicit listing of the algebraic numbers (except that he leaves the order of various things unstated; for present purposes I'll just work with the order of appearance in his writeup). Then there's a procedure that considers these one by one and chooses intervals of exponentially decreasing size to concentrate on. You can get as many decimal places as you like of the transcendental number Colin's constructing, just by doing enough steps.

Let's be more explicit. The first algebraic numbers in Colin's list are 0, 0, -1, 1, 0. (I assume we aren't counting repeated roots of a single polynomial, but also aren't eliminating duplicates between different polynomials in the list.)

So, first we take the intervals [0,1/3], [1/3,2/3], [2/3,1] and the algebraic number 0. We take the leftmost interval not containing 0, namely [1/3,2/3].

Now we subdivide into three again: [1/3,4/9], [4/9,5/9], [5/9,2/3]. And again our algebraic number is 0. The leftmost interval not containing 0 is [1/3,4/9].

(So we've already established that the number is < 0.5.)

In the next three steps we never see an algebraic number inside our interval so we'll just take the leftmost third each time; so we get [1/3,1/3+1/243].

We've now found the first two decimal places of the transcendental number we're constructing, namely 0.33. It would (at least in principle) be easy to computerize the process and find many more decimal places.
The story focuses primarily on external factors that could remove choices and control from the founders, but it feels a bit one sided, in that Daniel is externalizing the factors concerning funding.

Hence, I'd like to digress a pit from the story and draw attention to some internal (mostly psychological) reasons to take funding ... or not.

Drawing from experiences and observations from investment management and investors behavior (mostly) outside the sphere of start-ups, I can confidently say, there are polar opposite behavior that results from taking/using/managing someone else's money.

a) For a fairly large number of people; accepting someone's money brings about accountability and reduces personal recklessness. These individuals usually thrive under situations where they are held accountable and appreciate the benefits of experience, mentoring and someone believing enough to hand them their money. Sure it may reduce some choices, but the perceived value is easily offset by the growth and change is life perspectives.

Most people don't quite think this far, but they should. If first-time founders have seen themselves be more accountability when the burden of risk lay upon someone else, then by all means they should find investors who would help them down this path.

To reiterate, the key for this group of first-timers is to find the right investors/angels for their start-up, Daniel's situation would likely only play out if they were to hasty to take any money rather than the right money.

b) Then there are the inbetweeners, these are the individuals that do not find the value in giving up their choices (however limited the scope) in exchange for the perceived benefits, or lack thereof. Accepting someone else's money may also be viewed as a burden or source of stress and things not working out as intended may be viewed as failure or reason to give up.

If they recognize these traits they should be extremely careful when accepting any funding, and this is the group that would most benefit from Daniel's observations.

c) On the flip side of the first group are the individuals that are extremely callous when taking additional risks, over spending, living beyond the constraints of their current situation when someone else's takes on the burden of the risk.

I don't want to judge, but I would find it rare for these individuals to not take funding. They would mostly be the personalities that seasoned angels and investors recognize or watch out for. Perhaps VCs of the yester-years may have liked them. I personally see them as more dangerous to investors that the removal of choices are to their success.

I am sure the psychological profiles are also a good thing to know and understand when choosing co-founders, and that would be a greater concern than taking funding, but I'll leave that for another day or another topic.
Yeah I've read this book to and I don't think it's a real representation of the type of person wanting to run a life-style business. I'd guess it's mostly fantasy.
Ask HN: Apply to dev jobs with little experience of the language required?
I do know a person who did exactly this. Now he is founder and director of a travel agency (he does what he loves) and he told himself that he never been happier.

I am still haunted by tech since I've quit my last 9-to-5 tech job years ago.
Does anyone know of something similar to Mach Desktop for Linux? I'd love to be able to set the wallpaper to a live website.
I can't upvote strongly enough about the photo stuff.

Recently I discovered that Google+, Facebook etc. all like to interpret "sharing" a photo to mean sharing a link to the page with the photo on it, not to actually share the photo, which is what the user really wants to have happen, not to mention the PITA this is to automate because it suddenly means these photos are behind authorisation walls. (This is on top of how aggressively Google tries to get any photos you take, or send via Gmail, into G+ in the first place).

Quite honestly I've had it with any cloud service that acts like this, and now choose to spam them with irrelevant nonsense of no consequence.
Bacon recipe website, complete with user submitted and voted on recipes.
My view is that infinitesimals
were a mistake, a long, festering
sore in math and some of its applications.
Can think intuitively about infinitesimals
if you want, but I see no need to
mess up the now very clean situation
on the foundations of the reals.

Indeed, as a grad student, I had some
results and went to see a world famous
prof to show him what I had and ask
him if my work seemed new to him.
At one point he suggested an improvement,
and, curiously, as a high end pure
mathematician in analysis
did his first cut, intuitive reasoning
in terms of infinitesimals! Fine.
But Dedekind cuts, Cauchy sequences,
etc. make a rock solid foundation for the
reals, and now can we just get on with,
say, Fourier theory and the rest of
analysis and their applications?
>but I find it hard to consider any software the best of its kind when it's only available on one platform.

So if you had Photoshop only on the Mac, say, and the rest of the platforms had stuff like MS Paint, you'd still not consider it the best of its kind?

Professionals that are not system administrators don't switch between platforms that often. A software can very well be the best of its kind and single platform.
Deleted mine as well. After I waited a couple weeks and tried to log back in I was unable to. The question of how much data was retained after deletion is still up for debate.
You should consider going to college, even a junior college. I worked in support until 2002 and got laid off post 9/11. At the time I was uninspired by the work and I decided to go to college and get a degree in a non CS field. I ended up researching solar physics and eventually found my way back to Silicon Valley in a more fulfilling job. Definitely explore, but make sure you know what it is about your work that you don't like even if you don't know what you do like and find out where your niche is.

Also, don't let a requirement like a degree stop you from applying. I worked many jobs in tech that required a degree before I actually had one.
...yet it always seems to get amazing reviews. I suspect not from people who've actually used the advice to then go on to make a successful business, but rather from people who found it entertaining then put it down again. Thinks like this make me more inclined to stop reading 'advice' and just get on with it using common sense.
If only there were a term for being so impressed with yourselves that you felt you could just ignore the little people. Maybe "focused on Q1 revenue goals"? Seems long, though. I'd be happy if I could get it down to three syllables.
They call themselves a framework, though, not a CMS. And you've compared it to Django, which really is a framework, not a CMS. What part of Django would you say it is most directly comparable to?
Alternatively there's also Barrelfish: http://www.barrelfish.org/ but there the focus lies on multiple cores (48ish+++).
i suspect the latter. i was unaware of the his early life story before watching this video. there is necessarily some kind of eccentricity embedded in that kind of experience.

anyway, really inspiring video. it seems that upon hearing "erdos" people too often just think, "oh, right, the probablistic method is really cool," or (far-far worse), "yeah, taking amphetamines and doing math is where it's at," but the sense of community, collaboration, and kindness described in the video is a broader and further reaching legacy than any single fact about the man's life. there's a kind of transitivity to that attitude (in any walk of life). one of the kindest mathematicians i've ever met is adjacent to erdos, and i don't think that's entirely coincidental.
I made a little trello clone as a weekend side project, http://lipstr.com , I've stopped working on it, I don't use it all that often since I like using a paper to keep track of my tasks now. My girlfriend is probably the only daily user.
F-150 will blaze the way. Ha. The first time one of these catches fire, it will put the Tesla to shame.
http://www.g2mil.com/aluminum.htm
But an easy life can make one neurotic.
>Calling the Egyptian army "backed by the US government" is a bit of a stretch

No, it's literally true. Although I've heard that an end to US military aid to Egypt would simply mean an end to US influence in Egypt, as they could easily secure support elsewhere without the restrictions that the US imposes on who they can deal with.

>It's not as though there's a nice, peaceful secular organization dedicated to democracy and individual liberty just quietly growing in the shadows.

This is the result of US support to the Egyptian government. As elsewhere in the Middle East, the US propped up a dictator and assisted him in exterminating all secular opposition. There's no way to do that to the religious opposition, so when the dictator leaves, all you have to fill the vacuum are fundamentalists.
OneNote.

Sincs nicely with my Windows Phone.
We created a superior wireless audio technology! Superior to BlueTooth Audio and Apple's Airplay, as it works across infinite distances & on varied VERY FAST ip networks.

Here's a demo of our tech http://SpeakerBlast.com.

We are actively looking for help and or an exit(we own IP on this).
I've also been sticking with OmniFocus. It syncs to each of my Macs and iOS devices, yet it still accepts changes when offline. It offers a quick-entry "inbox" but also two higher dimensions of organization, project and context, when my inbox inevitably grows unwieldy. It supports recurring tasks and due dates for important reminders like credit payments.
My friend lived in his guest house, and I can assure you that he went to work every day well into his 80s.
If you've hit something with enough force to turn the body panels into powder, they won't need firefighters - just a MOP...
SNOBOL: Nobody can process strings worth a damn.

Icon: Generators are cool.

FORTH: Omit needless features! Omit needless features! Omit needless features!
I was at an Apple store yesterday, just behind a teen who was puzzled why her phone was out of storage space. Turned out she had 9 gigabytes of texts stored - dominated by full-resolution pictures. So yeah, as we're moving into 10-40 GP imagers on phones, people are casually and regularly sending around enough data to start including a lot more visual information than they expect. Social media sites may take a while to catch up, but "texting" is already hitting that resolution.
The best things and stuff of 2013
I'm running a lifestyle business while looking for an exit when it's time and start another lifestyle business.
This nifty database shows how apps suck up your data plan
I agree with the authors perspective. You want to give your dream up start pitching, if you want to make it real start working.
I'm considering going back to school but basically my only option is to do something fully online since I need to work full time. I also find it hard to justify taking on more student loan debt.
You can always execute arbitrary SQL in migrations. For instance:

def up
execute('ALTER TABLE people ADD INDEX ...')
end

The one thing to keep in mind though is that if you use ruby schema format, your tests won't pick up those execute statements. In that case it's best to either use the sql format or re-run migrations in the test environment to set up the test db.
You could just do it manually:

execute %{
create index index_users_on_name
on users (name)
where state = 'NY';
}
I spent the week before the holidays playing with zotonic. It's quite impressive and in my humble opinion blows away what wordpress does. Once the community levels up I'm sure it will give all other cms platforms a run for their money.

The features are impressive, but the requirements for the lowest-common-denominator (strictly regarding code-savy-skills) consumer of a cms might be a bit higher than they can deal with.

I've never used erlang before that, and have a heavy exposure to php and js recently. I did not have extreme trouble getting basic things working. Small things like syntax were the hardest part.

That being said, this really blurs the line between framework and cms. If anything, this is a framework specifically for a cms. It looks like it's light-weight enough that it could be grown into other uses, but for that I'm leaning towards ChicagoBoss.
Simple example of HN making you unproductive and demotivated
Topmost progress bar is a trend. YouTube. Now it's your turn. Nobody even cares.
You can't say one is better than the other if you haven't seen both of them now can you? I really liked Computer Chess, but haven't seen Her yet, so I'll reserve judgement ;)
My Favorite jQuery Plugin Template
> On my Windows XP SP3 system (yes, I recently got a DVD of Windows 7 Professional 64 bit, for my next computer when I finally give up on XP), it appears that nearly all the text from Microsoft's programs, e.g., essentially everything that comes from the tree rooted at Start > Control Panel and Start > My Computer, was designed for a screen with diagonal about my 15.5" but with 640 x 480 pixels.

IIRC -- and its been a while since I used the display settings on XP since all my regularly-used Windows systems are on either 7 or 8.1 now -- you can change this by adjusting the DPI setting for your display in the control panel in WinXP. Win7 brings scaling more to the front and actually makes it the primary setting on the Display control panel.
correct. OP is totally incorrect.
I hate that term "lifestyle business". It sounds like I'm running a website selling yarn in order to fund a knitting hobby.
They do apply, just because there's fewer women than men doesn't mean they're on the supply side.

In traditional Indian culture daughters are seen as a deprecating asset that their parents want to get rid of.

Presumably the bribes dished out to get rid of them are less than their upkeep would cost if they weren't married off, with some added cost to account for the social stigma of having an unmarried single daughter.
There are many good writers on HN, but the only great submitter that comes to mind is Colinwright, and his eye for articles is probably a byproduct of the fact that he can also author interesting content.

One of the great opportunities HN provides is to write something and use the feedback [which may be no upvotes or downvotes] to improve your writing. HN is a great place to learn timing, tone, and how to tailor your message to an audience of readers. The path to higher karma which depends least on luck is posting thoughtful comments.
Actually going to the gym is one of the few things I do enjoy in life. I could see myself doing some type of personal training on the side. I'm actually thinking about doing my first bodybuilding show this year.
Is it worth trying?
Should you show at home learning and dev of the Lang?
Do you only apply as intermediate or junior regardless of other development experience?
How is that any different than running a website selling a program in order to fund your programming hobby?
I know several people who have aligned their lives with what they love to do and found much more happiness. One switched from tech to law, one from tech to forestry, and another is a chef at a restaurant. I've also known people who switched and then switched back because they realized it was more about the money for them than the happiness.

That said, there is a bit of internal confusion in your message which talks about specific jobs vs tech and tech qualification. So if your issue is that you don't have a degree, consider going to school to get one and doing web development on the side to help fund it.

Finally, look at this question "I don't really have time to do side projects and build up a decent portfolio" very carefully. What do you do with your time? Are you putting in 60 - 80 hrs at the office? in what role? What do you do when you aren't in the office? That can often inform you where your passions are.
Bill Gates managed to pull it off pretty easily.
The Most Amazing, Beautiful and Viral Maps of the Year
Vim, Text Files, Dropbox.
Same here. Two different top-of-the-line Verizon/Motorola phones, both have an average uptime of a few days. Generally due to a crash, but sometimes because performance is so terrible I have to reboot it. And thanks to the carrier's lockdown (for stability, they'll surely claim), I can't actually debug any of the performance issues.

If anybody knows of an Android phone that actually works reliably out of the box, I'd be excited to hear about it.
I think StavrosK was noting a typo. :-)
The syntax highlight latency is very unnerving. Why is it not real-time? NSTextView is certainly up to the task.
Yet both noise-reduction and resolution-enhancement are both fundamentally about taking whatever information you do have and using that to interpolate/infer information that has been lost (or was never captured).

Especially in certain domains such as written letters (e.g. license plates) or faces that have a well-known structure with variations in known dimensions, I wouldn't be surprised to see algorithms that can probabilistically infer what information would have originally been there. Of course you'd never reconstruct an entire face from a single pixel, but how far can we go? I dunno - but my hunch is pretty far
> Using a nonstandard layout for my home desktop meant reconfiguring several laptops as well, then still having trouble any time I use any other computer.

This is one of the primary reasons I haven't bothered trying an alternate keyboard layout.
Ads randomly playing in Pianobar
I'm really glad you have a third option there. Don't get me wrong, I love money and the things and experiences it can buy. But when I die, I want my life to have been about more than collecting the most toys. I want to create useful, beautiful things that improve the here and now for as many people as possible. A stretch goal would be for some of that work to outlive me.

To me hacking and startups are a lot like music. I got into music because I liked listening and wanted to make my own. I went to music school because I wanted to be a better musician. The idea of making money was only a means to continue making music. The thing is, if you get very good at making music that enough people want to hear, opportunities to make money doing it will find you.

The same is proving true with software. After some startup failures that involved putting the cart in front of the horse, I decided to just concentrate on writing good code and solving difficult problems that interest me. Instead of looking for capital, I've hunkered down in the middle of nowhere so my own funds will stretch as far as possible. A great deal of my work right now is open source. And so two interesting things happened this past year. First, other people showed up to help work on it. And then miraculously and completely unsolicited, someone came along and offered to pay me damn good money to keep working on it. If a few more do the same, I'll form a company, call it a startup, and find a way to deliver the value of this software as a service.

Supposing it goes that direction, I wouldn't think of it as a lifestyle business, because I'd like to see it grow into something more than that. But I also wouldn't be thinking about an exit, because it's not at all clear if and when that would be a feasible or desirable outcome. Lifestyle and big exits are both just side-effects of making something that's valuable enough to other people that they'll part with hard earned money for it. That's the only goal that should matter to a startup.
Wasn't all that long ago that 320x200 images were considered astoundingly good and sufficient. The "zoom image" scene in Blade Runner was wishful thinking; now we're discussing its imminent reality.
They're still last generation GPUs, not AMD R9's.

Can you elaborate?

There are a class of people who want fast expandable machines with top end GPUs who don't want ECC level reliability.

Sure, but I think we can agree that people who actually expand machines are not a majority. We are also now straying from the article, which asked "is there an Apple tax?" (not really, the machines are good value for money) to "does Apple make the machine I want?". The latter is a valid question, but a different one.

The iMac is not a replacement for the guy who wants a Mac that runs Crossfire AMD GPUs for games...

Again, I'd say that Apple doest not target gamers, and I don't think they'd be very successful if they did. How does this affect the position that the MacPro is good value for the market it serves?

...or video editing.

I don't think I'd take as cavalier an attitude towards RAM errors as you do, especially since computers are digital and therefore have highly non-linear failure modes.

[1] http://www.zdnet.com/blog/storage/dram-error-rates-nightmare....
No. It will not. But it may be made of aluminum. What's with this headline?
U.S. Judge Upholds NSA Phone Surveillance Program
The CDC 6600 Architecture
In my experience, even really good Windows administrators do not use the console. They know how to use it, but rarely do. Frustration with the Windows CLI is strictly an artifact of a Unix-user's culture shock. IOW, no one worth listening to is asking MS for a better command line.