skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
a business should supply a product if the marginal revenue is greater than the marginal cost

This isn't right. The return on capital must exceed the cost of capital, at the very least the market rate of interest. Otherwise you're not taking into account opportunity cost.

I have another issue with your analysis. It's quite blinkered, focused on immediate profits with the zeal of an accountant. Solutions to the photo problem have potential for being strategic, and I don't think it's been figured out yet.

A better focus on cost structure could have extended the lifetime of the company, but it likely would have grown too slowly for "$B". I think the founders tried hard to generate growth metrics, betting that the growth would convince investors they could hockey-stick. But they didn't get quite enough growth, and their burn rate was too high to put on the brakes[1] - and likely they weren't interested in putting on the brakes. So I don't think your analysis is particularly relevant in the end. It deals mostly with cash-flow level tactics, whereas this was a strategic play.

Don't get me wrong, I think you're a decent analyst. But I expect people use you for your specific focus, not for the big picture. I think you would have predicted YouTube to be a failure, for example.

[1] I'm relying on the burn rate being in a vehicle of some sort for this not to be a mixed metaphor...
They probably based the amount on the cost to create it. 25% of upfront costs for a year of maintenance is incredibly common.
I think you're right, but it's disappointing that that's the case; I think we've been at the "good enough" point for longer than we've realized. I recently dusted off my Galaxy Nexus and installed a Cyanogen build of 4.4 on it. After using it again, I prefer it to my prior Nexus 4 and Galaxy S3 and it isn't even close.
Sure, but do you think the probable future lifespan of a Nest v1 has gotten better or worse after this acquisition?
Android, the operating system, doesn't care at all if you replace the dialler, or the home screen app, or any other app.

What did happen about a year ago is google moved some of the communication framework stuff from android proper, and rolled it into 'google play services' so that it can be updated independently of the version of android on your phone.

As a result, apps like hangouts, plus, maps, the dialer and others which rely on those frameworks can be updated to use the newest version of the framework without worrying about the whether your population of phones have been updated to android x.y, any phone that has the play store installed and updated should be running a recent version of play services.
3.2 billion is an insanely large number. But then when you step back and see Snapchat being offered the similar amount, you kind of feel sorry for Nest for selling.
Considering they have revenue & a business model - it's more palatable than snapchat getting offered 3B by FB in cash & turning it down.
I’ve got my 46.03€ of Windows Refund and so can you, at least with Samsung
I switched from iOS to android and I haven't really found any issues over the last year.
Overall average salary is a pretty meaningless metric.

Median base salary for software engineers right out of school would be far more useful.
It's coming back with Ziferblat London (pay per minute free space). Great atmosphere and community center.

https://www.facebook.com/ZiferblatLondon

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2014/jan/08/pay-per-minute...
You can take any AP exam you want, regardless of whether it's taught at your school.
Apple buying NeXT.
Yes. This is a feature where you wonder if whoever though of that shortcut ever used a word processor. Such a bad design choice for such a common action.
Really? Not a Ballmer curve believer? Never heard anyone suggest that add/adhd/being unable to focus/caffeine jitters can decrease productivity? Seems like exactly the kind of assumption without evidence that would warrant studying.
I know you're trying to be helpful, but "please educate yourself" is almost never a constructive or helpful phrase.

We can do better than that here.
That may be a lot of money, but it's way cheaper than Nest.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57617153-76/google-to-buy-...
To be fair, option B doesn't work unless you allow the program to self select away from people who game the system.

Given that companies loved playing games to expand what gaming meant, I am not surprised they decided to do something.
I guess that the threat of being abducted by aliens is higher than burglars successfully hacking Google to get information on when you are not at home.
I click more. I find the stories that I am interested in. I open the submission in a new tab and the comments in a new tab. I repeat this until I get to page 4.

I read an article. I upvote it if needed. I read the comments page. I then refresh the page before making any comments. Once i've finished reading and voting and commenting i close the pages and move to the next article.
> I'm pretty sure for 85 million, I could assemble a crack team of devs to knock this out as a more competitive price.

Of course. Anyone could, but you see, this is not about using your money or getting the job done well. The $90 million is going to companies that have bribed politicians appropriately, and are now reaping the returns on their investments.
I'm intimately familiar with the relevant issues. That the client initiates the connection does not make it "pull", you're confusing distinct issues. Push is almost always implemented with long-lived connections initiated by the client side which remain idle save for periodic keepalives until there is actual data to transmit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push_technology
a sign that google is horny for the "internet of things" :)
The logic in this sense would be that universal healthcare removes layers of bureaucracy.
But will this get me BBC America in HD?
Not a lot of screen real estate for ads on a Nest...
A Sleeper in the Internet of Things War
> I see very little possible misuse of temperature preference

Imagine that the season is changing where you live. You could be expected to start shopping for warm clothes. Google can easily show you ads for pricier warm clothes, and move organic results to page 2. Or Google knows you boiler broke down. And shows ads of pricier service companies instead of the lower-priced local fixer who is now on page 4. The immediate harm is that pricier alternatives are pushed to you, and you don't even know that cheaper alternatives exist, because Google controls your entire world.
Besides totally disagreeing with you; are you aware that you can always bind you own shortcuts to any menu item via System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts ?
I'm relieved that Apple didn't buy them. In that case, they'd have certainly either a) discontinued the Android version, or b) created a cross-platform app like iTunes.
well, stick in a fork in Nest then.

wonder how bad their financials were when they're already selling.

fucking SnapChat refused a FB offer, but Nest just rolls over and dies.
Early Investor Shares Insights into NEST
Thank you for sharing your experience! Reading your story, as well as many others on HN, opened my eyes to this new, exciting possibility. It won't be easy, but I'll try to do it.

I guess the hardest thing is to fully trust yourself. Other people are just noise, as their opinions aren’t necessarily more backed up than yours. They often have a unconscious secret agenda that doesn’t fully take into account your well-being and the more someone is close to you, the more biased he/she is. “Don’t take risks”, “Don’t leave this place”, “Don’t leave me”.
Before Pixar was acquired by Disney they had a partnership.
Are you implying that google did a disservice to the competition by creating a desire for a product and then retiring it with months of warning for competitors to develop their product and attract google's large user base while allowing users to easily migrate their information to those services?
Nest knows if you're hot. If you're cold. When you've set it to turn off because you're at work. It knows if you're energy conscious or cost sensitive. Etc. There's a ton of behavior in there, making it far more than a thermostat you buy at Home Depot.
My opinion of Nest just plummeted. That's absurdly wasteful.
Correct, though actually isn't CloudFront just a CNAME that could work with any provider?

One reason you might want something more advanced like Route 53 is if you wanted to point the "naked" domain (example.com vs www.example.com) to CloudFront. You can't just use a CNAME on an apex record, you need to use something like Route 53's "Alias" records.
Misleading title. The $90m cost is a 12 month contract with a new company, not the amount it might cost each year indefinitely.
Of course, but suing an individual vs a government body has very different dynamics, plus the whole operation has less clear rules and responsibilities for the involved, not to mention training etc. I guess the victim/family would have a smaller chance of financial compensation. I'd rather have police be police, can we friendly disagree?
These videos are great and look good in sublime.

However if I could offer a small critique, that currently the code is only legible with the video at fullscreen and not at all legible on a phone.

It would be nice if you used a smaller editor width of at 80 columns, and larger font, it would be much easier to read the code as you talk though it.

Thanks and I look forward to more videos!
Exactly. Walk the aisles at your local home improvement store. Find every product that you interact with that is under $20. You can probably make that amazing for $50-100. And what's that in terms of how much people spend on houses?
Seems like an odd conclusion to reach given that the end result was C++ being faster.

Nobody ever claimed that C++ didn't require more knowledge to use effectively.
They have figured out how to do marketable home automation devices and how to navigate getting them certified by UL and the like.
I'd still look at YouTube as an acquisition done right. How long has it taken for Google to introduce something that you don't love re: YouTube? At this point, all Google decisions related to YouTube have to be considered independent of the acquisition.
I live in Australia, our healthcare is universally free and of very high quality. I don't have a problem walking into any clinic in my area and getting free, prompt medical service. Just because yours sucks doesn't mean it's a bad idea to begin with.
I think what helps explain this image is that it's likely everything before Cars 2 was already in development prior to the acquisition. Pixar seems to have lost some of their magic, however Disney is certainly stepping up their game.
The aesthetic divide between them is shrinking. I did not like Wreck It Ralph though. Not at all.
Totalitarianism. Understood?
Not yet, but bear in mind that "microcontroller thermostat" is not a new concept, nor are "connected thermostats", "connected blinds", or "connected lights".

Nest is in a unique position as basically the only player out of many who have successfully made home automation devices that people actually want, and don't look like they came out of a backyard plastic mould cast in the late 60s.

Search around for home automation solutions - the hardware is universally clunky, the software atrocious. Only the most dedicated of DIY geeks need apply (or people who can pay contractors to make the ugliness go away).
How would universal healthcare reduce politics, bureaucracy or mismanagement?

I'm sympathetic to arguments for universal healthcare but after the way the ACA was both designed and implemented I have little confidence our leaders wouldn't make things even worse. I'm sure many people share this view. The key lasting impact of the ACA may turn out to be delaying more meaningful reform of our broken healthcare system for decades.
> option B doesn't work unless you allow the program to self select away from people who game the system

Well why would you not "allow" it, and what's the alternative? Credit card companies are "self-selecting" away from people who game the system, right? It works the same for any business that needs to worry about people gaming their system.
In a not-so-strange way this fits well with their recent robotics acquisitions. It really feels like lightning could strike a second time for google so long as they don't middle manage themselves out of it.
FWIW, CyanogenMod Android 4.4 runs awesome on the Galaxy Nexus. I had to give back my work hardware when I left my last company and the Galaxy Nexus was the last phone I'd personally bought. Put 4.4 on it and I have been happy as a clam. I was going to buy a Moto X or a Nexus 5, but I'm completely satisfied with the perf of this--and the battery life is way better than any Android phone I've owned since.
Well, that depends on your point of view. In your case, we let outside factors start having a majority say in decisions we used to make ourselves. In essence, you're fearing that we're handing away control of our lives to data models and analyzing algorithms. Go figure that I often use Google to check the spelling/usage of words/idioms, rather than learning it by heart.

Or in a more poetic form: We're all turning into computers, a bit each day.

But in my view, I see it more as an enrichment of the status quo, meaning making optimal use of (useful, not NSA-like) data-gathering sensors we have at our disposal and the data points we could glean from them. As the data was always there, we (until shortly) never showed interest in it. And a lot of it might very well be uninteresting, but if some of it enriches or simplifies a certain task in our daily lives in a meaningful way, it'd be well worth it in my opinion.
You're certainly right that they kicked Honeywell in the rear. After years of making the same damned device, they finally released an actually nice thermostat. In fact, I was recently in the market for a new thermostat which I could control on my drive home, or from bed, or whatever. After researching thoroughly, and I opted for Honeywell's latest touchscreen device (over the Nest v2 which has apparently been having a lot of problems).

I must say it's actually quite nice to use. I can put it in a mode where it does precisely what I want. Hold a temperature until told otherwise, and let me choose that temperature from my desktop or iPhone from anywhere.

Such a mode so simple that the Nest refuses to allow it.
"Rust does not have the concept of null."

How can I have the pointer to something that is maybe allocated or maybe present? Do I have to have additional booleans for such uses? Isn't that a waste?

How can I effectively build complex data structures like graphs, tries etc then?

I'd like to see that covered too.
Please, no more sarcasm. you've filled this thread with confusion.
Indispensible? What does it mean?

ed. "indispensable" got it.
Sadly, my exact thinking. I love my Nest. I do not love Google collecting statistical information from it. Which I am certain they will do, regardless of what they say to the contrary.
Even with a handful of merely good movies, we still have four outstanding Pixar films post-Disney.

Also, I'm really enjoying the increase in quality of Disney movies post-Pixar. Just saw Frozen last week and loved it.
I think you're missing his point. He's focusing purely on the cost that increment per-user - that is, the costs that are directly associated with each user.

The fixed costs are allowed to be obscenely high. Growth will overcome that. If you build an obscenely expensive server farm and spend $Xmillion developing software, you can get that back if you get X paying customers eventually.

However, if each user you get means you have to fork over another $12/mo to Amazon when the user only is paying you $10? There's no way to make that work. More users would actually cost you more.

Maybe there's way they could've torn out their infrastructure and rebuilt it as self-hosted. Maybe there were some optimizations they were missing that could've cut those cloud-based costs.

But on the surface? Every dollar the user handed them got handed right off to Amazon, and Amazon's prices go up as you get more users.
Hn readers might be interested to read about some of the UK government IT projects. I'm sure some of them went well, but many had huge budgets and were then scrapped because they were useless.

http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/public-sector/2013/05/pu...

Connecting for health cost £11bn - billion - and is in various states of abandoned.
Wow. Talk about #yearslost!
nope.

this is highly sensitive data, you can't treat it like a private business does, say like Target.

this needs to survive countless audits, from code, to docs, to various accessiblity and other norms.

a large number of data interfaces in the background to byzantine and opaque systems.

etc etc etc.

COMPLIANCE is the cost driver. and not necessarily for a bad reason.
Yes, just like all those ads from that mobile device that people carry with them everywhere, has a screen and speakers, and knows when you're moving all the time instead of just while moving directly in front of the thermostat.
Nest, Google and you
I once worked on a project for the American government. The company I was working for was the 4th and last in a line of companies. We were the ones actually writing the software and it was still 5 times more money than I thought was reasonable.
Here are just a few examples:

- Keyhole (now Google Maps)

- Android Inc.

- Motorola Mobility

- GrandCentral (now Google Voice)

- NeXT

- Siri

In general, an acquired company initially became successful by bringing value to consumers. When that company is acquired, it gets more resources to bring more value to customers.
I work for a company that does power monitoring on a circuit by circuit level for homes and small businesses. Once you get your device on the internet 24/7 you can get into the automation business pretty quickly.

You can determine a lot about locations looking at their usage. Targeted adds, plus it ads value to their smart phones.
The only way Nest will have on in every home is by aggressively enforcing bogus patents against everyone who makes anything even remotely similar. We should cheer for that?
Sometimes I think about creating an organization that's sole purpose would be to enter bids in on government tech contracts with upper and lower cost estimates. It wouldn't actually do any of the work (to maintain neutrality), but at least put in a reasonable set of figures for how much a project should cost. Or maybe just a company that reviews proposals for local/state/federal government agencies to ensure they aren't being ripped off.

Frankly, tech contracts aren't the only thing that goes wrong. Civil engineering contracts are just as awful with people underbidding and then having massive cost overruns because there was no expert there to say, hey... this isn't reasonable.
For window management i love Moom, as it integrates really well with OSX.

To add more gestures for my touchpad (like TipTap-Left to switch tabs in every application that has them) I use Better Touch Tool.
Oh wow, I didn't even think about that. I've been making do with Cmd+K on OSX and aliasing c to clear to get around the problem.
Should have guessed about the scripts :-)
Yes?

If you can't tell the difference between what happened to Nicolae Ceaușescu and what happened to Fred Hampton I'm not sure what planet you're living on.
Bailing out the VC already?
What are we looking at here? Would this hypothetically work with a cartridge, or is this exploiting a bug in the emulator?
Thoughts, in order: "Good for the Nest gu... wait, how much?! And good for them to decide that even with a functional business they had to take it."
Remember that our community writes bug reports but also vets bug reports. We rarely have to deal with bad reports. Interestingly, large quantities of false negatives are a non-issue.
> That still assumes there is someone in the decision making chain who cares that much about it.

Could be a good thing if you can get enough attention that someone in the decision making chain even has to think about it. You'll become the go-to source for an industry with low standards and no incentive to try out your competitors so long as your rates remain reasonable. The guy who started this Tumblr is actually pretty well-positioned to offer a little white-label service to generate this stuff.

Or, they just walk over to the desk of the nearest friendly developer and ask him to do it in 10 seconds.
On the hardware design side of things, they did kinda sorta buy Motorola Mobility. It really seems that they've under capitalized on that purchase- and that was 12 billion dollars!
> Just because yours sucks doesn't mean it's a bad idea to begin with.

I didn't say it's a bad idea because ours sucks. I said it's a bad idea because if you're using money that's just taken from other people, you're not motivated to provide them with good service, and so on.

The factors I listed cannot be escaped. You can rest assured that your system is slowly turning to shit too.
That is a legitimate concern, however, the press release says this: "Nest will continue to operate under the leadership of Tony Fadell and with its own distinct brand identity."
I wish we lived in a world where Google can be trusted with all of this personal data because they could do lots of interesting things to make lives easier and create more wealth for everybody.

But I have every expectation that this data, if not right away, could someday be sent to the criminal gangs that wear suits and ties that are looking for new targets to loot and plunder.

Just knowing the temperature in your house, cross-referenced with other data about you as well as electricity bills, could be enough for a future police agency to argue probable cause that you're running a drug growing operation and have them do all kinds of raids and intrusive searches and harassment.

This shouldn't be an issue, but Google has earned absolutely zero trust with its obvious non-denials of NSA activity and other negative conduct.
First sentence of the article: A new paper published Monday by the New America Foundation demonstrably destroys the US government claim that bulk metadata collection is useful.

...which is the polar opposite of what you are asserting, demonstrating that you chose to comment on the headline without reading the article at all.
This is the really important point. We've been protected so far by the fast evolution of phone hardware and the mass migration of people to smart phones. It's hard to perceive it but the game is now changing: we're into an iteration of phones now that the masses are purchasing that they may well hold onto for 5 years+. If security updates stop after 1.5 years, that's a terrifying mass of insecure phones holding everything from email accounts to bank details. Google can update a lot of things via the Play Store, but they can't patch kernel vulnerabilities or driver exploits.

Google really needs to include in their play store agreement some kind of requirement to ship critical security updates within a defined period of time. Yes, that's going to hurt - the maintenance burden of shipping an Android phone is going to rise dramatically if you inherit a burden of 5 years of updates. But then, critical security updates should be extremely incremental updates that rarely involve any functional changes to the user.

I'm not sure how the Android ecosystem is sustainable without something like this. At some point there will be an Android security apocalypse: an exploit that can't be fixed without a kernel update that affects hundreds of millions of legacy phones that have been abandoned by their makers.
It's the same story everywhere. Heard this anecdote about installation of ERP in one of India's major ports. The programmers were paid in gold to delay project just so old ways of funnelling money remains intact.