skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
As it happens, I've been working on something like that. Still pretty half-baked, but send me an email and I'll show you what I have. Email in profile.

"There are so many times where, if I could sit down with the original program author for 5 - 10 minutes, I could understand more from that interactive back-and-forth than several hours of reading code in solitude."

Peter Naur wrote a paper in 1985 where he conjectured that this seemed to be a universal law. No matter how much documentation authors provided, new programmers still needed to talk to them. http://alistair.cockburn.us/ASD+book+extract%3A+%22Naur,+Ehn...
I'm pretty sure this post is not about Doom at all - it's about Minecraft, and confirmation regarding the recent rumors about Microsoft buying Mojang. He's probably not allowed to talk about the deal, but he's using this post as an allegory to tell Minecraft fans why he's bailing on Minecraft.
I’ve seen a good example of this recently. Nipype [1] produces network visualization of neuroimaging processing code[2]. They still look like a gnarled nest, but, for other neuroimaging people, they’re a lot easier to read then the actual code.

1 http://nipy.sourceforge.net/nipype/
2 http://nipy.org/nipype/0.4.1/_images/graphviz-01bb1b88b33f7c...
Google to offer $100K in cloud credits to startups
My Mantra to Blogging That Made $20,000: Remix, Reuse, and Republish
Tesla is indicating they're prepared to offer full auto-pilot (Level 4) self-driving cars in 3-6 years.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1094329_self-driving-car...
Designing for variable screen resolutions in Photoshop is insane. Something like Antetype with automatic layout makes much sense: http://antetype.com
what does Poisson-distributed randomness look like?

Events generated by Poisson processes or amenable to the small-p binomial approximation look like Poisson. Events not amenable to the small-p approximation look Gaussian. Extreme value measurements (flood water levels, auction prices) look Weibull, Fréchet or Gumbel.

Appropriate statistical methodologies are appropriate. sigh
There was a priceonomics piece recently about Founders with kids: http://priceonomics.com/founders-with-kids/

It's more a question of whether your life fits to everything that comes with being a startup founder, rather than YC itself.
Good. We need to ramp down H-1B - there are plenty of out-of-work STEM majors here, there is no need for importing more foreign workers.
The technology is not nearly ready. Not in a city. It's like flying drone delivery. Easy to demonstrate in a single controlled setting, but nearly impossible to actually implement in the real world.
Part of the data are at...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_flying_bomb#Assessment
Announcing Apache Spark 1.1
I think you are kind of missing what the hard part is for many people, which is not choosing where to put the savings, it is choosing to save at all. Many live paycheck to paycheck, even go deep into debt on credit cards and payday loans. There's a whole broad class of apps like Mint, where it will show you all your costs and income and give you tips about how to reduce your spending, save more, refinance debt, etc..

Then there's a whole broad class of lifestyle apps that could be written, like a saving social network where you are socially rewarded for not spending a lot, win status in a game, etc.. E.g. maybe an app where you make a bet with a friend, if you spend under $100 on food this week, they owe you $100, and vice-a-versa. That would keep you both watching your spending and actually having something to save.
> We want to fund companies that have the potential to create a million jobs.

I still am curious about this one. Is there any startup that has successfully done this in recent history?

Keep in mind, there is a big difference (IMO) between creating new jobs and shifting existing ones.
The very incomplete high level overview: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applications_of_artificial_inte...
Yep, same with me.

My subconscious brain is way better than my waking brain when it comes to untangling problems where there are more than about 4 or 5 levels of abstraction/indirection.

It is pretty common for me to be dealing with some hairy issue that spans multiple levels and then go to sleep and wake up with the seemingly obvious answer. Even without sleep I can often get similar results by just going for a long walk while listening to music and specifically not "thinking" (consciously) about the problem that is vexing me.

When there are lots of layers to a problem (and I basically understand all the layers but have trouble following all of the indirections), the less I "think" about the problem (consciously), the easier the solution comes.
I set out to try to do that... ah, 34 years ago. Still working on it :-)
You can do Direct Debit transfers from credit/overdraft accounts.
> $500/month for a service like this?

$500/mo sounds like peanuts for what a service like this provides. For a business that would use this type of information (e.g. TV shows like Daily Show or Colbert or a political campaign) it's both worth more and cheaper than doing it in house. The power bill alone for all those TV-tuners/DVRs would be more than that!

I'm surprised that it's not more expensive.
Short version: switch to the JVM.
I can think of two very easily: Sub-Orbital travel and medical tourism.
Patent office whistleblower: ‘Managers have no idea when employees are working’
Top 5 consumer markets using hyperlapse effectively
"What’s more, to maintain its relationship with employees as independent contractors, the company can’t train them or provide much in the way of material assistance."

My wife and I have been using Homejoy for the past several months now, and I'm never satisfied with the results. After every cleaning, I tell myself that I'm going to look for a real cleaning service company next time. But then the low prices keep me coming back to Homejoy.

I've found the quality of service from the Homejoy cleaners to be insufficient. Every time it's always a different problem (I try to schedule cleanings when I'm home). One cleaner spent a disproportionate amount of time cleaning the toilet, and then didn't have time to clean the bathtub (I ended up scrubbing the bathtub myself after the cleaner left). Another time, the cleaners forget to dust off the TV stand, and I had to do it myself. I've had to clean or re-clean something myself about 80% of the time I've used Homejoy.

My complaints may sound insensitive, and fall under the category of "first-world problems", but when both my spouse and I are working long hours, hiring cleaning services can become very helpful (it's a common anecdote that hiring a housekeeper can save your marriage).

As the article states, my suspicion is that in this "independent contractor" model, Homejoy does not adequately train its contractors in cleaning, nor are the contractors they hire experienced in the cleaning industry. I remember reading that Homejoy used to put their contractors through an orientation/training program, but it's obviously not enough.

I've used other housekeeping services from real cleaning companies before, and they've always done an amazing job, especially compared to Homejoy. They're just usually two to three times more expensive. But maybe next time I'll really switch back to a real cleaning service (or at least try to find a city-single independent on craigslist).
Google is closing in on over a million miles with no accidents, and have decided to focus on refining their intelligence for city driving. 6 years tops.
So instead of using the existing interchange services that work completely awesomely, and have really low fees, we should develop a new thing that will eventually work just as well once all the work is done on it?

Debit cards already allow me to make payments directly from my bank account, and do so for a very low fee.

I see no advantage to this, nor why he's targeting Apple Pay as some nefarious waste of resources (other than click bait).
One of the previous places I did some freelance stuff for solved this by partnering with a vendor that was already on the approved list.
Would love to. Email sent.
I have heard many claims through the years that html based mobile apps were finally coming along.
So far, I have not seen a single webapp that comes even close to native.
Hey all - I'm the release manager for Spark 1.1. Happy to answer any questions about Spark or this release.
While I'm all for equal opportunity, the hidden side effect I'm noticing from the H1B increase is exploitation by companies, of both the H1B holders and non holders.

Many companies and shops in the "silicon forest" have been pushing people to longer hours, they seek out H1Bs so they can get away with more and those who are not H1Bs have to comply with demands because of the threat of being replaced by an H1B.

In the end, only the big companies win from the program. That's just been my impression the last few years.
It will get there, because unlike HURD, there's actually a need for BTRFS. At least until (if) Oracle get's it's head out of it's ass with regard to ZFS licensing.
It's clearly Uber's plan to replace all their drivers with self-driving cars in the future - I think they've even said so themselves. But even six years is a long time for a VC-funded business.

And what does "regular use" mean? That seems like the critical component of a bet like this.
Clustrix (www.clustrix.com), San Jose, Seattle, San Francisco is hiring engineers (multiple positions available in dev and QA)

Clustrix is solving one of the most difficult open problems in the software database industry today: scaling SQL. We've built our own distributed relational database from the ground up. Now we're looking for smart and motivated folks to join our small team of developers and take this technology to the next level.

No prior database is required, but you should be someone with experience in databases, file systems, or other systems at scale and comfortable with designing efficient programs in C.

http://www.clustrix.com/company/careers/openings/
H1-B welcome
Feds threatened Yahoo with $250K fine that would DOUBLE every week [pdf]
I think you're correct in that what you're working on comes before what comes after programming languages†; you're working on the penultimate paradigm. Being able to trace, visualize, give context to and zoom in and out of the relationships of code would be a significant multiplier in the way it will allow accelerated understanding of novel and forgotten code. The value of this can't be overstated. In key ways, which the smalltalk people are very diligent in making sure no one forgets, we've gone backwards in this area.

But are you sure the RFS actually disagrees with you? What you're working on covers 2/3 of what the RFS deems worth focusing on. Collaboration and understanding.

†I think it's clear what comes after programming languages. A return to their roots. Programming a computer today is like moving by telling every single muscle what to do. To make writing code easier we want to be able to do more with less, to have the code figure out from context what the best thing to do is. We want more intelligence in our compilers. It is telling how powerful the notion of AI is when so many world changing ideas (functional programming, OOP, search, Databases [influence goes: prolog -> datalog -> SQL]) are compromises, failed attempt and detritus of AI projects.
I believe he means kill ratio. So, the number of planes shot down versus the number of V-1s shot down. If one RAF fighter was shot down for every two V-1s the ratio would be 2:1 in favor of the RAF.

This is a little bit plausible. This is how the RAF shot down V-1s:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/05/08/article-1384740-0B...
(picture courtesy of the Daily Fail)

So, the kill ratio of V-1s might have been higher against the RAF because it was so hard to down V-1s and doing so was hazardous. We're still talking a tiny fraction of the craft engaged, though.
If you look I messed up some of the borders while smoothing on the 6+ one that I didn't fix before uploading.
I use a local install of Node-RED [0] instead of IFTTT, I find it really good for ad-hoc wiring together of stimuli / physical responses (eg I have some LIFX bulbs).

[0] http://nodered.org/
Khan Academy comes to mind.
That's a compile-time error message, though. It doesn't appear in compiled code, only in the source.
SheTaxi
> While I don't believe a phenomenon like Minecraft can be predictably and consistently churned out.

And woe to those who've bilked others into thinking that from-the-ground-up hits are just an aspect of following a recipe.

Sure, The Planning Spreadsheet wants a new hit every year but it completely ignores the slow iterative process that it took to pull that rabbit out of the hat.
Also why not consider remote employees?
All sponsored content is indicated as such.
But the best part of this is that as a consumer of taxi services and digital ones like Uber (I've not used Lyft but love Uber), we get cheaper and ultimately better service by them competing. I say bring on the competition!
Nice fish photography
"That's mostly a policy problem, not a technology problem."

That's the point though: the right insight might provide a technology solution to what everyone could only think of as a policy problem.
WinFS was supposed to be in Windows 7, unfortunately they decided to drop it, I was really looking forward to that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinFS
Basic sales premise, people buy from people they know and like. The same is true in recruiting talent. Getting referred into a job opportunity, implies the stamp of social proof and reciprocity.

Recommend reading Influence by Robert Cialdini > http://www.amazon.com/Robert-B.-Cialdini/e/B000AP9KKG
Did it strike anyone else that this piece was specifically written to discourage people from working with Homejoy? Not clients, but folks who do the cleaning? It seems a number of these articles all have the same touch points which come out of the union organizing handbook, "you deserve paid time off", "you deserve workmans comp", "you deserve a retirement plan" (all things unions have arranged for workers and things which services such as Homejoy don't provide)

The article never seems to go to the question of "Gee there are Janitorial Service companies that offer all of those things, the workers who feel they deserve those things should seek them out at those companies." Except those same companies are losing business to the Homejoys of the world.

That suggests to me that there is a structural imbalance in the availability of labor and a wage floor which prevents that labor from being engaged. That we're getting more people working, is that a bad thing? That more people can get rides in the city is that some how evil? I get that it is a challenge if you're organization is competing with another that isn't similarly constrained, but is the right answer to constrain the competition, or is it to loosen those constraints? Are we trying to keep existing businesses in business or get more people employed?
The NoPhone, a technology-free alternative to constant hand-to-phone contact
Thanks. Temperature range would definitely have an impact, and I hadn't considered that.

I was thinking something more like a silicone rubber solid tire rather than a pneumatic one. I do see mass mentioned as well.

The NASA article (referenced both in another comment here and in the SE post responses) cites landing shocks and wheel deployment specifically among mass constraints.
No. They are very different services
Literally "this is the end". Appeared as the content of the TAIL chunk. :)

Bonus: HyperCard 1.x used "That's all folks..."
Heck, they won't even need to plug in once we get wireless, inductive charging stations or inductive roads. Both are coming.

You could outsource the car cleaning with an agreement at any full service car wash.

One doesn't even need a physical presence anywhere to make the business work.
As someone who has used similar services (not Homejoy) the hardest part is quality control and consistency. For this type of service you typically give a rundown to the first crew for what you need, places to avoid etc... they also do tend to be late or not on the time they say they will be at the place of employment.

With rotating crews this process has to be repeated each time, and the results are always very different.

I would much prefer a more personalized service that is a bit more expensive, but keeps the crew consistent and gives better benefits. Sadly these are very hard to find.
Looks like a nice article.

Every time I mess with Prolog [which is once a year, as I cover it in my Programming Languages class] I have the same two thoughts:

(1) This is nifty stuff, but I wouldn't want to program this way all the time. Rather, Prolog-ish computing should be available as a library in some more conventional language.

It's nice to see that the authors of this article are thinking at least somewhat the same way.

(2) This isn't really logic programming. A Prolog predicate with no inputs and one output is a stream. A predicate with one input and one output is a parametrized stream. A predicate with one input and no outputs is a filter for a stream.

Streams are everywhere in modern PL design: Python iterables and Haskell lists for example. C++ seems to be moving slowly in the direction of some kind of coherent stream spec. (think about range-based for loops). And Prolog has some really nice stream-handling ideas that other languages would do well to adopt.

But Prolog people don't think that way. Instead of seeing Prolog as a stream-based language, they see it as a sort of rough draft of a logic-based language, and they wonder how to move it more in the direction of pure logic. Could this be a misguided idea?
Linkbait title aside, this is a pretty good argument in favour of graceful degradation for scriptless pages. If the JS libraries/cdn/what not you deal with are on a CDN which is down for whatever reason (be it blocked, temporarily offline or "I forgot to pay them"), it's important for your site not to block on the requests and to display the text content your users want in a readable format.

We're not talking "web 3.0 apps" here, we're talking documents - news articles, "Contact Us" pages on a company site, etc.

It's also one of the scarier downsides of centralized CDNs. It's too easy for a single site to get blocked or go down temporarily and suddenly, thousands of websites become unaccessible. And this is not a situation we can keep brushing off for long, there is a real need for decentralized solutions.
Talk about fragmentation.
Lots of storage + Lots of I/O throughput + Lots of software defined radios
Seattle court orders HIV-positive man to stop spreading the virus
Have you ventured into Orange County ? Not everybody that works or is willing to work in LA lives in LA. Try looking a little more south, specially Irvine.

From what I have seen there are a LOT of .Net developers in LA and Orange County, if your stack is .Net you should not have a problem finding good people.

Ruby and Python developers are a pain to find. A lot of the "Good" developers are not even proficient in the language/tools.

There are good java developers here, but not as much as .Net developers.

Tips:

* Use LinkedIn to find people in LA, Orange County and even San Diego.

* Target user groups. There are a lot of good developers in the UG and they usually have friends that are developers as well.

* Always get recommendations from people that know the developer you are interested. I have even seen some startups that only hire people that have been recommended from someone they know.
> Then you're obviously not the target demographic.

Right. Who are the target demographic exactly? Two dozen people who turn up to a "maker event?" That cannot sustain a business.

Even most "geeks" and tech-heads don't know what they'd do with a 3D printer if they had one. They certainly need to be convinced if they're going to turn up at Radio Shack and pay to have something printed.

But regardless that is a tiny tiny market. No brick and mortar really exists just to service that group, they all want the lion's share: the general public.

> you're renting retail space and hiring staff

>> RadioShack is already doing this.

They're losing money at a staggering rate. They need new business which generates profit enough to cover their expensive rental and staffing costs. The they're "already doing this" argument only makes sense when it is a business that already has a profitable core, so rent is largely taken care of (e.g. Walmart). You cannot take a failing business, suggest a new very expensive pivot, and then entirely ignore how profitable it has to be so that business can actually survive.

> inevitable demise

>> I'm more into solutions and outside-the-box pivots, not inevitable demise kind of thinking.

I just read that as a classic "I'm an ideas man, it is up to other people to figure out if my ideas have any merit!" I'll grant it is an "out-of-the box pivot," but a solution I highly question for the reasons already outlined.
Sometimes the trick to pet projects is scoping them just so. You can always start with pcap and then peel it off later.
I don't see either the user or contractor as "less protected" In fact, my experience with homejoy has been the opposite.

When I gave a rating of literally "Meh. 5/10" for a decent but not impressive cleaning job, they went nuts--found me a new cleaner, offered discounts, said they would work with the cleaner to make sure she learned lessons, etc. way more than i would have done if i were hiring her directly.

On the other side, if a cleaner thought my house was disgusting or hated my cats or something, I presume it would be easier for him to decline the job than if he were an employee of a service with contracts and reputations.

Of course there are no guarantees about how they will dish out that $7M insurance fund but based on my experience with them, I have a feeling HJ would err on the side of paying more and maintaining their reputation.
Want to know if your Gmail account is vulnerable? There's an app for that
NB, that PDF seems to have a number of formatting glitches, e.g., the first sentence: "The amount of scienti c data". Numerous others as well, under both xpdf and evince.
Notwithstanding as written YC's description seems to match exactly what these companies are doing:

> Most people either pick individual stocks and bonds and expose themselves to high volatility, or pay very high fees to mutual fund managers and lose to the index anyway. Most people are also non-experts when it comes to portfolio rebalancing and tax optimization.

> This seems to us like something software should help solve. We’d like to see new services that make it possible to invest in super low-cost index funds (in a normal account or a retirement account), do some customization around individual stocks, and otherwise set it and forget it.

Basically exactly what those companies are doing.
Looks like iOS development is going to join the ranks of Android where we have many ways to handle all the screen layouts, sizes, and densities. E.g. the nine patch format to specify which parts of a graphical asset are content, which are padding, which are scalable; resource folders with resource specifies that will activate on different devices; fragments to extract widgets and their controlling code from one screen and use them on others so you can have tablet screens with more functionality and separate phone screens that use reusable components from those, etc..
So I suppose if you say "yes" to any patent application then you get to keep your job, and any patent application will probably be approved.
Why Most young people prefer a fixed salary instead of undertaking
my theory is the fear of failure
It seems more true that workers have signalled that they are desperate. This is doubly true with workers with only a high school education and those who are minorities.

We have some major structural employment issues going on.