An Account of the ACM Data Mining Camp - <AUTHOR> http://www.bytemining.com/2010/03/acm-data-mining-camp-dmcamp/

<comment><USER2> Tonight there's another ACM Data Mining lecture in Mountain View. The subject is "Large Matrices beyond Singular Value Decomposition" given by Andrea Montanari, Stanford Professor in Electrical Engineering and Statistics.

<http://www.sfbayacm.org/?p=1326#more-1326>

</comment><comment><USER3> Thanks for the post. Do we have the video of the talks or materials used in the camp hosted somewhere?

<comment><USER4> there was a video taken during at least the welcome/panel session and the Mahout session. Which is fortunate because the most informational public exchanges occurred during those sessions (IMHO) and you'll also see how poorly organized the event was.

Videos aren't up yet, but I expect they will appear at <http://www.sfbayacm.org/?p=1341>

<comment><USER2> Organization could have been better but this was a fantastic event. I could pretty much listen to Dr. Dunning all day long.</comment></comment></comment>


Golden Gate Suicide Map - <AUTHOR> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2005/10/30/MNG2NFF7KI1.DTL&o=2

<comment><USER2> There's actually a very depressing (but really good) documentary about suicides at the GG Bridge entitled "The Bridge" <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0799954/>

<comment><USER3> Love that movie if only because it is one of the few movies that actually deal with the subject of suicide - that I'm aware of. Watched it on Google Video during a particularly low point in my life last year. The fact that the filmmaker documented suicides as they were happening is a dark attraction of the film. For me, being in a dark place when I saw the movie, it helped me to visualize what I was contemplating. I guess that could work in either of two ways. In my case, it was a positive. Luckily.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> link-jacked. the real article is here:

[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi- bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/30/...](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi- bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/30/MNG2NFF7KI1.DTL)

<comment><USER3> The map is so cool in a macabre way.

[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi- bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2005/10/...](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi- bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2005/10/30/MNG2NFF7KI1.DTL&o=2)

It inspires the same fascination that "The Most Beautiful Suicide" stirs in me:

<http://www.kottke.org/08/07/the-most-beautiful-suicide></comment></comment>


Should Apple Buy Tesla? - <AUTHOR> http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/28/technology/innovation/apple-tesla/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

<comment><USER2> Apple wins by gaining a new figurehead. Tesla wins by gaining access to capital and Apple's talent. Except...

\- Apple already has a charismatic figurehead. They could put Ive in that role if he wanted it.

\- Tesla seems to be doing quite well with the capital and talent they already have.

It's also not as if Tesla needs Apple's brand name; "Tesla" already means "innovative car company" to a growing percentage of the population.

I'll admit it: part of me would be giddy if this actually happened, but it's the kind of giddiness that I'd experience when Marvel and DC announce a crossover movie. It's a nerd-out moment, but then when I think about it critically, I can't see how this would help either company.

Tesla could arguably "need" Apple, but it really doesn't and Apple certainly doesn't need Tesla.

So if someone on here could play the devil's advocate and explain to us how this could be the most wonderful thing since sliced bread, I'd love to hear it. But for now, I'm going to chalk up my momentary giddiness to the irrational fanboy in me and just leave it at that.

</comment><comment><USER3> With all that cash, apple should buy something..I thought it was idiotic that they didn't buy waze. It would've been the second wind their maps app needed. They seem to be totally aloof to the fact that most of their in-house software is considered awful.

Edit: I know Tim Cook mentioned that they make an acquisition every 6 weeks, but they're never high profile acquisitions that would show the market they are trying to change the game.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> For years I've thought this was the ultimate troll headline. And now someone actually wrote it.

</comment><comment><USER4> I think Betteridge's law of headlines applies here...

</comment><comment><USER5> Really? No.

</comment><comment><USER6> no no no

<comment><USER7> Oh come on. Who wouldn't look forward to proprietary charging connectors, and only being allowed to buy electricity from Apple? At least it would be a little more apparent to most people how unacceptable that is.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> As if Tesla would sell to Apple.</comment>


K-Nearest Neighbors for Car Pricing - <AUTHOR> http://bytes.schibsted.com/price-car-data/ <comment><USER2> cool post ... looking forward to being able to use this tool soon!</comment>


Brazil's Digital Backlash - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/opinion/brazils-digital-backlash.html <comment><USER2> > Having emerged from authoritarian rule just 30 years ago, Brazilians are > especially sensitive to encroachments on their basic freedoms, including > digital ones.

Actually, I'd say most people don't care.

> For a while, the country looked to be a progressive voice for digital > freedom. No one expected Brazil to become a leader in cyber surveillance and > censorship.

President Dilma Rousseff has used her influence to get "Marco Civil da Internet" approved in Congress. Most people who backed this project thought it would probably not be approved because ISPs have lobbied against it.</comment>


Explainer: L1 vs. L2 vs. L3 Cache - <AUTHOR> https://www.techspot.com/article/2066-cpu-l1-l2-l3-cache/ <comment><USER2> If you're interested in this, you might be interested in a presentation I gave earlier in the year on micro architecture of CPUs. The link is to the slides but there's a video linked in the comments as well.

[https://speakerdeck.com/alblue/understanding-cpu- microarchit...](https://speakerdeck.com/alblue/understanding-cpu- microarchitecture-for-performance-ljc)

<comment><USER3> This was a fantastic read. I would love anything more like this to share with students, but either somewhat simpler or to the same level but including more basic concepts as well. Or something that goes into more detail on the practical tutorials for how to use various perf-tools.

That isn't a specific request to you by any means! I found the presentation incredibly interesting. I didn't know Google et. al looped performance monitoring into the build chain to optimize binary performance. In retrospect that's an obvious low-hanging fruit but the way different solutions are architected stokes my fascination.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Minimum viable product release private or public? - <AUTHOR>

Long time reader, first time poster. Do you guys think it is better to release a minimum viable product into the wild (open beta) rather than have a private beta? <comment><USER2> As far as I understand it, MVP is all about determining whether there might be customers out there for you. (It's answering the question "Is anyone actually going to buy this thing?").

So staying small and out of the public spotlight to iterate on failure is valuable (and doesn't produce any negative PR).

If you have to go open beta to get that feedback, then do so. If you can get away with a private beta, do so.

Here's the better question: Can you set up a system so that you don't even need any sort of beta to tell?

</comment><comment><USER3> Short answer is: It depends. Why would you want to release as a private beta?

You probably want users to be able to freely refer your product to friends. You probably want people to be able to discover, sign up, and try your product in one sitting. You probably don't want potential users to lose enthusiasm while they wait for a beta invite. You probably won't have crushing server traffic. If you do, you probably won't regret letting so many people use your product at once.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the input. Agreed. I come from a design background so releasing something hacked together is a challenge for me. Furthermore, it really is a MVP-- there are definitely UX issues and functionality I would like to address/add, but resources are limited.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Probably depends on how many people or customers you have lined up for your private beta. If it's of sufficient size, a private beta can work just as well as a public launch.

<comment><AUTHOR> Frankly, this is a sort of hack job @pud would be happy about it. Had an idea, busting it out in a few days and seeing what happens.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> What could be cooler for a few days work to be out in open beta? You get feedback from real users (not friends/well wishers) and if it works well or sucks, you at least get honest feedback.

<comment><AUTHOR> Agreed -- tangible honest feedback from real people is invaluable. Thanks for the feedback.</comment></comment>


America is full of high-earning poor people - <AUTHOR> http://qz.com/520414/the-high-earning-poor/ <comment><USER2> Root cause: Incessant advertising coupled with lack of financial education.

Public schools need to teach financial literacy in junior and high schools. Maybe there should be an entire semester devoted to it. If I were to design such a course, it would cover the following:

1\. Saving and compound interest. 2\. Credit. Personal loans, auto loans, mortgages, student loans. 3\. Financial products to avoid. Title loans, payday loans, Bail bondsmen. 4\. Why asset accumulation is good, and materialism is bad. 5\. Investing in stocks, bonds, mutual funds and ETF's. Investment fees. 6\. Financial obligations during marriage and divorce. Filial support, child support, alimony. Wills and trusts. 7\. Planning for retirement, IRA's, 401K's. Saving money for your kids education. 8\. Health insurance. Employer plans, the ACA, Co-pays, co-insurance, maximum out of pocket expenses. Why it's bad in some states to go on medicaid, and why you should get an ACA policy instead. 9\. What you need to do to buy a house. 10\. Starting your own business. Fictitious business names, incorporation. Protecting your personal assets if the business is sued. Employment law. Employment at-will, discrimination, whistle-blowing. Unemployment compensation, workers compensation, disability insurance. 11\. Landlord and Tenant law. 12\. What you need to do if you are arrested.

When people graduate from high school and turn 18, there's a whole legion of shysters ready to prey on them.

<comment><USER3> Don't forget the tax rates. Americans are eager to slap a tax increase on anything income-related (Prop 30) while eschewing tax increases on anything property-related (Prop 13), in effect building a rentier state, where decreasing number of working individuals [http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000](http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000) is responsible for a growing list of expenses.

<comment><USER2> I'm all for a split property tax roll (personal/commercial). Prop 13 needs to stay as it is for non-commercial properties.

If you don't see why, you will. When you are retired, you will come round to my side of the argument.

<comment><USER3> But you're approaching this in the context of current income tax rates. How would the equation change if there was no income tax, just the property tax, and you could plan your retirement around those numbers?

<comment><USER2> My situation would be probably worse under a property tax only regime.

The problem with property tax is that is levied whether you have income or not, and not everyone is directly liable for it.

Right now, I'm living off of post-tax savings and investments, so my income taxes are really low (as in almost zero). My property tax however is a significant fraction of the taxes I do pay as I have a main residence and an income property.

The current tax code is set up in such a way that if you have no income from wages, and only non-wage income, you can pay no taxes on capital gains up to about $70K per year See [http://www.gocurrycracker.com/never-pay-taxes- again/](http://www.gocurrycracker.com/never-pay-taxes-again/)

<comment><USER4> The problem you mention about property tax, is actually the original purpose _behind_ property tax. So-called 'absentee landlords' were leaving land fallow for generations, impoverishing the nation. Property tax was instituted to make sure land was constantly in use, or the landlord lost it (and somebody more productive got it).

<comment><USER2> So the pesky US constitution got in the way of a "fallow land tax"? It seems to me if land is being left fallow, then that's something which ought to be discouraged. If land is in service, then the property taxes should be nominal.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Basically another run at the message "Hey saving when you're young is a _lot_ easier than saving when you're old and much more effective." Putting away $1,000 when you're 20 can easily be $4,000 in the bank when you're 50. Plan for that period of time when you're tired of what you have been doing for the last 20 - 30 years, and want to spend time doing a new thing. You'll need savings to cover the burn rate.

<comment><USER6> I've been putting away in my 401(k) for 10 years. My overall rate of return is ... hmm, it's ~66%. That seems off, so I guess I'll have to research this more.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> It seems very weird to ignore homes people own in this analysis since it is the largest store of wealth for most people and produces ~5% dividends tax free in the form of not having to pay rent.

<comment><USER8> Buying a home is not a "no brainer" investment strategy.

* It takes 5-7 years to break even on the transaction costs

* You might not have enough equity (or liquid funds) to sell if you need to move for a better/more preferred job

* There is no guarantee real estate will continue to appreciate at the same rate or ahead of inflation in the future

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Why invest in "financial" investments when the stock market is so volatile and we are indebted to China? To me, buying properties and renting them out are a safer investment than government backed paper. And no, I'm not investing in silver/gold when that whole market is manipulated.

<comment><USER2> There's risk being a landlord as well. When a bad tenant trashes your rental, you can be out tens of thousands of dollars in addition to the costs to file and process an unlawful detainer.

If anything landlording is riskier than investing in an index fund.

This is not to say that you should not own rental property. Rental property should be owned in addition to stocks and bonds.</comment></comment>


Workers fear returning to work – many are resisting the call - <AUTHOR> https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-07-23/la-fi-reopening-california-businesses-covid-19-fears <comment><USER2> I'm a little frustrated that ordinary people making a risk/reward calculation in the absence of complete information are being described as in a state of "fear".

<comment><USER3> Not to be glib, but isn't that the definition of fear? Making risk/reward calculations in the absence of complete information. It can lead either to paralysis or action. Such is life.

<comment><USER4> Sure paralysis sometimes causes inaction but sometimes inaction is an affirmative decision to take no action. That isn't fear, that's just strategy.

In fact the single best negotiation advice I ever got was to say nothing when you make an ask and the other side turns you down. Often the uncomfortable silence, even just for a few seconds, will cause the other person to instinctively walk back their firm no and start offering other possible solutions.

<comment><USER5> It may help to consider the opposite of fear, which is courage or daring, or even foolishness.

You can be described as courageous by staying at home, sure, but you also might be fearful. Are there more dangers at home? Is the risk & reward both higher and the ratio higher? I think those are the questions that ultimately determine the answer.

Given that there may be a huge negative to taking action however instead of inaction seems to suggest that it is fear by that criteria.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> For non-retail fulltime employees who have been successfully productive, working from home has saved time, money, getting sick from fellow commuters and colleagues. That time saved has gone towards living a much healthier life.

<comment><USER7> Maybe for some people. I find myself drinking more than usual.

<comment><USER8> Sorry to hear that. Could it be related to pandemic closing down places you usually go, people you see etc?

<comment><USER9> For me, as an NYC resident, my apartment is small, most of my friends have left the city, none of my usual hangouts are open, and life is utterly monotonous. My wife was laid off and was in a field annihilated by the pandemic.

Every day is the same.

Worse, we've already had the damn disease, and it was utterly mild if it's the one I'm thinking of (testing was hard to get when I got sick so we took antibody tests later).

So I'm having the joy sucked out of my life to protect me from catching a disease I already caught.

<comment><USER10> Your sacrifice is appreciated by those with weaker immune systems and those who would otherwise risk permanent organ damage. It is a very infectious disease, so the mitigations are very serious.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> The thing that will restore trust: Clear and transparent daily reporting of comprehensive contact-tracing results.

<comment><USER12> You don't even need to contact trace if everyone gets tested every day.[1]

The most promising plan I've heard along these lines is detailed in a recent episode of _This Week in Virology_.[2]

This is possible, practical, and affordable.

The technology for fast pregnancy-test style tests for COVID-19 exists right now, and they could cost as little as $1 per test.

The reason these tests aren't being used yet is because of the FDA's misguided requirements for extremely high sensitivity for COVID-19 tests. If these requirements could be relaxed to allow lower-sensitivity tests, then these tests could go out on the market... or, better yet, the government could take over and ensure everyone gets tested with these tests every day for $1 a test.

Even a more limited plan of testing everyone in just highly affected areas would be way better than what we've got now.

[1] - People could, for instance, get tested each morning, and be required to present their daily test results upon arriving at work (or even online, from home, before they start their commute). If they test positive, they just stay home for a couple of weeks and then go back to work when they test negative again. People at work will have confidence all their colleagues (and virtually everyone else out and about) have tested negative.

[2] - Starting at about 6'20" in to episode 640: [https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-640/](https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-640/)

<comment><USER13> > You don't even need to contact trace if everyone gets tested every day

If you have a factory capable putting out 350M tests/day (let's not even get in to logistics or the next steps), please hang out your shingle.

If not, then perhaps considering plans within the realm of possibility is a better use of time.

<comment><USER12> _" If you have a factory capable putting out 350M tests/day (let's not even get in to logistics or the next steps), please hang out your shingle."_

From the above mentioned _TWiV_ podcast[1]:

 _" Take every manufacturing company that knows how to print paper, adapt their tools to print monoclonal antibodies on to those sheets and just start slicing it up and shipping it out. It's as easy as that, I mean, you know, I'm simplifying it a bit, but..."_

And, as the host of _TWiV_ said in an earlier podcast[2]:

 _" It's not undoable. If this were World War 2, you would figure out a way to do it! This is war. This is World War C19. I don't accept excuses. I got a letter from a laboratory person who said 'You have no idea what it takes to develop and execute a test, how many people, how much this and how much that..' and I said 'You're missing the point. You gotta try. You can't say why you can't do it. This is war. Let's do it!"_

In fact, I believe he's actually understating the point. This disease has the potential to kill more Americans than died in all of the wars its ever been in combined, if it hasn't already. The stakes are enormous.

Let's get it done.

[1] - from about 32 minutes in to podcast 640 - [https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-640/](https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-640/)

[2] - from about 1 hour, 47 minutes in to podcast 638 - [https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-638/](https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-638/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Many people I know aren't really afraid of catching the virus, they go out to bars, stores, and other places to meet people with abandon.

They don't want to go back to work because they have gotten to taste passive income (unemployment money) and don't want to have to go back to trading most of their time for less money then they can get for free by not going back.

<comment><USER15> Wow.. that's really cynical. Are you sure this article exclusively talk about people on unemployment benefits?

<comment><USER16> Anecdotal, but I've seen people in my social networks on unemployment say things to the effect of "If the government could afford to pay us this entire time to not work, then why should we go back?" Implying that the government has been withholding livable basic income from people this entire time, and coronavirus lockdowns have proved it.

<comment><USER15> I am aware of such people too. Their worldview is skewed. But that doesn't mean we should look down on them. Before knowing what I know now, I was extremely ignorant too. It's possible for anyone to fill that gap

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> What is the hospital bill going to look like for 20 days on the ICU?

Say it doesn't kill you, I can see how it can easily wipe you out financially (at-least in the US).

<comment><USER18> That was one of the considerations for my fiancee quitting her job in retail. We judged that her income as a commissioned salesperson at 50% of my income was not worth the potential hospital bills. Plus the potential lifetime of debilitating side-effects which would put an end to whatever lifestyle we have planned. So we went to a single income.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> I can't wait to go back to the office since I'm not able to stay nearly as productive at home. I work with hardware, so not having all my equipment right next to me on my desk has been a bit of a roadblock. I'm expected to stay home at least through the end of the year, though, and I'm willing to do it for the safety of myself and my coworkers, but I really don't want it to last much longer than that.

</comment><comment><USER20> Can't blame them.

I heard about another big Corona outbreak in a German factory. I think that eroded the trust in employers even more.

</comment><comment><USER21> [https://archive.is/MCql7](https://archive.is/MCql7)

</comment><comment><USER22> People are giant transmission vectors. We're not going to be able to have "safe" return to work until we get tests that can be done in minutes, by self serve kiosks, and that cost less than the daily value produced by said workers.

That or a vaccine, and requirements to be vaccinated to work.

</comment><comment><USER23> What is a 'worker'?</comment>


Gmail Priority Inbox Sorts Your Email For You. And It's Fantastic. - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/30/gmail-priority-inbox/ <comment><USER2> Next I hope Gmail incorporates some way to batch automated emails such as newsletters, social network email alerts, etc. It is crazy how much time we spend on email, despite the low signal to noise ratio.

<comment><USER3> It's not _too_ difficult to set it up to filter those kinds of things to their own tags, and omit them from your inbox, basically procmail-style. I agree it'd be nice to make the process more automated, though.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: GA for simple sites. Is JS Opt-In required for GA under GDPR? - <AUTHOR> Assume we are talking about basic static websites, no forms etc. Is it necessary to implement a JS Opt-In before sending any hits to GA? Or is using GA's anonymizeIp=true enough and the JS Opt-In/Opt-Out is not needed in this case? <comment><USER2> To my understanding no. But you must enable ip anonmyization in GA settings and provide the opt out link in privacy policy. Google should have a page on the link</comment>


Ask HN: How are you securing your laptops in public places? - <AUTHOR> How are you securing your laptops in public places, like coffee shops and LAN parties/events, when you're by yourself and need to be absent from the laptop? Like when "nature calls".
EDIT:
1. i think i mean "gyroscope" instead of osciloscope. 2. since this post is my content and, ergo, any comments here are derived from that content, i therefore allow permission for any commenter to make use of humor, sarcasm, wits and any language expression deemed "funny". <comment><USER2> I keep my laptop with me at all times in a public place. If I go to the toilet, I pack up my laptop and take it with me. It's not worth risking £2.2k of equipment (plus all the hassle) for the convenience of not losing your seat.

Worth noting that I don't work in coffee shops too often.

<comment><USER3> +1 for paranoia. It's not just the price of the laptop itself:

* Downtime if I have to replace it.

* Hassle of getting something similar (US keyboard) over here in Italy.

* Worry of having passwords/ssh keys/etc... out there.

<comment><USER4> _Hassle of getting something similar (US keyboard)_

This is one thing Apple does very right. Apple is the only company that will happily sell me a laptop with a US keyboard here in Sweden. In fact they have it as a standard option in their web shop and doesn't cost anything. From every other brand I've looked it was either a flat out "No" or an expensive a complicated procedure.

<comment><USER5> This is ironic. In the same way that Apple is closed system and hence hardware is normally more expensive than PC's standardized hardware, laptops are integrated systems and the fragmentation means only a handful of parts are generically substitutable. Apple wins by having proportionally less fragmentation.

Most laptop keyboards are little replaceable trays connected to the motherboard with a ribbon cable. If the keyboards were easily available to purchase independently, you could probably do it yourself; but they're not.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I just leave it on the table if I need to use the bathroom.

I use an 8 year old laptop (Dell 600m) to connect to a remote X session. They can be had for around $120. I keep nothing sensitive on the local drive.

Someone stealing it would annoy me, but I don't feel the need to stress over it. Being constantly paranoid isn't worth it. I'm not going to sit there worrying that the guy three tables over has been scoping me out during my last three extra larges waiting for the perfect opportunity to grab and go with my laptop.

<comment><USER7> Netbooks are great for this. I took a trip to Europe this spring, and I bought a $300 EeePC just so that I could check email, post to Facebook, etc. I could carry it into any café (or more realistically, McDonalds...free internet!) in France, and not really worry about theft.

Install Linux on one of those little guys, and you've got a reasonably useful hacking terminal that is practically disposable.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I've been leaving my laptop unattended at school libraries for OVER 5 years. Zero incidents. I lied--this one girl turned it in few months ago thinking I'd forgotten.

I have left it for 12+ hours on more occasions then I can count. Once I had to mistakingly leave it overnight because I got the closing time wrong. I returned the next day and my desk was untouched.

My friends at school think I'm nuts. But for me, leaving the laptop at one place for a prolonged period of time serves as an anchor of sorts. I can go do things(eat/play/class) and return back without the headache of having to setup up my work environment again.

<comment><USER9> I did this many time in college to, at the library that's 24hrs. It also helps if at least one upper level or grad mathy text is on the table lying open. That being said: 1) for the 12+hr interval (eg heading off to sleep then do something, then return) I add one of those laptop lock cables 2) those cables are more for the psychology of "don't touch this" than for security (just like how people feel uncomfortable near unfamiliar math), as a cheap wire cutter will remove one in a short time

<comment><USER8> Ah of course! Leave a textbook open, or a notebook open that shows you were in the middle of a sentence before you had to go take a call.

I've actually thought about doing an experiment with an iPod: I'd leave an iPod in the student union and observe how long before someone turns it in / tries to run away with it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> "Hey, do you mind watching my stuff for a minute?" works pretty well.

This is normally on a train or a library, and when there's someone around who doesn't look too shifty.

<comment><USER11> That's especially good with cute girls. Doesn't sound like a line (because it isn't), and often starts a conversation when you return.

<comment><USER12> _That's especially good with cute girls_

And because the girl's cute, she's sure to be honest!

OK, so it's horrible to be so paranoid, but c'mon - you're trusted a _stranger_ with a lot of money. Would you stop someone in the street, point to $500 lying on the street, ask them the same and expect them to still be there when you come back?

<comment><USER13> > you're trusted a _stranger_ with a lot of money

"A stranger is just a friend I haven't met yet." - Will Rogers

The term _stranger_ is a useful tool to prevent children from trusting shifty individuals. As an adult, calling people strangers seems to me to be a good way to live in fear and fail to meet interesting new people. Most people are basically good.

<comment><USER12> Maybe it comes from growing up in London, but I will /not/ trust someone I don't know with goods that are worth a great deal of time and money to me.

I'm wondering if having been previously conned (thankfully many years ago now - the embarrassment has faded) has something to do with it. I fell for the man in dining suit asking to borrow money for his meal in a restaurant. I also fell for the girl in tears outside my front door, complete with baby in pushchair. And then, nearly every day in summer months, standing outside the pub, there's /another/ guy or girl who's lost their train fare home. There are more of them out there than you might think.

<comment><USER14> Recently my mom witnessed an interaction at our county fair where a woman was feeling symptoms of a heart attack, and feeling very ill. This woman flagged down someone, and handed her her iPhone to call for help. The passerby promptly took off with the phone, which is where my mom stepped in to use her phone to help.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> \- Normally I take it with me, just like swombat does

\- Harddrive is encrpyted

\- Installed <http://preyproject.com/> (free) - allows you to track it in case it gets stolen

\- My profile is secured by a password, but there is a blank profile that people can just log into, so that Prey can do its work :)

<comment><USER16> If the disk is encrypted, I'm not sure how Prey project is useful since the thief will not run the original OS but reformat/reinstall one.

<comment><USER15> That's what the open guest profile is for. At least in theory :)

<comment><USER16> The disk is encrypted, access to the OS is impossible without the decryption key.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I spent 8 weeks in Buenos Aires last year - a high theft city. I worked out of a favorite coffee shop, and frequently went upstairs to use the bathroom whilst leaving my laptop out downstairs.

tips -

1\. always be comfortable in your surroundings. Know who's coming in and out, the type of people, whether you can trust the staff.

2\. make eye contact with someone, best if it's a staff member, and ask them to keep an eye. Most people will, and staff will often hover by your table till you get back.

3\. Put your screen to sleep and half close the lid. Helps if you have clutter on the table -- don't draw attention to it.

4\. be quick. :) obvious but useful to know.

finally: have insurance, backups, etc.

One more thing-- i've found having a kensington chain to be useful where i have things in longer-term situations which i leave unattended for a while (e.g. my display in the coworking space i'm at). Those are pretty lightweight and really easy to install. wrap one around a table leg and lock to the machine. Done.

</comment><comment><USER18> I got an eee pc for "I'm not at home" purposes, so I just stick it in my bag and bring it with me.

I wouldn't leave my cheap phone unattended, nevermind a laptop.

</comment><comment><USER19> My laptop has a sticker on it: "WARNING! Do not touch. This device belongs to a person with a contagious skin disease."

Works like a charm. :-)

<comment><USER20> My car had a "Radioactive. In case of accident, please contact xxx-xxxx urgently".

I never had any break in incident with that car.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> The same way you secure your wallet.

I can't imagine why anyone would leave their laptop / phone / other device lying around. I go out and about in London, and I don't see anyone doing this.

I suppose LAN parties are an exception, but properly organised large events have a policy of tagging all equipment coming in and checking it on the way out. I have not been to a small private event where people were allowed in without being known and vouched for by another attendee.

</comment><comment><USER22> I'm pretty protective of my laptop by not leaving it alone, but one thing that I do is ensure my laptop is not too desirable to thieves. I have a half-dozen stickers on the back, primarily as a theft deterrent (they make a good conversation starter, too).

I'm actually deterred from buying a new laptop because I've put several years of effort into abusing my machine to the point that it's cosmetically not worth selling.

<comment><USER23> I'm sure you could find dozens of happy laptop-abuse volunteers on Craigslist.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Sprawl.

With enough cables, mousepads and assorted garbage cluttering one of those little coffee shop tables, I'll wager I can pee faster than you can pack my stuff and casually walk out the door.

Sure, it doesn't stop the guy in the ski mask and hamburgler shirt from snatching it and sprinting off, but really has anybody here actually seen that happen to a laptop at a Starbucks?

<comment><USER12> _has anybody here actually seen that happen to a laptop at a Starbucks_

Not Starbucks, but yes, in plenty of public places. For a scummier example, Newham General hospital in London had a huge problem with people walking in to the A&E department and walking off with their computers.

As far as I can tell, there are two types of theft: those of opportunity (addict _needs_ a fix _right now_!) and those which are planned. I've seen a laptop being stolen without realising it before: well-dressed guy walked up to the table, unplugged, calmly packed it away, and walked out. Two minutes later the real owner comes in and asks if anyone's seen what happened. Sad, even lost the case!

<comment><USER25> About a year ago we had a similar problem in the hospital I was doing clinical rotations in. A gang of well-dressed men would walk in holding empty-laptop and beamer bags. They would then check out all conference rooms and take all equipment they could easily remove. Nobody ever noticed until they checked out all security video footage.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Product idea: a USB device with an accelerometer. When you need to leave your laptop for a few minutes, you insert the USB device and start a program that plays a loud siren sound if the USB device reports movement, or if it's removed. Then you lock your screen the usual way.

Downside: if they power off the laptop or remove the battery, they can still take the laptop. Would a thief do that? I imagine they'd want to leave as quickly as possible so they'd just put the lid down, remove any USB devices, and go.

<comment><USER27> Apple actually includes accelerometers in their laptops, so there is a free app called iAlertU (<http://ialertu.sourceforge.net/>) that does exactly this.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> Small light laptop, messenger bag which is quick to drop the laptop into and sling over one's shoulder, and occasional OS maintenance to keep suspend/resume as fast as possible. I found that all of these factors meant that I was more likely to take my laptop with me than when I had a bulky desktop replacement in a fiddly rucksack that took ~30 seconds to come back from sleep.

I also had a pair of cargo pants with a ripped pocket that was _almost_ big enough to carry my laptop. Always meant to sew an extension onto that pocket to create a quick-draw laptop holster - the perfect thing for someone who likes to walk about while thinking and needs to take notes in a hurry ;)

<comment><USER29> At first I thought, "awesome, I need to do that!" Then I felt ashamed for both of us.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> This got me wondering about a self/USB powered device with an oscilloscope or something, that you would attach to a Kesington lock or something and would sound an alarm if it detected movement (being moved)...

<comment><USER12> Car alarms don't work. Bike alarms don't work. Out of interest, why do you think a laptop alarm will make any difference?

<comment><AUTHOR> maybe youre right but a soundy alarm inside a coffee shop packs more punch than in the street. But yeah, still doesnt keep the thug from taking it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> Kensington Microsaver Security Cable (<http://amzn.to/bkV7Jd>). Coils neatly for easy backpack storage. I work almost every day out of coffeeshops and lock it to a chair and will walk away for sometimes an hour at a time with absolutely no trouble. Someone will either have to spend 10+ minutes sawing through it or try to steal a chair, which most people will notice.

</comment><comment><USER31> Most of my public place time is in a local coffee shop where I know everyone (owner, employees, other customers) and they know me. I can leave my stuff there no problem and if I need to leave to run an errand I can pack my stuff up and leave it behind the counter.

In unfamiliar public places I generally will pack up completely. It only takes a second for someone to steal your stuff and that's the last thing I need :)

</comment><comment><USER32> Only leave it around the university library, half these kids are far more affluent than me. So theft is the last thing on most people's agenda!

<comment><USER33> I'm not sure what your university library is like, but I would be careful in them. At the UWashington, at least once a month you would here announcements over the PA that a few laptops had just gone missing, and to be on the lookout/careful.

<comment><USER34> Yeah, but that's all contextual as well. If I'm in Odegaard (non-UW people: the 24 hour library) then I will not leave it out. If I am in the CSE department labs, then I probably recognise a few people in the lab at any given time, so I feel a bit safer leaving out the laptop.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> 1\. I avoid leaving it around in public places.

2\. If I _were_ to think about leaving it in a public place, I'd think of ways to make people not want to steal it - it's a laptop, it takes about 2 seconds for someone to grab it and run if it's not secured. No alarm or tracking system is going to do anything to PREVENT theft if the thief doesn't know about it.

</comment><comment><USER36> I carry a light cloth two-strap bag inside my backpack. It can be worn just like a backpack, but it crunches into about the size of a tennis ball when not being used. It's very quick to stick the laptop in the bag without fussing with any of my other stuff. Putting the laptop in the backpack is a more involved process - have to wait for it to sleep, talk to the person who points out to me that I forgot my cord (I didn't), negotiate with the person who comes and takes my seat that I was still using, etc., etc.

</comment><comment><USER37> I have a large, quite unique and difficult to remove sticker on its back. I don't need to be the most secure, only more secure than other people around me.

Oh and I don't leave my laptop unattended for more than a few seconds at a time. That helps too.

<comment><USER38> Stickers are good. The lifetime NRA member sticker generally does a good job. :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER39> Spend time at a coworking location instead of a coffee shop, and don't worry about it.

</comment><comment><USER40> I've used Lockdown before: <http://www.foozoodesign.com/lockdown.html>

Still, I rarely allow my laptop to leave my sight.

</comment><comment><USER41> If the event is a demoparty, I'll just lock the screen. In other places, I'll usually bring my laptop along.

</comment><comment><USER42> I'm usually not securing my laptop at all, never had any issues. Starbucks, trains, barcamps, etc.

Hamburg and Berlin, Germany

</comment><comment><USER43> i either get someone to watch my stuff, or i take it with me. as it was already mentioned, it isn't about $, its about the hassle of losing documents and time.

if someone wants to steal my laptop, they're going to do it. if someone is tech savvy enough, they probably won't get caught.

</comment><comment><USER44> Depends</comment>


Goose Finds Cop and Leads Him to Her Trapped Baby - <AUTHOR> https://www.thedodo.com/goose-leads-cop-trapped-baby-1789420060.html <comment><USER2> My house cat was often bullied by this other cat that visited just to fight him, once even damaging one of his eyes. One night, long ago, I decided to join my friend's side and swing a broomstick against the other cat as they fought clenched together. The other cat ran away for obvious reasons. My cat pursued him, stopped, turned to me with a "let's get him" nod, and after a pause he ran.

Where do we draw the line between antropomorphising actions and ascribing intelligence?

I hope we not only enhance humans in the future, but animals as well. The stuff of a sci-fi novel: cat cyborgs protesting for their voting rights, holding signs with opposable thumb augmentations.

<comment><USER3> Uplift!

The truest proof of a sentience

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> There are a large number of geese that hang out and nest in The Fens[1] in Boston.

Normally they nest in the reeds close to the water, more or less out of the way of human foot traffic. A couple of years ago, I saw a pair of geese who made their nest in a small island of grass between two side-walks and a street near Northeastern University. While much more public, this nest had the advantage of humans leaving bowls of clean water (and maybe food) for the geese nesting there.

[1]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fens_(Boston,_Massachusett...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fens_\(Boston,_Massachusetts\))

</comment><comment><USER5> Silly goose is the only one who trusts cops.</comment>


Gel that makes teeth repair themselves could spell the end of fillings - <AUTHOR> https://www.newscientist.com/article/2214797-gel-that-makes-teeth-repair-themselves-could-spell-the-end-of-fillings/ <comment><USER2> Nutrition is the key. Teeth are so important for survival, I cannot believe we survived so far with such flawed "design" of the mouth. Indigenous people have pretty healthy teeth - they might get physically damaged, they may not always be like those on the toothpaste ads, but I think we're doing everything wrong about them. When it comes to bacteria, it's always about the balance between good and bad bacteria. We don't have a solid research on mouth probiotics and prebiotics and most toothpaste destroys all bacteria and as we know, bad bacteria is more than good in the environment, so, it needs to recultivate our mouths and keep the good strains in there.

By the way, such toothpastes and gels have existed for years. Here are few brands my family has been using:

\- [https://www.apacare.com/en/](https://www.apacare.com/en/)

\- [http://www.biorepair.it/en](http://www.biorepair.it/en)

</comment><comment><USER3> Yeah, sure! And how about the dental decay vaccines that have been promised for, oh, about 40 year now?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caries_vaccine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caries_vaccine)

This gel will come out as soon as either

a) Hell freezes over or

b) dentists get a monopoly on the gel.

"Medical progress" is an oxymoron.

<comment><USER4> In the mean time keep flossin' them gurners</comment></comment>


Was Cube Runner Pulled from iPhone App Store? - <AUTHOR>

I found a great game on the iPhone called cube runner and now it's not there anymore.  What could have happened? <comment><AUTHOR> Ah found the answer, <http://andyqua.co.uk/CubeRunner/News.html>

No Apple conspiracy I guess :-(

</comment><comment><USER2> Yeah, it's back, but careful not to download version 1.1.

<http://www.appstoreinfo.com/?p=46></comment>


A VC: Storm Clouds - <AUTHOR> http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2010/11/storm-clouds.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AVc+%28A+VC%29 <comment><USER3> The thing that troubles me most about this article is that I'm not in the valley at the moment. I'm not reaping multi-million dollar bonuses for not quitting, I'm not getting money for my startup with no due diligence...

To me this isn't a warning, it's an opportunity - now is the time, we are almost at the peak of the bubble, get in now. (Get in on the entrepreneurial side where values are high; get out on the VC side where values are low - <USER2> I'm on the former side))

There is a lot of money floating around in the US economy right now courtesy of Quantitative Easing. Yields on most asset classes (especially safe ones) are low, and the stock market is lackluster... so it wouldn't surprise me to hear a lot of money is flowing into the entrepreneurial side of the economy - isn't that about the best possible outcome?

I don't see this bubble bursting as hard. Most companies involved (Google, at least) have solid incomes, and are not running on hopes, dreams and borrowed money. VCs might find they paid too much, and Google might wind up with a slightly too expensive (but quite possibly rationally priced) employee base.

But a VC that paid too much gets a haircut, the fund gives bad returns... so what? New funds spring up. It is not that bad.

<comment><USER4> as you say, it's an opportunity -- no matter where you are. but to the extent it's a bubble, people who get in this late in the game rarely come out very far ahead. i wouldn't lose too much sleep about not being in the valley right now. if it's a bubble, that's the last place you want to be; if it's sustainable, it'll continue to be an option.

<comment><USER3> As for it being a bubble - would you rather get in now, when (if you assume it's a bubble) VCs and angels are throwing money at people in an unsustainable way - or wait a few years until things have died down and they don't have money to throw?

With almost any financial transaction, there are ways to bet both sides. With this one, you get in as an entrepreneur - you do a VC round, you tell Google Facebook made you an offer. Now is the time. Next year Google might be happy to let people go to Facebook.

With stock market bubbles, it's selling short. With the real estate bubble, it was buying default swaps against the mortgage bonds.

As VC is by definition a private market, it's much harder to short; instead, if it's overheated, you need to be selling assets into it (which is what taking a VC round is), assets you have to be creating.

If you wait for the bubble to burst (and it is a bubble), you might be locked out for years.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Fred's Storm Clouds are not just about higher valuations and investor competition, but about the unsustainable speculative behavior, with "investing without due diligence" as a prime example.

That suggests startup land is filled with a few fake gold rushes, and in any gold rush, those who deal in oxen and wagons tend to do well. Maybe the oxen dealer here is Google Adwords, StumbleUpon, and anyone else that allows you to buy your traffic to temporarily juice Alexa / Compete results (I've heard enough anecdotes to know plenty of people advocate this tactic).

I wonder which startup will turn out to be the big Madoff Startup?

<comment> jim-greer While there may be some unsustainable speculative behavior going on, I doubt any startup with reputable VCs on the board would do anything close to what Madoff did. Even the dot com crash was mostly about bubbly ad revenue and selling to the bigger fool, not massive fraud.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Fred talks about a five/six year timespan having been good. That's about the lifespan of a VC fund.

The burst will be caused by a tightening in VC spending, and I think poor returns on funds raised five years ago will cause this.

This makes sense - IPOs have been slim, and LPs must be getting edgy. I partly wonder if the 'rise of the superangel' is in fact the 'departure of the VC' (from certain types of deal)

</comment><comment><USER7> I can only really see this coming to an end after a Facebook IPO hits the market. Until then, it does feel like a period of "irrational exuberance" all over again.

<comment><USER4> Fred's article highlights the risk to Facebook if there's a bubble and it bursts. As well as looking at some serious security/privacy challenges at the platform level and a hard-to-sustain engineering pace, they also need to worry about how long irrational exuberance continue. If they IPO at $10-$20B, that'll be a sign of air leaking out of the bubble. If they hit the wall before IPO, or crash badly in the first six months out of the gate, it'll be a lot more dramatic.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Next they'll want 40 hour work weeks!

I get his point about VCs not doing due diligence, but the rest just seems to be a capitalist complaining about those damn workers with their demands. Pretty much the same gripes since the dawn of agriculture.

edit-add:

For too long management and investors have been skimming way too much off the top. I think it's nice to see the nerds refuse to be taken advantage of.

<comment><USER9> i accept your point that talent may be finally getting valued fairly. i stated as much in my post

but i don't think you can call what i did "complaining"

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Actually, regarding engineering salaries, I think is this is very very good.

In recent years, we ended up in situation where it is widely believed that technical knowledge / expertise is not needed to start a software startup or run successful software company. In case of startups, the assumption was that all technological challenges get solved by people founder hires (if you look recent posts about what VC what they look in founders, technology is rarely mentioned).

I hope this approach will spark innovation in hard problems such as data stream management, data de-duplication across internet, new way of compressing data, etc.

</comment><comment><USER11> The scale of valuations described in the first part don't apply to Facebook and Google and in the case of Google, neither does the class of investors.

That's not to say Google is or isn't overvalued, but there are plenty of scenarios in which Google's recent action make good business sense, particularly when competing with a company on the scale of Facebook potentially using the Microsoft model of IPO timing (12,000 millionaires) to attract talent.

The only connection implied between the trend of increased valuations for startups and the grant of restricted options to an engineer at Google is that they are both signs of change.

In the case of the Google stock options, it appears that the real change is in the way the press operates. Key employees have always received counter offers.

</comment><comment><USER12> So Fred admits he has been getting out sized returns investing in real companies that have revenue but is worried about other investors jumping in raising the valuation of companies and thus the salary of engineers. It sounds to me like the free market in action. His rates of return will decline as more investors jump in to the market. He does not give any reason why he thinks this current trend is unsustainable; are companies getting funded that have no chance of becoming profitable, stand-alone companies?

<comment><USER13> "other investors jumping in raising the valuation of companies and thus the salary of engineers"

That was one of the symptoms of the dot-com bubble.

"He does not give any reason why he thinks this current trend is unsustainable"

Fred doesn't need to, because to him it's obvious: if people are making larger investments and thinking less about the investments they are making, they have a higher likelihood of throwing away money. If VCs invest poorly in their current fund, they will have trouble raising their next one and may even go out of business. Then there's less money in the ecosystem, fewer deals get done, fewer engineers can be employed, etc.

<comment><USER12> My point is that maybe a higher level of investment IS sustainable.

I don't know what his IRR is but he says "enjoyed an amazing run" which I am guessing means something north of 25%. That rate of return will not stay that high as more investors jump in who are willing to accept a lower return.

Hopefully we are coming up the "Slope of Enlightenment" this time: [http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/methodologies/hyp...](http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/methodologies/hype- cycle.jsp)

<comment><USER4> similar arguments have been made in previous bubbles. there's always been an element of truth in them -- as there is now -- but the reality always proves different than the hype. maybe this time will be different but it's a mistake to count on it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I agree, for me when I saw that people were seriously investing in instagram and picplz, it confirms that there is some sort of mini-bubble happening.

<comment><USER15> If you've met Dalton, you know why Andreesen/Horowitz pumped $5M into picplz.

<comment><USER14> What's so great about Dalton? A lot of failed companies have brilliant people at their helms.

<comment><USER16> I don't understand your point These two sentences seem to contradict one another. The first questions his ability. The second takes it for granted. The only thing they have in common is that they're two variants of unthinking dismissal. And while that similarity gives your comment the appearance of having a connected argument, in fact they're incompatible.

<comment><USER14> I see what you mean. However, what I mean is "what's so great about a brilliant person being in charge of a poor product". So I'm saying "Dalton is a brilliant guy, but I am skeptical of if just a brilliant person makes that great of a difference, when the product is not so extra-ordinary".

The first sentence could better be said: "What's so great about Dalton being there?"

Yes, I am dismissing this company, and I know it's risky to publicly state something like that, but I really feel that the product does not warrant the investment of 5million in any way. It's a good product, and it will surely be successful and have a number of users, but I doubt it will become any kind of force.

Take a look at the download numbers, according to techcrunch they have had 100.000 downloads since MAY. So between may and october, they have 100k downloads ([http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/13/picplz-launches-revamped- mo...](http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/13/picplz-launches-revamped-mobile-apps- for-iphone-and-android-with-free-effects/)).

With my crap apps, I have 15k downloads a day. So in a week, I'd have that number of downloads. It's not hard to do that. That guy Kreci had 200k+ downloads on some weird apps on the android store also in a couple of months.

The product is not right. Even smart guys can have bad products, and from what I read, those twitter dudes gave back the investment money on their original product, so the investment is not just in the people, it's also in the product.

So I feel that there is a bit of a bubble there, where people are just being handed money based off reputation without proper diligence being paid to the product.

<comment><USER15> It's not really about the product, it's about the person. That's what is getting funded. You can build a fart app, create a little drama around it and get 100k downloads.

I've heard Dalton speak twice. The first was at "WorkataStartup". I had never met him, or heard of him, but after hearing his pitch that day, I said to myself, "I'd almost be willing to sign up with PicPlz just to work along side Dalton". But, I have my own startup.

I heard Dalton speak at startup school, and what impressed me was his command over the financial and legal ramifications of music startups. I've come across a number of people doing music startups via Hackers and Founders, and I've never met anyone so well versed or educated about the business end of music, licensing, etc...

The, I met Dalton at this party at Andreesen Horowitz last month[1], and I made a point of talking with Dalton for 15-20 minutes. Once again came away quite impressed by the man. And, in the Q&A with Michael Ovitz[2], Dalton made one of the best points about the future of the music industry and media business that I've heard in a long time.

I think I have a halfway decent nose for founder talent. I run one of the largest startup/tech meetups in Silicon Valley[3], and I've seen a lot of founders come and go over the last 3 years. If I were a VC, I'd be tripping over myself to have Dalton take money from me. If it's not photo sharing, it will be something else, but either way, I'd lay money on Dalton having a good exit on one of his startups.

ref:

[1] [http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_46/b42030000...](http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_46/b4203000012271.htm)

[2] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Ovitz>

[3] <http://www.hackersandfounders.com>

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> "So we will see this behavior and other troubling things continue to happen for some time to come. When will it stop? Who knows? But be prepared for it to end. And when it does, things will be different. And we should all be prepared for that time"

What are the other troubling things? How will things be different? And how should we all be prepared?

</comment><comment><USER18> Ha, leave it to Silicon Valley to create a bubble in the middle of a deep recession.

Actually that is properly the reason - it has become so cheap to start a company that can exit for a large sum, that it is one of the few good investments left in the country.

</comment><comment><USER19> Unfortunately the catalyst for his storm may be the collapse of the US dollar (or a 'currency restructure' as it will be branded).

</comment><comment><USER20> Regarding the newish talent drain: higher salary and equity packages for engineers is not a threat to VC/angel-funded startups -- not yet. Salaries have been depressed for the past 2+ years, and a little catch-up is in order. Obviously that could go too far, but I really don't think we're there yet.</comment>


Steve Jobs lost $219 million since Macworld - <AUTHOR> http://macenstein.com/default/archives/1078 <comment><USER2> And Larry Page and Sergey Brin lost a combined $10 billion in the past month, and a lot of other people have lost a lot of money too... so what?

</comment><comment><USER3> I wouldn't say 'lost'.

You can somehow compare stock prices to a closed gas ballon.

If temperature changes it grows and shrinks but it doesn't loose gas.

<comment><USER4> Nice picture.</comment></comment>


Preemptible VMs now up to 33% cheaper - <AUTHOR> https://cloudplatform.googleblog.com/2016/08/Preemptible-VMs-now-up-to-33-percent-cheaper.html <comment><AUTHOR> While people didn't want to put it in our post, I like describing this as "5 cores for the price of 1". Myself and a great team of other folks have worked a lot over the last year to improve utilization, produce a more predictable behavior and tune the system to refund people as much as possible (if we shoot you early on, you've lost the least amount of work _and_ we don't bill you for it).</comment>


Ask HN: Location Based Dating? - <AUTHOR>

Hi HN-
A buddy of mine recently told me to take a look a blippy.  I liked it, kind of.  In any case, I thought that this voyeuristic (or insane sharing) impulse could be put to use for dating.  What does that mean?  Well I think with user's permissions you could attach to their foursquare, blippy etc. (or use the api if one exists), gather up their recent check-ins/location data, and then compare with other people who have similar habits.  People with the highest matches could be recommended first etc. etc.
Yes/No/Already Exists?  What do we think? <comment><USER2> Very, very interesting...

I think it would be a good idea to keep the actual location data inaccessible to the end user, but I can imagine it fitting in well with a site like OkCupid.com. OkC currently has a feature that parses profiles for relatively unique words and points out that you and the profile you're looking at share an interest in X (maybe a movie title, or a book, or an activity).

I imagine an interesting implementation being "this user also frequently visits Starbucks on 6th Ave" as an ice-breaking feature along with the match recommendation system.

</comment><comment><USER3> There are definitely dating services working in this direction, at least for people with iPhones. I don't know if anybody is integrating with existing social networks though.

I've seen iTryst Lite and datingDNA on the iPhone that take location into account when matching people. Not sure how much success they're having though. Adding onto existing dating brands would probably get more traction..

</comment><comment><USER4> I don´t think it exists. Sound like a good idea as long as it doesn´t turn into a stalking device.

IMHO location and social data should be used together when existing personal relationships between participants exist already.</comment>


Whossingle.net - see who's single or taken on Facebook - <AUTHOR> http://whossingle.net

<comment><USER2> Here is an article about Who's Single on AllFacebook.com <http://allfacebook.com/whos-single-infographic_b89119>

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Would love to hear any feedback that you have, like: * What works or doesn't work? * Why you would join or not? * Any features you really want?</comment>


Why does Ubuntu have a new upgrade every six months - <AUTHOR>

Is it good or bad for the OS? <comment><USER2> Good: The long release cycle allows for better testing and increased stability.

Bad: You have to wait 6 months for the latest and greatest versions of software to make it into the distro (If not longer).

<comment><AUTHOR> I have been an avid ubuntu user since I switched from Windows, Ubuntu had just switched from gnome to unity, I believe it was Ubuntu 11 LTS. It was the last LTS I liked, after I upgraded to ubuntu 12.04 LTS it was bearable, but almost every release after that sucked. Lots and lots of bugs, I was wondering why hurry into releasing a new version every six months when they can properly test the code for one year and then release a proper stable verion, much like other distros.</comment></comment>


Artificial Intelligence for Games (2009) [pdf] - <AUTHOR> http://lecturer.ukdw.ac.id/~mahas/dossier/gameng_AIFG.pdf <comment><USER2> using this google search pattern "site:[http://lecturer.ukdw.ac.id/~mahas/](http://lecturer.ukdw.ac.id/~mahas/) type:pdf" you will find other pdfs hosted on this directory like this: [http://lecturer.ukdw.ac.id/~mahas/dossier/SzeliskiBook_20100...](http://lecturer.ukdw.ac.id/~mahas/dossier/SzeliskiBook_20100818_draft.pdf)

</comment><comment><USER3> Thanks for sharing this!

-An aspiring game dev

</comment><comment><USER4> What exactly led you to believe posting a pirated copy of a copyrighted book on HN is okay?</comment>


Ginzametrics Partners with SEOmoz for Site Intelligence API - <AUTHOR> http://www.ginzametrics.com/enterprise-seo-platform-ginzametrics-announces-api-partnership-with-seomoz

<comment><USER2> I thought SEOmoz and Ginzametrics were almost direct competitors.

Does anyone know why you would use Ginzametrics over simply signing up for SEOmoz directly and using that to track SEO progress?

<comment><AUTHOR> We don't compete directly.

We are more focused on the enterprise market, so from a partnership perspective, it actually works out quite well.</comment></comment>


Brad Spengler (grsecurity) responds to Linus rant (grsecurity are clowns) - <AUTHOR> http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/06/25/1 <comment><AUTHOR> while doing so he also drops a 0-day :)</comment>


Here's exactly how much faster the iPhone 8 charges versus the iPhone 7 - <AUTHOR> http://mashable.com/2017/10/12/apple-iphone-8-plus-quick-charging.amp <comment><AUTHOR> The OnePlus 5 charges up the fastest with its own proprietary "Dash Charger". The HTC U11 comes in second place and then the iPhone 8 Plus in third. Most surprising of all was the Note 8, which lagged in last.</comment>


SwissMiss Pimps Out Hotly Designed Gojee.com - <AUTHOR> http://www.swiss-miss.com/2011/07/gojee.html

<comment><USER2> This looks familiar...

I did the UX and front end implementation on a very similar site in July last year (having been inspired by thesixtyone.com myself).

Here's the site: <http://BlaineFisherPhotography.com> Here's a walk through of the creative & dev process: [http://voltagecreative.com/articles/blaine- fisher-photograph...](http://voltagecreative.com/articles/blaine-fisher- photography-site-launch/)

I love this design aesthetic and am glad to see it catching on more and more.

</comment><comment><USER3> The site looks great and is fun to use.

But thinking about how Gojee might plan to make money, I'm reminded of the difference between a product and a feature:

[http://www.philmichaelson.com/founding-decisions/build-a- bus...](http://www.philmichaelson.com/founding-decisions/build-a-business-not- a-feature/)

EDIT:

I didn't realize the author of that post is working on another recipe site. No idea if he's following his own advice or not ;)

</comment><comment><USER4> Thanks Leftnode.

Because we just launched Gojee, we've chosen to focus on improving the depth of the browsing experience for a majority of current internet users. That means the major browsers on fairly recent machines and mobile.

We're not perfect, but we're improving day by day. If you have any problems/suggestions, feel free to email me at firstname.lastname@example.com

</comment><comment><USER5> Must give email before you show me a reason I want to give you my email?

No thanks.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey there, fair point and we're workin on a tour! For now you can see screen shots on SwissMiss's website. Should be enough to convince :-)

<comment><USER5> But you need to show me the reason I want to give you my email. I don't see why the website needs my email to show me recipes.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Gojee.com is poorly tested because it was attempting to animate giant background images which bring an older machine or one without a GPU to a crawl.</comment>


Only Microsoft Edge will play Netflix content at 1080p on your PC - <AUTHOR> http://www.pcworld.com/article/3095259/browsers/confirmed-only-microsoft-edge-will-play-netflix-content-at-1080p-on-your-pc.html <comment><USER2> I like how this post tries to make it sound as if it's some kind of technical achievement that Microsoft was capable of but the other browser vendors weren't.

This is because of HTML5 DRM, which many here cheered when it came "because it would get rid of plugins". Now that same DRM is going to give Microsoft monopoly power over what kind of apps get to use its Windows DRM for HTML5 video.

DRM is no good at stopping piracy, but it's certainly amazing for creating monopolists in the content industry.

<comment><USER3> But the content owners ARE "monopolists" by right, they own it just like you are a "monopolist" with respect to your labor and the fruits therefrom.</comment></comment>


Show HN: AppSMS – make apps for people without smartphones - <AUTHOR> http://www.appsms.co/

<comment><USER2> I'm not sure how large the background file is but it took a few seconds to load. That may be a visual effect you're going after but I'd think you could compress the image a bit more. Just a heads up.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. Sometimes I miss that kind of stuff because the image is cached on my compu. I'll fix that in the next release.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I recently shared this. Looks like we're quite similar, but still a little different :)

[http://www.smscmd.net/](http://www.smscmd.net/)

</comment><comment><USER4> This is a neat idea. Why would i use this vs. Twilio? Just curious.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks.

To use something like Twilio, you'd have to pay. It's not immediately apparent, but this operates entirely for free, using the 'email to SMS' bridge that all major carriers already have. At some point I'll open-source it, but essentially, it just replies to emails using SMTP.</comment></comment>


The MIT Mood Meter - <AUTHOR> http://kdivvela.posterous.com/the-mit-mood-meter

<comment><USER2> Seems like there is a missing component: Frowning. When the lowest mood available is "calm," it feel like it's missing half the picture...

<comment><USER3> That's exactly what I thought. I stood there for half a minute looking incredibly silly trying to make it frown. My guess would be that frowns are more subtle and harder to detect.

</comment></comment><comment> a-priori Cute idea... but really this isn't measuring MIT's mood, but it's sociability. When people are alone, they tend to have a neutral expression regardless of their mood. This is also true in public but non-social situations like sitting on a bus or subway. Conversely, in North American culture anyway (and probably others, especially many European cultures), people tend to smile when they're talking with one another -- again, regardless of mood.

</comment><comment><USER4> Theres another one in the stata center. Seeing it alone made me smile :)

</comment><comment><USER5> I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend to be one of those deaf-mutes

</comment><comment><USER6> I assumed that this was going to be gathered from twitter and facebook statuses, then shown as an overall average of the current mood.</comment>


Ultrabooks to be priced above $1,000 - <AUTHOR> http://www.i4u.com/47337/ultrabooks-windows-world-weapon-against-macbook-air-be-priced-above-1000

<comment><USER2> When they first talked about ultrabooks they showed one that was $999 and said they are going to be "under $1000". Well considering the "under $1000" meant $999 then, I knew they won't be able to hold that price for long. Intel _wants_ ultrabooks to be above $1000, because Intel cares a lot more about profit _per unit_ than they do about volume.

Intel's DNA is to sell expensive chips. This is why ARM will disrupt their low-end/mid-end laptop ranges within the next 2 years, when Chromebooks, Windows 8 machines and even Macbooks will start having ARM chips.

The whole point of the ultra-books was to make reasonably priced, decent performance (ULV chips )but slim and good looking notebooks, but they are now turning them into "premium" notebooks.</comment>


Show HN: Toronto - Drop off things you don't need and pick up those you do - <AUTHOR> http://dropmart.ca <comment><AUTHOR> Only available in Toronto at the moment</comment>


Ingredient delivery for restaurant recipes - <AUTHOR> http://www.forage.co <comment><USER3> Is there any difference between this and blueapron? Do I get to choose which recipe I'd like to have delivered?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, you get to pick the recipes you want each week.

We kept hearing from our early users that they didn't have an hour to spend cooking every night. We knew that restaurants could fire any dish in 20 min, so we really focused on how to use the same techniques they do to make a 20-min dinner possible for home cooks without compromising on flavor. We're the only service that offers delicious, home-cooked meals in 20 mins or less.

<comment><USER4> Dumb question, but if this is marketed at folks who are short on time for preparing meals then why not just offer delivery of cooked restaurant meals?

<comment><USER5> If meals were delivered cooked, then you'd have to arrange for the delivery to occur near the time you wished to eat, unless you are willing to refrigerate them and reheat them. If you do that, you are essentially eating leftovers. Ingredients can be delivered and stored well before it is time to cook.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I'm curious as to what your turnaround time from order to delivery is?

We actually tried something pretty similar last year here in Portland (the site is still alive at www.localplate.com although we have ceased operations), we found it pretty challenging just to get people to plan ahead far enough for our offering to be viable. (We came across some consumer research that something like 70% of households don't have a plan for dinner until sometime the same day.)

We eventually tried distribution through existing retail channels which definitely helped with the traction side but made the economics pretty challenging. :)

Best of luck though, it's an interesting space with a lot of people attacking it from different directions right now.

(E-mail is in my profile if you want to know any more about our experience.)

<comment><AUTHOR> I appreciate your comment. I just sent you an email and would to chat more.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I wonder what this will actually look like in practice. Will they be sending subscribers restaurant-branded ingredients to make named dishes from their menus, will they be marketed as approximations, or just generic recipes?

<comment><AUTHOR> We're working directly with the restaurants to create the meals. Often the restaurants make a key ingredient in their own kitchen. Other times they'll share the recipe with our chef and we do it.

What restaurants have mastered is how to prepare delicious meals quickly. Anything you order in a restaurant can be served in 20 mins or less. What we're doing is taking their techniques for making things fast and making them available to home cooks.

<comment><USER8> I'm surprised they work with you, arn't you basically in direct competition with them?

<comment><AUTHOR> The restaurants love it. We're free marketing for them. We introduce their brand to a much larger audience and everyone who makes one of their dishes wants to see how their cooking compares to the restaurant experience.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Smart team, who knows the food space well. Agree with Josh that sending all the ingredients is key, as well as finding great unique recipes that can be ordered (I assume) any time.

Seems like a cool mix of Blue Apron & Goldbely.

</comment><comment><USER10> I'm curious how many of these kinds of services the market will bear - <USER2> seem to be quite a few clones now. And do they have staying power?

I think people are curious to see what they are all about, but I suspect this kind of food shopping experience will not change peoples behavior longterm.

I tried Blue Apron and was generally happy with the service, but canceled it because it put too many constraints on my week - I had to stay home and cook Monday - Wednesday or else the ingredients would perish.

The bigger issue for me though was packaging waste. I hate all the plastic crap that was generated out of a meal.

<comment><AUTHOR> Clearly I'm biased, but I think we're only beginning to reimagine what a grocery store of the future will look like.

I totally feel you with regards to packaging waste. One of the key areas we've been focusing on in our beta is making sure our packaging is minimal. All the packaging we do send is reusable, biodegradable or recyclable.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Pretty much the same concept as these guys who are doing it in London: www.simplycook.com

<comment><AUTHOR> We're a little different in that we actually send you everything you need to make the dish (minus salt, pepper & olive oil). Forage would be considerably less valuable to me if I still had to make the trek to the grocery store and deal with all the waste that goes along with that.

<comment><USER11> Totally agree! I'd be really interested to see how pricing between the two services compares.

<comment><AUTHOR> I can't speak to their pricing, but ours is $15/serving which includes free shipping.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I'd be more excited if this was raw ingredients and not prepped ingredients. Prepping (at least for me) doesn't take all that much time; but running around different stores to get fresh ingredients does.

<comment><AUTHOR> We'll still send you raw ingredients. This isn't about pre-chopped onions. It's more about the ingredients that take forever to make at home. Think more along the lines of fresh ramen noodles or pre-marinated meats.

<comment><USER13> > Think more along the lines of fresh ramen noodles or pre-marinated meats.

Ramen noodles may be time consuming (never made them, but most noodles are), but marinated meats tend to be pretty low prep time (not much different than your example of pre-chopped onions; they may have a long _passive_ time, but other than for impulse cooking that's not really a barrier.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Can I suggest you include a sample recipe like so: [http://www.blueapron.com/pages/sample- recipes](http://www.blueapron.com/pages/sample-recipes)

</comment><comment><USER15> Great idea and product! Where do you plan to source your ingredients and how much will the customers know about where the ingredients in their meals are coming from?

<comment><AUTHOR> We're currently sourcing from some great distributers here in SF that give us really high quality ingredients. We talk a lot about the potential to bring transparency into the food chain, but we're still figuring out the best way to surface that information in our product.

<comment><USER16> Are the ingredients organic?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yep. And fresher than the grocery store because ours don't sit around for days like the ones at your local grocery store.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Neat concept - I've tried Plated which is similar.

As a note for Josh, the banner image is unreadable when the window is maximized on my 30" thunderbolt display.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the heads up. I'll look into it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> This looks a lot like Tomato Sherpa, a startup in Berkeley. [http://tomatosherpa.com/](http://tomatosherpa.com/)

</comment><comment><USER19> Nice job following the Harry's model of pre-launch promotion.

<comment><AUTHOR> We're even using their code! [https://github.com/harrystech/prelaunchr](https://github.com/harrystech/prelaunchr)

Here's the context for those who missed the story: [http://fourhourworkweek.com/2014/07/21/harrys-prelaunchr- ema...](http://fourhourworkweek.com/2014/07/21/harrys-prelaunchr-email/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Why not just to learn cook from scratch? Cooking for someone at home with restaurant pre-prepped ingredients is like ordering from McD and adding a mayonnaise to fries. If you can't make it, then learn to make it. Or go to restaurant that can make it.

<comment><USER21> Why don't you learn to program a compiler from scratch? If you can't code from bare metal, then learn to. Or outsource all your code to someone who can.

<comment><USER22> Shopping and prepping ingredients for cooking is not actually difficult...

A more apt analogy would be: using this service is like installing WordPress and a pre-built theme; prepping your own ingredients is like learning to make an HTML website from scratch.

<comment><USER23> It may not be difficult, but it's time consuming. This seems targeted at people with long commutes, or kids, who don't have a lot of time in the evenings but want to enjoy the process of cooking neat things.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Some "Developers" Just Can't Develop - <AUTHOR> http://richardsbraindump.blogspot.com/2009/08/some-developers-just-cant-develop.html

<comment><USER2> I hate it when an interviewer makes you write code _on paper_. It's like asking a truck driver to run around the room and make "put put" sounds.

<comment><USER3> I've tried it three ways: having interviewees write code on paper, on a whiteboard, and on a computer.

Of the three, the computer fares worst. Many developers work in highly customized dev environments with special keyboards or monitor layouts. Using an unfamiliar setup, cold, in a stressful situation can make them sieze up or perform poorly.

Paper is no good because you can't watch their problem-solving process without hovering over their shoulder, and they get no feedback from you if they're going into the weeds.

The whiteboard seems to work best, because you get a good give-and-take effect between the candidate and interviewer.

<comment><USER4> For frogmetrics interviews, we did screen sharing sessions. You get to watch them code in their native environment, and see how they tackle the kinds of problems you'd be paying them to solve. In fact, the project we gave everybody was the next big feature we needed to implement, and the guy who won the job just brought his already-completed code along with him.

<comment><USER5> Does it sound right to you that your next _big_ feature can be implemented during an interview, before the candidate is even hired?

I know, you didn't mean that it was all completed, but still... how much free work can you get from people before it's called abuse? If you had said "the guy who won the job just brought the best ideas with him", I'd be all happy.

<comment><USER4> Some clarifications:

1\. We only used code from the guy who won, and he never saw the other submissions.

2\. The interview project was time boxed to 24 hours. The guy who won did it in about 9 hours.

The actual feature is big, and has lots of edge cases: our devices need to be able to update themselves when new versions become available, roll back if there's an error, archive past versions, and never, ever end up in a state where they're bricked. The applicants did a small toy implementation of this functionality. The guy who won wrote good enough initial code to be used as a foundation for the rest.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> So true. I learned this the hard way just like the author, by making some very bad hires.

I had always thought it was insulting to ask interviewees to write a simple two-line strcopy() function. Of course they can -- they've got a CS degree! So I would take that as given and move straight to more abstract non-coding questions.

It took me a long time to accept the fact that many people can talk about programming very glibly but can't actually do it. At first I felt like a jerk by making people write so much simple code in interviews, but it's led to much better hiring results.

</comment><comment><USER6> part of me can't believe this was such an epiphany for this guy.

i've found the best way to screen candidates is to just ask them to sign up on project euler and work through at least three problems, in any language, and mail me the results. the quality of code i get so far is quite representative of the quality of the employee on the job.

yes, they could google the answers, but i disqualify the easiest-to-google questions (sum of multiples of 3 and 5 up to 1000, i'm lookin' at you). but honestly it doesn't matter - you can tell if they do because they can't explain it. and i can generally weed out anyone in the first place who would try to google the answer just from a skype conversation...

project euler hasn't failed me yet.

<comment><USER7> I put Project Euler on my resume (I've completed 30% of the problems), do you consider that wise?

<comment><USER8> That's really impressive. I'd interview anyone who showed such initiative. It's so common to interview "developers" who don't seem like they have any interest or passion about their work.

<comment><USER9> I think a verifiable history of open source contributions (or an active github repo) show the same sort of passion.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> It took the author of the article 10 years of interviewing candidates to realize this?

Ok, it's the author that sucks at his job. I'm sorry if that is not very constructive, but if I had to choose between having the horror show developer he describes on staff for 10 years taking up a cubicle and a paycheck, or the author on staff for 10 years hiring retards, I would take the horror show developer, as he would do far less damage in the long run.

Probably the author just has a positive view of people, and tends to see the best in people, or believes people when they tell him things. This would be fine for many jobs, but interviewing candidates requires a willingness to ruin someone's week. It is never the goal, but if a totally unqualified candidate shows up you must be willing to push them to answer questions so that you know that they are unqualified.

In any developer interview, you really only need to cover the following things:

\- The person knows what they should know, based on their resume. \- If they say they were a linux administrator for 2 years, they should know all about linux basics and shell basics, they should be able to run a machine remotely without breaking it, they should not be dependent on any gui tools, they should know the common server software people run, and so on. \- If they were a web developer for 2 years, they should know about the stuff they supposedly doing, if it was backend code they should know about cache control headers and how ajax requests are or are not cached by the big browsers, they should know POST and GET and when to use them, and so on.

Anyone who doesn't know the things they 'should' know cannot be considered further, either they are lying on their resume or they are just turds who don't learn anything.

\- They should be able to demonstrate an ability to code on the spot right in front of you. Some people claim they cannot code in front of someone else. Other than someone with an anxiety disorder, if a person can't code in front of another person it is just because they can't code at all. If their code is incorrect or suboptimal the main thing is that when you go over it they smack themselves on the forhead and seem annoyed that they would make such a mistake, and that they see right away how what they coded is wrong. If they can't get some challenging thing exactly right isn't such a problem as not 'being with it'.

\- They should be sane and law abiding, not a drug user (and here I mean drug use which you can notice or that they *brag about), and that they have an ability to conform to some baseline social norms, such as bathing every third day or better, washing their hair and clothes occasionally, use and empty their trashcan, being able to talk to people without freaking out, and not going off on people or constantly insisting on doing things however they want to do it without strong rational each time.

This is basically 'smart, gets things done, can do things (vs coercing others to pick up their slack), makes a point to learn about what they are supposed to be doing, and isn't filthy or crazy.'

<comment><USER11> _if a person can't code in front of another person it is just because they can't code at all_

Never thought of it that way before, but it makes perfect sense. If you can ride a bike, change a flat tire, or balance a checkbook, you can do it alone or in front of others. Why not the same for programming?

<comment><USER10> I don't think it's intentional deception. There are a large number of 'programmers' who read slashdot and reddit and so on religiously. They probably hold a job where they are a developer of some sort, and they know about all the buzzy hot stuff out there from reading about it, but when they sit down to code they don't get anything done. Usually they manage to carve out a niche in whatever organization they are in doing non-coding tasks.

They are complete wastes of whatever resources they consume, but they are totally oblivious to this either for psychological reasons (ego defense or something) or the usual 'incompetent people have no way to detect incompetence', but probably a generous helping of each, ego defenses prevent them from integrating the memory of each failure they are responsible for (when they are fired from one job they aren't qualified for they just apply for another job they aren't qualified for) and the incompetence thing means they are unable to detect any real reason for their suckiness, leaving them with only the potential explanations they can come up with (usually stuff about how they were distracted or were having personal problems or had too many things going at once, as they are convinced that if they could just sit long enough and work at it they would eventually get it done. They are of course wrong, no amount of time would allow them to succeed at the task in question.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I recently started interviewing developers this way. A simple pre-screening interview weeded out around 80% of the candidates. I'm still amazed at how many people applying for a "senior developer" position can't do the most simple of coding tasks. Here's an "Ask HN" post I made about this:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=747653>

</comment><comment><USER13> As I never heard of FizBuzz test mentioned in the article, I followed the link to Jeff Atwood's site (<http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000781.html>).

FizzBuzz turned out to be an extremely simple problem (description in the post).

Atwood's article starts with a quote of yet another article with the following lines:

      Like me, the author is having trouble with
      the fact that 199 out of 200 applicants for
      every programming job can't write code at all.
      I repeat: they can't write any code whatsoever.

Surely, this is an exaggeration I'd thought... How can someone who calls themselves a programmer can fail to solve FizzBuzz even at under the pressure of being at a job interview?

To my horror, I discovered that a lot of comments to Atwood's post provide an incorrect solution and only prove the point of the article.

I realize that anecdotal evidence like this does not technically prove anything, however it does make me shudder inside...

</comment><comment><USER14> That's why it is sometimes safer to hire developers with some open source background. You are able to actually read their code and (if you really want to know the person) their mailing lists messages.

</comment><comment><USER15> I'd really like to know how to prevent incapable devs from even making it to the interview step. Obviously if you email test questions but it's too easy to cheat. What else can you do?

<comment><USER16> Phone screen with not just your standard questions, but also simple algorithmic questions. An example might be to ask the candidate to write an algorithm to shuffle a deck of cards and describe it over the phone. This is sometimes a good indicator of whether they can communicate their solutions well without a whiteboard present.

<comment><USER17> For example, Steve Yegge's Five essential phone screen questions:

[http://steve.yegge.googlepages.com/five-essential-phone- scre...](http://steve.yegge.googlepages.com/five-essential-phone-screen- questions)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I wonder how these developers managed to find job.

<comment><USER19> Interviews without coding segments.

<comment><USER20> The real question is: how did they survive working at their present company for 2 years if they can't code?

<comment><USER21> Either they're at a really small company where they are the only coder and where no one has the technical background to notice that they're just playing around with a VB gui editor and cutting and pasting in lines of code they found on the web. Or they're at a really huge company where they can hide behind an army of other developers or spend all their time doing peripheral activities.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> A 1000 employee company I know almost never makes hiring mistakes and has almost no turnover. One of the first things they do in the process is on-line assessment testing through a 3rd party. It could be for a specific skill or general aptitude. Score less than the 95th percentile and they disqualify you. They pay up front to eliminate the posers so that they can focus on legitimate candidates.

<comment><USER3> I've considered doing that, but I always worry that if I put too much of a barrier up front, I'll lose the superstars who know they can get a job somewhere else with less effort.

Is this company a very famous or desirable place to work? Up-front screening could work very well in that situation. But for less well-known companies like mine, candidates are less willing to go through a lengthy process to interview with us (except the desperate ones, and we don't want those).

<comment><USER22> I don't know if I'm a 'superstar', though I don't particularly favor the term, but I'll offer my own view on the onerous hiring process.

I won't do it. That is to say, I won't do it for just any company. I try to determine if a company has their act together by interviewing them back. I don't mind (and expect) some degree of white board coding or something, but there's a level of nuttiness that isn't worth my time for a company that maybe would be good, maybe not. If it's 'just a job' I have other options.

You can get away with more onerous hiring barriers if you pay a better salary or are otherwise a more attractive candidate (top reputation, etc) for employment. If you really are getting much better hires, you should be able to pay better I suppose. I think paying for code samples, or contracting for a few hours of work, etc, are also more respectful ways to get work from a non- employee and signals to the candidate that you're serious and they're at the final step.</comment></comment></comment>


Cool vim feature: sessions - <AUTHOR> https://jvns.ca/blog/2017/09/10/vim-sessions/ <comment><USER2> A tip (and shameless promotion) - here's a pair of functions that make the saving of sessions and loading them easier :

[https://github.com/lonetwin/lonetvim/blob/master/vimrc#L279](https://github.com/lonetwin/lonetvim/blob/master/vimrc#L279)

Behaviour should be fairly self evident from the code. Feel free to ask if it isn't.</comment>


Using AI and Instagram to suggest bars, coffee spots, restaurants and shops - <AUTHOR> https://7places.co <comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for taking the time to check this out!

7places is an advice tool, bringing you the best 7places to go to based on a place you like. When you click the "Get the best 7places" button, you can select a venue to base the advice on.

The tool makes hundreds of requests to Instagram and Facebook in the background within seconds, and uses a self made algorithm to create the advice.

Would love to get some feedback on this from the HN community. Feel free to ask!</comment>