skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
scale up to 6 dynos for a couple hours after you hit the front page on reddit

Scale "up" to 6 dynos?

Even if 6 of these were equivalent to 6 of the fastest EC2 instances (which is very unlikely), that's hardly the kind of hardware to survive a reddit'ing, if you serve any dynamic content at all.
Many? I was able to find 5 consumer tax software companies (including H&R Block). Any chance you could list a few others?

I find it hard to believe there are tons of them out there unless perhaps tax software is regional software and there's companies in some states that don't move beyond the state?
How do you find a zipcode where everyone has the same last name? I'm guessing a very small town several hours from a single hospital?
Something about Fab's story always makes me feel sad. They did so well, and made a great product, having pivoted out of something they recognised wasn't working, and made a bunch of money. The decisions made don't seem like bad ones. The people seemed good. And a lot of the European companies they bought were doing great stuff too.

Sometimes you lose despite achieving a lot and making what seems like good decisions.

I hope you're all OK and wish you the best of luck.
How an obsessed explorer found the world's oldest subway (2014)
Houston is approximately half the size of the state of Rhode Island (in sq. miles). It's big. So saying you're from Houston or that you went to Houston doesn't really communicate much.

I grew up there and live a couple of hours away. When I visit family, they're in the suburbs and I don't much enjoy the experience. However, I spend a good bit of my time "inside the Loop" where there is a vibrant and positive experience in progress (and has been for many decades). The area has world-class arts, food, entertainment, and (surprise!) geography. It's an incredibly international city with people from all over the world found throughout the city.

Yes, it's big and getting from one side of town to another sucks. But if you're inclined to explore what makes it interesting, there's plenty there to keep your attention.
I would think that they're using Craigslist as a proxy for other personals -- on the other hand, I've not read the study, and the increase seems truly correlated to the addition of Craigslist personals, perhaps because of different patterns of use? Perhaps Craigslist "NSA" personals have a higher rate of "hookups" and "risky" sexual behaviour, whereas other types of dating apps don't. I'd love to see whether the data has the same effect when you look at Tinder, as at least for my generation it's similar in target uses to Craigslist personals, as opposed to something like OkCupid and other more traditional dating sites.
What do you mean by people can't use OTR for email in a meaningful way?

Almost nobody can use PGP/GnuPG properly and OTR is reasonably easy to use for most people. Isn't this alone a good reason to just tell people to ignore PGP/GnuPG altogether?
I second all these requests. Exactly what I was thinking when I finally got my invite.
Co-ops seem like they are better suited for a side-hobby rather than your main source of income.

Part of the reason for less income inequality is that the types of people who join them aren't primarily concerned with their monetary compensation. They are more concerned about a cause or outcome than earning money.

It's selection bias.

The majority of people want to get paid the most they can. It seems like a co-op tends to pay the in demand and highly skilled people less, and the less skilled people more.

I think it would be hard to attract and retain high-end talent if they can earn more in the standard workplace.
Given the consequence of a false negative for both of those diseases (fatal if not treated), it makes perfect sense to optimize for a higher negative predictive value (if the test says you don't have it, you don't have it) versus a higher positive predictive value.

While it would be ideal to have a high rate for both, that's the one I'd choose.

And that false alarm rate is actually a dynamic function of the prevalence of the disease in the population being tested, which would make me hesitate to call it "useless", especially this early in its development.

Those values, for the record, aren't that much worse than rapid diagnostic tests for influenza, which have a False Positive rate of about 6% and a false negative rate of about 18%, assuming 30% prevalence.
My advice is to play up the experience, but play down some details of that experience. For instance, 40 years of COBOL and C++ has some signalling issues (not completely unreasonably, what with carpenters blaming shoddy tools). I'd probably not talk about the technical nature of the experience at all -- just say the industry it was for and what the tool was used for, and not name-dropping old technologies.

Also, outside of SF, the ageism is much much milder. I've had people who had the up/down control on me getting hired not know my age to within 15 years at the time they make that choice (and they consistently guessed _older_ than I am). But interviews in SF seem to bring this topic to the table almost immediately. YMMV.

In terms of being uniquely identifiable (and therefore having few secrets) in the job application process, this is essentially unavoidable. I wouldn't worry about it.
You can also call 211 (United Way) in your area to see if you qualify for My Free Taxes.

http://www.myfreetaxes.com/
Tech Cartoons As-they-happen: Lab Coat
Nice idea! It could use some design improvements, you should collaborate with a design! Or copy the product hunt style, they've done an amazing job and it's part of their success!
Didn't they already build something pretty big with Burbn?
You're probably looking for Elm - http://elm-lang.org/
Facebook campus expands in Menlo Park with 56-acre Prologis land purchase
It's the closing of the article that is pure gold:

"...You feel bad about it the next day."

"You do?"

"Sure."

"Do you apologize?"

"For being critical? No, I mean, they were still wrong."

And that is, in a nutshell, everything about arguing with people on the internet.
I also have been using TaxACT for a couple years. I used a few other only ones in the past and honestly can't really tell much difference. They've all seemed fine to me. That said, my taxes are your standard pile of 1099s type deal. Nothing too fancy.
I get this weird feeling that React Native has been created as a stand-in until webview is truly ready to take over mobile. I can't imagine a scenario where by end of 2015 (or early 2016) mobile webview technology won't be sufficient for 99% of mobile apps.
I'm not European, but I'm the first to admit that a place with a Millenia of history to explore is more interesting than 100 years worth...
that advice isn't meant for poor people. it's meant for rich people.
backtick.town: a free shared Unix server for high school students
Or it can be done legally above board to get around trade secrets for competition, as in the Phoenix BIOS.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Technologies
They looked at Craigslist in terms of its rollout of local sites for the various communities:

> Conveniently, the spread of Craigslist provides a natural experiment: local sites were rolled out gradually over time, allowing the comparison of infection rates before and after their arrival...

> The data suggests that there was no rise in infection rate in advance of Craigslist opening shop, and there appears to be a bit of lag after a local site opens. This makes sense given that each city will take some time before users discover and start using the service, and the authors looked into this in more detail by tracking the number of ads present in each local site. Within a year of the opening of a local Craigslist, as activity picked up, HIV infections began to rise. The effect remained after the authors controlled for a variety of other demographic factors in each area.

So if the data says you can consistently expect a spike in infection rates a year after a local CL opens, and that effect is consistent across communities, it seems unlikely that other sites would be affecting that -- unless they were rolling out their own local sites in the same communities as CL was, at roughly the same time.
Such regs are costing lives.

There have been studies where AEDs were put in airports and such and lay persons successfully followed the directions and saved lives with them. They're very dummy proof at this point: place sticky pads where a picture shows you, turn it on, and follow the voice prompts. Even if you don't know CPR, you can help by trying this.

As further safety, the DSP software has a bunch of safeguards to only shock the types of bad rhythms it knows how to correct, so it can't hurt a normal person if the AED is mistakenly applied; it can only help a v-fib one.

Training won't hurt; the Red Cross course for combined CPR and AED is only a few hours. But there is benefit from none at all.

I've personally brought someone back with an AED and the experience changed my life.
Ask HN: I have $25,000 to invest
I have $25000 to invest. I am thinking of applying to angel.co but they are asking for $1M is assets! Where can I apply!

I am software engineer in bay area and have experience in programming.

So ideally I would like to invest in a startup that is gaining traction, and need money + expertise !

Any advice? I should be able to contribute both financially and in developing the company!

Any ideas? I am willing to help out a current startup in bay area or remote!
how's steam support?
Most people who believe Caps Lock can be ditched are probably slow typists. How on earth do you touch type an acronym quickly without using Caps Lock?

It's also ridiculous that a company like Google would ditch a key just like that. Do they research stuff before taking drastic actions?
He bought all those ones:

http://www.bigmessowires.com/2015/01/28/in-search-of-the-elu...
Millenia of History? Hell, that ain't nothin' - we got us a Millenium Falcon!
I grew up near Houston and would totally take Houston drivers over Seattle drivers (Though I'm not living in the US as of this year).

Houston drivers drive. There's a sense of urgency to them. Not so in Seattle where it's normal for the left lane traffic to go 15 mph below the speed limit.
Thanks for sharing I will give them a try next year. For some stupid reason it would never cross my mind to do my own research - I always thought it is doing it yourself, HR Block or Turbo Tax.

I just did TT and it cost me $37 for what TaxACT wants $12. Further if you want to pay from your refund, there is hefty $37 extra with TT. It looks like TaxACT doesn't have this fee...

Most likely the result of your return should be the same from both companies, as long as they understand tax law, and I would assume they do otherwise they would be gone long time ago.
Anthem hackers had compromised the credentials of five different employees
I would say "urgency" is an understatement!
Don't give out SSN or Birthdate information until after an on-site interview when you're at the offer stage. Someone dishonest can use that information for identity theft.

I'm already starting to be concerned about age discrimination, and I'm only 40 years old! It's very disturbing when you go on an interview and you're the oldest person there by 10+ years.

The only way out is to start your own business. Do you have enough savings? If you do, consider trying to bootstrap your own thing instead of going back to being an employee.
The end of Urbanspoon: Zomato scoops up restaurant review app
Designing Auditory Interfaces (2001) [pdf]
To invest in a startup, you need to be an accredited investor, defined here [http://goo.gl/aoKtaz].
$25k is obviously a drop in the bucket for angel investors. You'll really only be able to invest in one startup with this. Maybe your best strategy would be to hand pick projects with promise and make offers to invest.
Why does he need a great business perspective to spend something which is nowhere close to what companies using his hard work are earning?
I"m just a young guy here, not an employer, but I can share how I view your age in a candid way that might help you put your best foot forward.

My parents, born in the mid-1950s are currently in the job market looking for work, and they claim they feel the ageism/discrimination but it completely baffles me as a younger person.

As a person who celebrated Y2K in public school, now in the workforce blazing my own trail: I personally wouldnt have any issue with your age whatsoever. I gauge people based on results and performance, and so if you're an old dog I dont need to teach you any new tricks, you're probably a pro already!

I would be a little intimidated by your age, and it would be humbling and awkward for me to feel like you were my subordinate, but I would cherish your insight and experience (and hopefully mature reasoning skills) and I believe you may have a lot to offer!

I still prepare resumes and cover letters for my parents as they hunt for jobs, and I wish I could encourage you as well.

Age != youth

Age != ability

Age == how many pages have been turned in the 'Book of You'

Best of luck as you put yourself out there!
Yeah, SF is really changing face. Not sure it's a good thing.
> it was rare to see development that was crazy or so "out of place"

Part of that is because, imo, the "no zoning" mythos doesn't really result in practical freedom to develop land however you want. There are two big zoning-like restrictions in practice, which if anything end up with more restrictive land use than many cities which do officially have zoning.

The first is that just about all neighborhoods built after WW2 are master-planned communities laid out by one developer (in many parts of Houston, subsidiaries of the various oil companies who were selling off land). These developers built neighborhoods intended to have a particular character, most commonly a suburban-style character, and attached deed restrictions to the properties requiring buyers to maintain that character in perpetuity. This has very similar effects to zoning, in that there are huge swaths of Houston which are by deed restriction not allowed to be redeveloped into anything but single-family homes with a minimum lot size (owners also cannot subdivide their home into rental units). In some ways it's even worse because "rezoning" is even more difficult than usual. Most of these communities do have a way to modify the deeds in principle, but it's all routed through homeowners' association politics, which make regular municipal politics look well-functioning.

The second is a big set of development restrictions from the city which, while not precisely zoning, strongly influence what can practically be built. Rules on minimum setbacks, height, and minimum parking really constrain a lot of possible redevelopment.
Us perl contractors (former in my case, a decent job in my home town with good working conditions came up) are what the enterprise turn to when they need to circumvent the bureaucracy.
I remember being a teenager and reading stuff like this in near-future scifi stories...
Clicks * Conversion_Rate * Average_Click_Profit = $Total_Profit$
I'd rather we had a clean energy Manhattan project...
If you only have $25,000 in savings, please don't invest it in a startup! Until you can write a check that you're okay with never seeing again, you should invest in more conservative assets.

Technically speaking, no private startup can legally take investment from someone who does not meet the SEC's definition of an "accredited investor." The Jobs Act was supposed to change this, but that part of it hasn't come into effect yet sadly.
Check out realhq.com. If you are interested email Courtney@realhq.com.
On a similar note, about NYC infrastructure design (not just data connectivity), I highly recommend Kate Ascher's "The Works: Anatomy of a city".

http://www.amazon.com/The-Works-Anatomy-Kate-Ascher/dp/01431...
...which is fitting, given the number of nice visiting folks from oil-enriched nations we get. :)
Of course he comes across as condescending. He dismisses pretty much every opinion contrary to his, and while he created 1 good game in his career, I personally wouldn't trust him when it comes to knowing good engineering principles. He's creating a language that brings nothing new to game development, while dissing pretty much everything else that has been done. He's also made an ass of himself at least as many times as Phil Fish.

Contrast to someone like John Carmack, who is a legend, has achieved more in his career than most people ever will (some of the first FPS games, if not the first, pioneered so much technology, is launching rockets into space!), yet is still open minded enough to try new things, like rewriting some of his old games in Haskell and applying FP principles to game design. Oh, and John Carmack is humble as hell, considering what he's done.
Also, outside of SF, the ageism is much much milder

Agreed, it seems outside the cultural bubble of the Bay Area the entire technical workforce seems to be aging. I see fewer and fewer of the younger generations entering tech outside of a few markets like the Bay Area and Austin.

I have a theory, that it is due to the work force being more mobile, as well as the younger work force having less to tie them down. There was also, consolidation of the start-up markets and a lot of other markets lost ground while the Bay Area gained. I think this creates a natural draw for the younger portions of our workforce.

Most of the individuals I run across outside of a few specific markets are mid-30's to mid 50's and age seems to be a less relevant factor.
I have AdDetector extension installed and it gave me a prominent warning at the top of the page saying:

>[AdDetector] This page is an ad paid for by BMW
it is what i think I can afford to invest keeping my nest egg safe!

I was thinking of investing as partner, financially + hard work!
I love that picture. Living in Texas, and especially Houston, it's kind of hilarious whenever you hear people get excited about highways. It's like, "Oh, you folks just figured out how to have a three-deck interchange...that's cool I guess...?"
Related article: "Cheap Smartphone Dongle Diagnoses HIV And Syphilis In 15 Minutes".

There's startup potential there.
Out of curiosity, what era was this in? Recent or decades ago?

(genuinely curious if this style of blatant espionage still goes on today -- I have some stories from the 80's)
We're Chicago-based startup [1] that helps secure mobile apps and devices and recently completed a 12.5m Series A.

If you're interested in mobile security, you can get an idea about our work in a recently vulnerability we helped Samsung patch impacting 200m+ devices. [2]

Over 50% of our company is remote and we're hiring 30+ people this year. If you're interested in mobile and/or security, would love to hear from you. [3]

[1] https://www.nowsecure.com/
[2] https://www.nowsecure.com/blog/2015/01/27/samsung-corrupdate...
[3] https://www.nowsecure.com/careers/
A real waste. So I'll go ahead with my eulogy. #! to me was more than an operating system or Debian with slick OpenBox configs. #! was the community, the aesthetics. It represented a bold idea and executed it flawlessly. I really hope the community can take on the mantle, and trudge on. I disagree that #! has no more value. On the contrary, I think its value was already starting to increase in the recent years.
MOOC India- MOOC Courses,MOOC Courseeplus
How does a 14% false alarm rate make it useless? If it fails to turn positive for actual infection, I agree. But my understanding is its 114% positive, meaning if you have an infection its 100% positive and 14% positive when you aren't infected. Subsequent tests weed out the false positives.

Out of 1000 people, say 100 are actually infected with syphilis. With 14% positive error rate, 140 would test positive. It's much better to only need the expensive 2nd test for 40 people rather than 1000.
If your taxes are complicated enough to pay for a high tier of TurboTax, you may be better off finding a good CPA.

I'm an independent consultant, use QuickBooks throughout each year, and have used TurboTax for quite a while out of inertia from having my data already in a friendly format in QB. I finally decided to give an actual CPA a try last year. Among other things, she has already saved me an order of magnitude more than her fee just by amending my old TurboTax returns. Not to mention the value of the time that she has saved me.

I would never go back to TurboTax (or TaxACT or similar) unless I was a straight W-2 salaried employee (and only maybe then).
I've used tax act since I was 18. It doesn't charge extra for schedule k s for all of those llcs we entrepreneurs have. Also, their capital gains and business expenses have seemed easier
You can hear audio previews of all the detours here: https://www.detour.com/detours
> But it also raises the question: how is the money best spent?

No, it fucking doesn't raise that question. As far as I am concerned the money is already spent. And that's the way it should be, because Werner Koch has already devoted years of his life to developing this stuff.
Well, that's the thing, right?

If you're on the 59/610 west interchange, it's dangerous--so you should drive faster to be exposed to danger less. It's obvious.

Especially in the rain..

And the ice.
Actually I found that to be one of the major strength, it encouraged me to look into how the corresponding Linux API's work and made me realize that it isn't all that hard to get something like an OpenGL window (at least if you use GLEW) with basic input working. Even something like the dynamic code reloading he does by using Windows API calls, can be ported fairly trivially to Linux.
This. The article says Google and Facebook each gave him 50 big ones. Which != 0, but I can't help but thinking that's like .00001 seconds of Google profits, given to a project that is probably on the critical path of >50% of their business.
> The main problem with the code, he said, is it hasn't been properly maintained over the years.

Maybe this is because it was being maintained by a single underfunded developer. I'm not sure how the fact that we're now funding that programmer enough that he can hire a second developer (as was his stated intent) that this brings up questions of whether the money is well spent.

Ars Technica? More like Talking-out-their-arse Technica. Non-technical people writing about code critiques they can only understand second-hand is pretty much worthless.
But what if your dream isn't profitable?
What do your friends say about content protection? It seems like the least important thing to worry about since it's so hard to protect your content no matter what the medium.
Having lived in Dallas and Houston both, and recently, I don't feel either are more or less walkable than the other. Each is majority non-walkable. Each has 2 or 3 neighborhoods that you could call walkable. Locals from each can cherry pick among them to prove a point but compared to other truly walkable cities I've lived in (Tokyo, Seattle, Santiago), Dallas and Houston have a lot of catching up to do. Austin too.

Points for Dallas: DART is awesome. Houston is expanding and would do well to expand it to be able too reach its airports the way DART in Dallas does.

Points for Houston: The Bikeshare program is freaking huge and they're completely reworking the bus routes to realistic for the first time in ages. Dallas recently opened a Bikeshare.

But as with all things, your life is mostly local. Live in the right neighborhood in either, and you won't have to drive except for a few times a week. Live in the wrong neighborhoods in either, and get used to planning your evenings around traffic reports.
Didn't one just fold up? And they had the entire "flies on planes" market wrapped up.
Great Idea. You can invest on Education Industry. So it never Get down.
The best industries in tech if you want to exit right now