Now you see it, now you don't (Google rolls out fade-in homepage) - <AUTHOR> http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/now-you-see-it-now-you-dont.html

<comment><USER2> Hah! A couple of weeks back I was working (face-time) with a client, trying to figure out some bizarre website behaviors on a project.

Every time we loaded the Google home page, it did the fade in thing, and I couldn't replicate it on any of my systems, even though the client was hooked into my local network at the time.

It drove me _nuts_ , doubly so since I couldn't find any evidence of it happening to anyone else. I finally concluded that either Google had done something funky with their page code, or something was hosed up in a bizarre way in her copy of IE 8.

Thanks, Google.

<comment><USER3> Heh the hazards of A/B tests... I often wonder what percentage of A/B test subjects casually use one anothers' computers and get confused/annoyed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I loved the screenshot of the ultra minimalistic barcode logo and fade combination:

[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7ZYqYi4xigk/Sxb_MsMIxyI/AAAAAAAAFC...](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7ZYqYi4xigk/Sxb_MsMIxyI/AAAAAAAAFC0/IqU_3tGQCUU/s1600-h/barcode_mockup_fade.gif)

</comment><comment><USER5> I'm not sure I really see the point of this. I mean the fade lasts for approx. 3 seconds, by which time I have hardly got my cursor to the search box let alone started typing. I agree they could reduce some of the other visual noise on the page but this seems... unnecessary.

[edit] I also use the top left controls an awful lot to access gmail etc. since I have google set as my homepage. Now I have to wait before I can access these? Poor usability. [/edit]

<comment><USER6> It seems like if you move your mouse, the homepage will show everything. The idea seems to be just go to google.com, and type what you want to search without moving your mouse.

<comment><USER5> Ah, well spotted. I didn't notice that. I stand by my original point though, why should I have to wait?

<comment><USER7> They are making you wait so that users on their happy path have less distractions.

Worth noting that the animation lasts about half a second, not three. And that people on the happy path will not need to wait. And that the main problem isn't the wait, but that if you want Mail or News you have to move the mouse before you know where to click, so the initial movement will be in the wrong direction.

<comment><USER8> If the fade in elements stay in the same places, then won't low-level/muscle memory take care of the initial movement being usually in the right direction?

<comment><USER7> I'd entertain the possibility, but I'm not sure. I hardly ever access google.com directly. I mostly use Chrome, where I search from the address bar directly, and in Safari and Firefox I search using the "g %s" bookmark from the address bar. I have gmail as a thumbnail in the Chrome new tab start page, and in other browsers I type it in directly.

So, no anecdotes from me. Hopefully the Google guys have tested this themselves, and perhaps it does happen.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I hate this passionately. Google is my home page, and now every time I open a new browser window, I see a distracting animation.

<comment><USER10> <http://www.google.com/intl/en/> is still non-bloated.

If they are going to ruin that page too, Bing will suddenly become more attractive.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Mmm... maybe I'm just feeling flibbly today but I'm not a big fan of this. It makes me feel seasick for some reason.

<comment><USER12> I'm sure you're not alone. My beau gets motion sickness at the sight of some GUIs, and I get seizures from same. Hence, I will not be taking a look at Google's new homepage, and I'm going to warn him about this change.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I think it serves some purpose. Google's homepage is so plain you could almost mistake it for being antiquated and neglected. This little fade effect is a subtle reminder that it's simplistic by design.

</comment><comment><USER14> Isn't it poor user interface design to _hide_ controls?

<comment><USER15> Their metrics indicate that it works, and I'm inclined to believe the hard evidence over the vague guidelines of the UI textbooks. Besides, Google is used extremely frequently. They may want an interface that is efficient rather than one that is immediately intuitive.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> What is more interesting to notice is the aggressive use of Javascript on Google's homepage as for long Google has tried to keep the old browsers without JS support in mind. This indicates that the web is rapidly moving towards more advanced browsers.

<comment><USER17> With chrome now Google has a vested interest in pushing the benefits of JavaScript in web applications, then telling IE users that chrome will improve performance.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> One nice benefit of the change is that the home page now looks much nicer in a "top sites" or "speed dial" or whatever you want to call it mode. It stands out.

I like it.

</comment><comment><USER19> This is a really interesting user experience shift, given the minimalist nature of chrome.

It's almost like a little HAL box.

</comment><comment><USER20> I like it, but it's mostly an aesthetic response. Maybe it's not a big improvement in usability, but it certainly is visually.

</comment><comment><USER21> Is this supposed to be what everyone sees? I don't see any fade-in effects on their home page. (Mac OS X 10.4 and Safari 4).

<comment><USER22> Me neither. But I'm also using Safari 4.

Few weeks back, on my friend's IE8, the homepage was missing the Google Search and I'm Feeling Lucky Buttons. So they're probably just testing it on select users still, or testing it on IE 8.

<comment><USER23> They were testing it back then, but now it seems they are launching it to everyone. However, gotta clear caches in Safari to see it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> In general, the home page of an organization tells you everything you need to know about its internal structure. Companies that don't know what they're doing have confusing home pages. A focused company has a very clean home page. This is one step beyond even that.

Say what you will about Google, but name any other big web property that innovates on core services like this. Facebook maybe. Who else?

<comment><USER25> Amazon. I know many will complain about how they're cluttered, but Amazon is very test-centric and is constantly evolving their site based on statistical testing to improve the business metrics that matter to them.

<comment><USER24> Lots of stuff on the page != cluttered != confusing</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Should I accept offer from one of the largest Silicon Valley Companies? - <AUTHOR> I am at a startup currently, although it acts more like a enterprise. I worry about the longevity of the company given the way it is run. I really enjoy using tools like Ruby, rails, mongodb, mysql, postgres, sinatra, git, and practicing tdd(although no one else really does it :( ), as well as playing with cool new things like asynchronous frameworks. (Node.js etc)
The company I would be going to is SVN, oracle, old school java web framework, no tdd, talking to them about asynchronous frameworks was like I was speaking a different language.  However the company is a big brand name and would be cool to say I work for.
I am really torn about what to do.  I hope to go in and try to change them but they may be too successful for their own good and not be open to new ways to do things.  I have a friend already there but he is old although is into things like TDD, he sees stuff like async as newfangled and "YAGNI" :/.
Meanwhile by his account their services are totally memory bound and barely use 10% cpu...
It feels like it would be insurmountable to change them and the way they do things.  Perhaps I am going the wrong way and I need to find a more agile startupy startup? <comment><USER2> From the way you describe these two companies, it sounds like the best alternative would be neither. It's a seller's market for hackers right now. You should be able to find somewhere you really like.

</comment><comment><USER3> Nope, don't do it. You're gonna feel trapped and regretful. I only say this because it happened to me.

</comment><comment><USER4> If you're looking in the bay area, I'm going to be shamlessly self-promotional and suggest <http://www.justin.tv/jobs/apply> (the form just sends me an email).

Not only do we use ruby, rails, mongodb, postgres, git, and an async framework (Twisted/Python), we are a startup-y startup. Feel free to email me email@example.com if you have any questions. More info is available online at <http://www.justin.tv/jobs/jobs>.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Thanks guys I appreciate the advice.</comment>


2 Navy Airmen and an Object That 'Accelerated Like Nothing I've Ever Seen' - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/us/politics/unidentified-flying-object-navy.html <comment><USER2> The key question here is not if these stories are true, or what the objects may be. The question is... Why does the government want to bring UFOs to the fore at this time?

<comment><USER3> I was wondering that too -- also in the news recently, the "interstellar object" that for some reason has attracted enough attention to scan it for "alien life", whatever that means.

[https://www.space.com/39100-interstellar-object-oumuamua- ali...](https://www.space.com/39100-interstellar-object-oumuamua-alien-life- search.html)

Is this leading up to some big news story to deflect news from something else?

<comment><USER4> Look over there, Chrome Space Puppies!

[https://harvardgazette.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/jeff- koon...](https://harvardgazette.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/jeff-koons- balloon-dog-yellow_605.jpg?w=605&h=403)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is [also] a [multiple] dupe from a few days ago. An established discussion has already taken place or is in progress.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15941580](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15941580)

</comment><comment><USER6> CDR Fravor was a simulator instructor of mine when I went through training a decade ago. He was also featured in the PBS Special "Carrier" a few years ago.

Somehow ends up in the limelight over and over! His callsign is most certainly NSFW.

<comment><USER7> He did look very familiar. Now I know why. I remember him saying near end of the series that he was retiring instead of having to take assignment that would have him pilot desks.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I can give my own example of an utterly astonishing gob-smacking sight which turned out to have a fairly simple explanation. I invite people to speculate on what it was...

About 7am I was travelling in a ferry on Sydney Harbour about 400m east of the bridge. I saw a giant (50m diameter?) golden glowing ball hover on the other (west) side of the bridge. It was definitely not _on_ the bridge. It maintained its position for over 30 seconds.

Then it changed and the actuality was revealed.

<comment><USER9> Reflection of some light source in the window?

<comment><USER8> Very warm. But why didn't it (appear to) move in relation to other things. It should have since I was moving south around 20km/h.

            ||
        me  brdge  giantball
        |   ||
        v   ||

<comment><USER8> Ok here it is since I have to go ...

It was the reflection of the sun in an airplane's cockpit window. The airplane was actually maybe five kilometres away but the extreme brightness played with my sense of distance. The window must have been flat for the reflection to be so bright.

It didn't appear to move because its speed north relative to the bridge matched my speed south -- i.e. the line between me and the airplane crossed (just west of) the bridge at the same point for a long time. The point of reflection must've been tiny. But it was right on me. I suspect no-one else in the ferry saw what I saw. And it must be extraordinarily rare for the circumstances to be maintained for so long. The illusion disappeared after the ferry and airplane made their turns.

<comment><USER8> The bigger point here is that if you have people self select and report visual illusions it would be amazing if you _didn 't_ hear about something inexplicable.

So all this stuff about UFO sightings means about zero.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Nice distraction. When so many other frightening issues are all around us.

</comment><comment><USER11> This recounts an event that happened in 2004, FYI.

</comment><comment><USER12> wow.. someone on here is a hardcore ufoite...</comment>


Brain, Bytes, Back, Buns - The Programmer's Priorities - <AUTHOR> http://www.hanselman.com/blog/BrainBytesBackBunsTheProgrammersPriorities.aspx?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ScottHanselman+%28Scott+Hanselman+-+ComputerZen.com%29 <comment><USER2> I'd like to add one more "B" to OP's title: Body.

I have found after many years of programming that how I take care of my body _before_ I ever sit down is much more important than the environment I sit down to. I have sat in over 100 offices of every possible condition (some you wouldn't believe) and have figured out that there's a "time warp" involved here... If I've taken care of myself, then I can function quite well in the worst client dump. If I haven't taken care of myself, then the most expensive of everything won't help much.

I have had scoliosis my whole life, so I've had to learn how to take care of myself or I never would have made it this far. Some of the things I always do:

      - jogging (3-4x per week)
      - body weight exercises (I love Hindu squats and push-ups.)
      - stair climbing
      - proper eating (a whole subject itself)
      - monthly chiropractic visits
      - getting out of my chair every hour (a must for ANY chair)

Oddly, I have never really followed most of OP's advice because I never thought it was very important. Most other programmers can't believe me, but here is my typical arrangement:

      - cheapest chair from yard sale
      - cheapest (disposable) laptop (currently $350 Lenova)
      - one monitor (I can't stand > 1; I lose my focus.)
      - good keyboard & mouse (the only things I don't skimp on)
      - any work surface, as long as it's lower than 29"
      - at least one feline companion

OP brings up some good points, but the most important thing is to find out what will work for you for years. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

<comment><USER3> You had me right up to chiropractic.

Studies have shown chiropractic to be no better than placebo for pretty much all conditions other than lower back pain. For lower back pain it is better than placebo but not massively and given the associated risks (please tell me you don't let him near your neck) you'd be better off with more conventional remedies.

Don't get me wrong, if it makes you feel better then that's fine (though you should be aware of the risks). Most Chiropractors are nice, well meaning people, but medically it is unfortunately largely bunkum.

(Incidentally as far as I can tell there is no good evidence to support chiropractic in the treatment of scoliosis, though I'm sure your chiropractor has a different opinion.)

100% agree though with looking after your body though.

<comment><USER4> Have you ever used a Chiropractor?

<comment><USER5> He wasn't saying it didn't work at all--he's saying it didn't work better than an actor make-believing he's a chiropractor.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I spent 4 years work standing up, at a drawing desk - it was really great. I had a high chair to sit on if you needed to but most of the time I was standing with a pen in my hand and the board at a slight tilt towards me. I wasn't an architect or draughtsman so I wasn't using the t-square - just pen and paper, but I long for those days.

I never got tired because you move all the time, and I never had back problems. OK I was younger then.

I once saw a long since removed video of a touch interface demo'd on an A0 size table by a company that Apple subsequently bought (about 10 years ago) I'm wondering if they'll ever get round to producing that device for real - I'd certainly by a desk sized touch screen mac and get back to the good ol' days.

</comment><comment><USER7> How do I find the right chair for me? I have visited those expensive chair stores and tried a bunch, but it seems like none of them really clicked with me. Or at least, in the time while I was at the store.

Also, is there anyone/anywhere I can talk about setting up my desk properly? I've reviewed a lot of the literature online but still seem to deal with my desk setup triggering flareups after using for a long time...especially with something like Starcraft. I'm starting to think the fact that I took the arms off my chair is making my forearms tense up since they have to both flex (to move my fingers) and hold themselves up.

<comment><USER8> UCLA ergonomics is your friend:

<http://ergonomics.ucla.edu/office_Chair.html>

<http://ergonomics.ucla.edu/ws_checklist.html>

I dont think there's a perfect chair, just pick a sturdy one that adjusts a lot and keep adjusting it all day. Also, i find that when the chair is on a carpet floor, thus not able to roll easily, i feel more comfortable than when it rolls easily.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Some tiny details seem to make a big difference for me:

\- A clicky, model-m type keyboard makes it easier to type effortlessly

\- I find i get full-body rigidity when i try to do precision tracking with my mouse. That's why i love the alt-click to move/resize conventions of linux window managers which unfortunately i cant have anywhere else

\- An ipad is a good excuse to get up and read that article walking around instead of sitting

\- Good lighting , and a window in my visual field so i can fixate at distant objects and rest my eyes. f.lux also helps

\- More than 1 monitors are eye sore, i prefer 1 large screen

<comment><USER9> You can also a standing desk. If you are into nice keyboards, you might want to give the Kinesis Advantage a try. (It's expensive, but nice.)

<comment><USER8> The problem with non-standard keyboards is that when you find yourself working on someone else's desk it's too hard to adapt.

<comment><USER9> Actually, not. Have you tried?

I find the short term transition between Dvorak and qwerty when using other people's computer much harder than just the shape of the keyboard. (And setting other computers to Dvorak for temporarily is easy nowadays.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> This is almost my set up exactly. My parents got me an Aeron when I graduated college, and I recently went to three monitors. Three really is the sweet spot -- I keep Emacs split vertically on the middle monitor, a series of Chrome tabs open on the left screen for reference, and a mosaic of terminals on the right.

</comment><comment><USER11> Pro-tip for "programmer's back" - take pilates. Just do it. You'll feel like an idiot for a while, but my god will it improve your back strength and flexibility. Most back pain actually comes from your hip flexors, and so you end up working AROUND your back rather than on it directly, which makes it easier to get started. And unlike pumping iron at the gym, you generally leave class feeling taller and refreshed.

<comment><USER12> Speak for yourself. Serious lifting at the gym works wonders for me. And the posterior chain work I do (squats, deads, GHRs, GMs), as well as my typical cardio (erging, other than walking around) helps with the flexor/extensor imbalances many people have. Used to do some kettlebell work, not so much these days but just for lack of KBs at the gym.

I've done various physical activity through the years, and I've found that virtually any of it provides real benefits: strength training, as mentioned, also HIIT cardio, long-duration cardio, stretching and flexibility work, foam rolling / myofascial release. You want to work each system in balance.

Pilates (or any other single practice) may be fine of itself but it's not a One True Solution either.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I totally agree with every word of it. Buying good stuff (good as in quality, not in fancy) is crucial to make your life better and easier as a professional programmer and I bet one of my fingers that this holds true for other professions too.

I'm just sad that most of this (best chair in the world, motorized desk) are not available (at least not close to an affordable price) in most countries, being Brazil one of them :(

</comment><comment><USER14> Also, anyone suffering from wrist pain, mine went away after I bought one of these for use in the office: [http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en- us/p/natural-ergonomic-...](http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/p/natural- ergonomic-keyboard-4000/B2M-00012)

I don't have one at home (they aren't that good for games so I haven't bothered to change my home setup) but just using it for the 8 hrs in the office a day was enough to get rid of the constant pain. Take a little getting used to , but really the way your hands sit on the keyboard make more sense than twisting them in to sit properly on a flat keyboard.

<comment><USER15> Wrist pain, the Dynaflex and powerWeb and wrist curl bar seem to have helped a lot of musicians, rock climbers etc

[http://www.guitarcenter.com/Finger-Exercisers-Practice--- Per...](http://www.guitarcenter.com/Finger-Exercisers-Practice---Performance- Aids,New-Gear.gc)

[http://www.amazon.com/Weider-Wrist-and-Forearm- Developer/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Weider-Wrist-and-Forearm- Developer/dp/B002DHIRX0/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> 3 monitors is absolutely the sweet spot. On my MBP I use 2 USB display adapters and shut the lid to give me 3 external monitors running, works really well for a number of workflows. To main screen setups I find most useful are Web Dev: Web Page - Code - Documentation/Google/command line and TDD: Test Code - Code under test - test runner

<comment><USER16> What's the latency like with USB display adapters?

I've been running a triple-head setup for years, which is one of the reasons I've never been able to use my MBP as my primary machine.

<comment><USER14> under Windows they perform really well, no noticeable difference between them and the main screen, on OSX they aren't quite as good in certain applications because their drivers aren't as solid for OpenGL but I barely notice it

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> _If you are waiting for your computer, you are wasting time._

Humans can work around waiting. Computers can't. No matter what I do, it's my computer that is waiting for me most of the day. The occasional compilation run that takes a while I can wait: I use the time to ponder about my code, or looking for an answer to something I didn't quite get right, or just staring forward and getting a feel for the program I was writing. I might tinker with an Emacs buffer without saving so as to not interfere with the compilation. I often work better when compilations are slow: I realize I need to be sharper myself to justify another recompilation. This means fewer bugs and more thinking before writing.

For reference, I have a fairly new quad-core laptop with lots of memory but I'm working on a huge project that certainly takes a few minutes to compile, minimum. I'm still better off with a laptop instead of a more powerful desktop system because the mobility suits my living and coding habits better, so I'm intentionally volunteering for a perf hit.

</comment><comment><USER18> Aeron chairs look awesome but they're not that good. The Steelcase Leap is a lot better.

<comment><USER19> What are the quality on those?

I've been sitting in a Steelcase Think for a few months now and, for a $700+ chair, it feels cheap. It is crazy configurable and seems to be doing all the right things, but here are some of the problems with it:

One of the chairs arrived broken. I understand that shipping is stressful but if a chair breaks during the stresses of shipping, I cannot imagine the rigors of thousands of hours of work is good for it.

It looks metallic and even has a metallic name, but it is mostly plastic.

The lumbar .. bar never stays up. It will also get caught between the horizontal "wires" that make up the back of the chair. These two annoyances means that no one uses the lumbar support.

And, lastly, it just feels like a cheap knockoff of a "real chair". I have been attributing this as a manufacturer-wide problem with Steelcase and just assumed that the Think chair would be symbolic of the rest of their line. That's why I'm surprised to hear a comment that suggests a Leap _over_ an Aeron. Did they just suck with the ultra-configurable Leap and actually make better chairs in general?

<comment><USER20> Individual fit makes a big difference here. I prefer a Steelcase Leap or (especially) a Haworth Zody to an Aeron, and I know others who prefer Aerons. Based on my experience, those issues w/ your Leap are unusual.

I also really like using a lap desk and coding in an Eames lounge chair, but that's probably not as good from an ergonomic standpoint.

(Incidentally, I live within an hour's drive of where all four are produced, and great furniture is occasionally quite cheap on craigslist here. My wife snagged an Aeron for $50!)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I think wrists are as important as back. Of course that doesn't start with a B.

<comment><USER22> Agree 110% - I destroyed my wrists at age 18 working 12hrs/day on a startup (who recently got acquired, congrats guys!) because my setup was ergonomically very poor and I had terrible typing technique.

Luckily, I had my parents' health insurance and was able to go to physical therapy 2x-3x a week. They were both able to reverse some of the damage done, and teach me proper typing technique and other "work hygiene".

I've worked just as hard since and I've never had any problems since, by rigorously doing my exercises and practicing good technique. I'm surprised there's rather a lot of discussion in hacker circles about the best chair, but so little discussion of other ergonomic concerns and typing technique.

My mom, who has been a software professional for over 30 years, has been dragging around the same external trackpad from job to job. It now has a serial to PS/2 adapter behind a PS/2 to USB adapter, but she swears by that thing. Mice are awful for wrists.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> After years with a super cheap Office Depot chair I just purchased my first nice chair (an Embody who should be delivered today). Funny thing is that the bad chair messed up my back enough to cost me in chiropractic visits more than the nice chair.

</comment><comment><USER24> Invest in a good window that you can see out of too - it will let you look up every few minutes and change your focal point, thus reducing eye strain and the eventual headaches that follow.

</comment><comment><USER25> i sometimes feel guilty because I consciously spend ~1 hr of my workday working on whatever I want to learn about on my employers dime. These crazy side projects almost always pay off for that employer or the next one 6 to 24 months down the road.

Yet I feel guilty about this. Am I the only one that 1) does this and 2) feels guilty about it?

</comment><comment><USER26> My sore back loves my "Ma Roller". It's a self-massage tool that's like a rolling pin for your back. It can be intense for the uninitiated, but if you enjoy _deep_ massages then you will like the Ma Roller.

<http://www.themaroller.com/howtouse.html>

</comment><comment><USER15> Good prudent advice, shd be appendix to oneo f McConnell's books.

I would add, keep some exercise equipment and musical isntruments nearby to keep your brain zonable. I recommend a exercise ball and chinup bar with some TRX training straps. And a Ibanez electric guitar and a clarinet!

</comment><comment><USER27> I recently got a new (and hideously expensive) memory foam mattress. I have to say that it does make me feel less sore in the morning.

That said, the mattress before it was a cheap piece of crap, so it's possible that anything would've felt like an improvement.

</comment><comment><USER28> Knowledge in your brain don't stay forever. You forget. Use SRS software to help keep your memory up.

</comment><comment><USER29> About a month ago, I bought a used Steelcase Criterion chair from an office liquidator for $120 (I believe it was Portland Office Furniture). I think the retail on these was around $800, and mine was in great condition. It looks like an ordinary office chair, but it's super adjustable. Seat height and back height, of course, plus arm height and _arm width_ , overall tilt, seat position forward/back (it slides), and back tilt adjustment. Unlike any other chair I've ever had with a tilting back, this one can be locked in a properly upright position.

As you may or may not recall, I built a standing desk and was using that for about six months. It helped, but my neck/shoulder pain continued.

Three days after getting this Criterion chair and having proper elbow support, my neck started cracking like crazy. For the first time in three years, my neck muscles were able to properly relax. I'm sleeping on a normal pillow for the first time in two years.

So, my conclusion is that adjustable elbow/forearm support is absolutely critical. This goes against all of the old ergonomic literature I've read. Also, upright posture is very important, and you can't achieve that with a chair that lets you sag backwards.

Since most of HN is quite young, I'll do the old guy thing and give a stern warning: you may not have any problems now. You probably think your back and neck will be fine. And you might be right. But here's the thing: you won't know whether you're susceptible to these sorts of injuries until you develop one, and then it's too late. And by the way, stop slouching. ;-)

For those who haven't looked into it, you can usually find a good, used chair on Craigslist, from a liquidator like I did, or from a private party. Aerons go for $400 - $500, if you can get one for $350 it's a fantastic deal. Criterions go for $100 - $300. The Steelcase Leap is usually $300 - $500. All of these chairs are ridiculously durable, and replacement parts are available.

<comment><USER26> > Aerons go for $400 - $500, if you can get one for $350 it's a fantastic > deal. Criterions go for $100 - $300.

Do you prefer the Criterion's ergonomics to Aeron's? Or do you feel the Criterion is just a economical alternative?

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> I know memory is fairly inexpensive these days, but I think 4GiB of RAM is excessive. I did have a 2x1 dual channel kit in my laptop until one of the sticks went bad about a year ago. I never bothered to replace it, and I haven't suffered either. Right now I'm running a browser with several tabs open, a few shells in one terminal emulator, a couple of file manager windows, a PDF viewer, and an editor with a few tabs open (this is about all I typically use when programming), and I'm using around 615MiB-- a little over half-- of my mem and 0MiB of swap. I wouldn't have much to gain from another 3GiB of memory even if it is only a few dollars more.

<comment><USER31> >> _a browser with several tabs open_

I almost never have "several" tabs open. It's usually ~15 tabs on my main browser (Chrome), and often more than 30. And also an additional 5 tabs in Firefox, Safari, and several versions of IE.

Right now, web browsers are using over 2GB of memory. This is fairly typical from the web developers that I work with. So perhaps it depends on what your software targets. But I would argue if you're building web apps, then 4GB RAM is by no means excessive.

<comment><USER32> At my previous job (working on e-commerce sites built on IBM Websphere Commerce) the server setup was so heavy and complicated and client-specific that we did everything in VMs that were passed around on external hard drives. If I was working on one client and needed to look up something for another, I regularly came close to maxing out my full 8 gig of RAM.</comment></comment></comment>


Sorry, Startups: Party's Over - <AUTHOR> http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/10/vcs-angels-to-startups-look-out-for-that-meteor-that-just-hit-you-

<comment><USER2> I call bullshit on all of this doom and gloom for startups.

We just need to buckle down, be cheap, creative and survive. Get to revenues quickly. But that doesn't mean its the end of the world.

This is when startups are made. The big Web 2.0 blockbusters all started up with things were down. Entrepreneurship is all about maximizing output using scarce resources. Lets do it then!

<comment><USER3> thats the problem isn't it? Almost all of these venture backed startups have been pissing money away left and right. This credit crunch won't affect those startups that are self funded. The only ones that'll be affected are those with huge staffs which they can't afford in the first place

<comment><USER4> Just because your startup is self funded doesn't mean you won't be impacted.

* If you charge money for a product and your customers are no longer willing to spend money, you're in trouble.

* If you rely on advertising for revenue and companies reduce their ad spending, you're in trouble.

* If you're hoping to get acquired and your potential acquirers are no longer able to spend money because of plummeting stock prices, you're in trouble.

<comment><USER3> the difference is that a small team startup has to make a lot less revenue to survive. A big new startup on the other hand would have a few million a year just in salary expenses.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I wonder if investors are proclaiming tough times simply because it's in their incentives to push down valuations :)

Seriously though,once "everybody" starts proclaiming the truth, it's usually a counter-sign that "everybody" is wrong.

It's harder to ride the bubble in a recession, but it's still possible to create great companies in downturns.

<comment><USER6> Exactly, see startups focusing on new energy, frugal living and international markets.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> The way I see it, there are two big opportunities for startups in hard times.

Firstly, some old businesses will be shutting their doors, and every time a business closes down it leaves behind a bunch of unserved customers, who presumably could be served at a profit by a more efficient business.

Secondly, people will be more likely than they are in boom times to break out of their existing habits and move to a lower-cost competitor. If you can find a way of providing people with things they _need_ at a lower cost than the existing players, you can grow really fast.

Startups which exist to provide people with new and innovative ways to poke each other, on the other hand, might not do so well.

Oh, and one additional idea to throw out there while I think of it: a site aimed at highly-skilled but newly unemployed workers, with a combination of job-finding tools and commiseration.

</comment><comment><USER8> Party? What party?

Oh, you mean the "We need to raise zillions to build our start-up, kthxbai" party?

Never joined that one.

I think the recession will be great for my start-up. It helps companies be more efficient and cut costs, and in a recession, that's exactly what they want.

<comment><USER9> Haha likewise and I indirectly sell discretionary goods.

It's already becoming a self fulfilling prophecy. I think that's why Cuban is buying.

<comment><USER10> Cuban was talking about a market correction to oversold conditions, not at all about an impending economic rebound.

<comment><USER9> Understood. But the doom & gloom message isn't just affecting stock markets.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> i can see articles like this, and other chicken little articles and notices applying to big-funding startups, but what i haven't seen is how this applies to the little guys. me and my partners launched very recently (and were reviewed here, flowmingle.com for the curious), and we are currently unfunded. we're in the very very early stages of seeking funding, but on the scale of bubble money we're not looking for much -- just enough to move the servers to EngineYard and get a few ad campaigns out in a few major markets to start building a user base.

so in our case, i have a day job, and that job helps support the crew, both of which live very lean. i have the highest expense set (and the most experience, and can generate the highest salary) so i'm the one who works.

what does this mean for the little guys? is there still money out there for people who don't need a dump truck full, but still have a phenomenal idea?

these are the questions i'm looking to have answered. someone want to write that article?

<comment><USER6> Forget your startup, I'd be more concerned with your day job with the overall economic downturn (unless your self employed).

If you're like me with a startup that "gets not respect" I wouldn't be too worried, as you/we were never part of this 'party' to begin with.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> We heard this before during the last dot bomb. given history, the best time to start is during bad economic times. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't MS, Dell, and Apple all start during economically turbulent times?

You just have to survive the downturn. For recent winners (from the last dotbomb) I can only recall StumbleUpon being one of them. Anyone else remember any other old survivors and winners from the last downturn?

<comment><USER13> Most of the survivors of the last crash are the huge players today -- Amazon, Yahoo, IAC, etc. The problem is, you don't remember the _thousands_ of other companies that died, and how the survivors were mostly pretty big _before_ the downturn hit. The little guys died, right along with the wasteful big guys.

Point is, you shouldn't kid yourself: a down economy is a terrible, awful, tremendously bad time to start a new company. (On the plus side, it's only a _very_ bad time to be a small company, and a bad time to be a big company.)

<comment><USER12> I get bullish when everyone is freaking out, and I get worried when everyone is euphoric

<comment><USER13> I do too. The thing is, when it comes to tech, not everyone is freaking out (this forum is a good example). Too many people think that because they aren't VC-funded/are small/don't waste money/aren't consumer-facing/are smart/whatever, they're going to be fine. That's a bad strategy.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I'm more curious about what this means for the valuations of the post dot com bubble 1.0 titans like Facebook, Digg and others. They're not going to die of course but I wonder if their values will deflate.

<comment><USER14> Worst case, Facebook can get a juicy contract with NSA ;)

<comment><USER15> another one?

<comment><USER16> Facebook has funding from the venture capital arm of the CIA. I'm not aware of any (public) connection to the NSA.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Is Programming Getting Less Popular? - <AUTHOR> http://www.google.com/trends?q=ruby+on+rails%2C+scala%2C+php%2C+.net%2C+java&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0

<comment><USER2> Those numbers are relative. I think its more that non-programming queries have grown faster than programming queries.

<comment><USER3> Which is compounded by the fact that programmers are the early adopters of the internet, google etc.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> You should use Google Insight and not Google Trends, then you can choose categories related to computers only so you don't get useless queries like related to Java island

<comment><USER5> [http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat=31&q=ruby%20o...](http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat=31&q=ruby%20on%20rails%2Cphp%2Cjava%2Cc%2Cdjango&cmpt=q)

Even more interesting when you click 'Growth relative to the Programming category', which shows Rails' massive growth, but also if you hover over the current time, it says the programming category is down 53% (since 2004 I assume?)

<comment><USER4> Well that comparison is a bit flawed. Compare Django/Ruby On Rails and you will see Django surpassed Rails since 2009....

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Maybe. But the only thing we can infer from that is that fewer people are searching for specific programming technologies. _Maybe_ you can infer that those products are becoming less popular. But I don't think that's enough to infer that about programming in general.

</comment><comment><USER7> Here's the stats from Russian search engine Yandex of "java" query. Compare "absolute" version ([http://wordstat.yandex.ru/?scmd=abs&cmd=months&text=...](http://wordstat.yandex.ru/?scmd=abs&cmd=months&text=java)) with "relative" one ([http://wordstat.yandex.ru/?scmd=rel&cmd=months&text=...](http://wordstat.yandex.ru/?scmd=rel&cmd=months&text=java)).

The "relative" one shows decline, whereas "absolute" stats shows steady state. Google also shows decline (slower, but still).

This might mean that Google Trends' results are just more and more diluted as more and more non-tech people come into the industry.

</comment><comment><USER8> Perhaps as more languages become popular (i.e. the "market" becomes more diverse), any one traditionally popular language is becoming less popular. If there's exactly 1000 programmers and each searches for a single language per day, then the introduction of a new language will "steal" a search from another language. There's bound to be some languages with increasing or steady trends:

[http://www.google.com/trends?q=F%23,+clojure,+groovy,+lua...](http://www.google.com/trends?q=F%23,+clojure,+groovy,+lua&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=2)

</comment><comment><USER9> There are programs than can write programs. I don't want to compete with a computer that's smarter than me. Haha. I'll stick with my "right brain" work and hack some open source software when I need it.

Please forgive me, I'm currently reading "A Whole New Mind" <http://www.danpink.com/whole-new-mind>

The author foretells that programming is becoming less important due to abundance, automation and outsourcing to Asia. India alone produces 350,000 Engineering graduates each year.

</comment><comment><USER10> Whoah, look at the fractal in the "c++" trend: [http://www.google.com/trends?q=c%2B%2B&ctab=0&geo=al...](http://www.google.com/trends?q=c%2B%2B&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0)

The strong yearly periodicity must mean interest is heavily associated with students\the school year.

</comment><comment><USER11> _Is Programming Getting Less Popular?_

Only among the posers.

They're the ones who jump into the latest/coolest/most promising thing and bail when they realize how much work it really is.

Those of us who were here before them and will be here long after they're gone say "71 79 79 68 32 82 73 68 68 65 78 67 69".

[EDIT: Added the 32. tome wins]

<comment><USER12> Did you deliberately omit the 32 to make it obvious that you did the asciification in your head? (At least, I'm guessing you did it in your head, because the obvious ways to do it by computer would automatically include the space.)

<comment><USER11> I was trying to make a subtle point that callahad kinda outed.

It's a fine line between helping each other and speaking a language that posers don't understand. So I just did ascii, thinking that any real programmer would immediately understand. I forgot the code for "space", so I skipped it, wondering if anyone would notice. tome did.

Just having a little fun on an otherwise mundane Tuesday.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Here's a couple that don't look so bad:

[http://www.google.com/trends?q=cuda,+cloud+computing,+androi...](http://www.google.com/trends?q=cuda,+cloud+computing,+android+sdk,+iphone+sdk&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0)

</comment><comment><USER14> I find it interesting that 5 of the 6 headlines annotated on the graph are for the wrong topic.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I read an article that the number of students enrolling in ICT / Software courses has dropped off a cliff. Obviously this is more anecdotal than hard fact, but thought it was interesting all the same.

<comment><USER15> I think people used to see IT as a goldmine. Get a degree in "computers" and you were destined to be a millionaire. What they've found out is that there are a lot of people making between $40-70k/yr, and working a lot of hours. While $70k/yr is nothing to turn your nose at, it certainly isn't "rich".

Was it ever different than this? I don't know, I'm young, but I can guess that wages in IT/programming have gone down as the supply of laborers has gone up. One huge problem that comes from this flood of workers is that some of them did it _just_ for the degree, and don't _really_ know what they're doing. It makes it a lot harder for the people who love it and know it and are good at it to stand out.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Maybe people don't search for tutorials and docs, since popular languages no longer are a huge unintuitive mess.

<comment><USER17> There's nothing "intuitive" about programming langs, any more than there is about written languages in general. The only thing intuitive about them is that they have syntax. Note that in most cases, one has to go to school to learn how to read and write.

Intuitive as used really means, "fits what I already know."

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> I'd like to see this with all of the languages from tiobe included. I'm too lazy to do it myself, though.</comment>


What Follows the End of History? Identity Politics - <AUTHOR> https://www.chronicle.com/article/What-Follows-the-End-of/244369 <comment><USER2> Some decent points there. I definitely think the shift towards identity politics as a focus for the left hurt its popularity, and provided ammunition for its opponents to attack policies that would make many people's lives better in general.

That said, I do have a few thoughts about the points raised that make me question them a bit. Namely:

1\. Populism isn't only on the right, and I feel we're starting to see left wing strains of it too (see also the support for Bernie Sanders, Jeremy Corbyn, etc). The mistake the parties on that side of the spectrum seem to have made is to try and 'play it too safe', where a more populist figurehead and set of policies may have helped counter the rise of the same on the right.

2\. Him turning away from the right because of the Iraq War and 2008 financial crisis seems kinda strange given that more 'left' wing parties also backed both in many parts of the world (like the UK, and probably the US) and how many people on both sides disagreed with one or both policies, which makes it questionable whether they'd be rightly counted as 'right wing' or 'conservative' ones.

3\. Finally, it also feels like part of the reason for the shift away from the left focusing on economic issues is because of the demographics of the parties on that side of the political spectrum now. In the old days, it felt like there were more people in that part of the political world who came from poor/working class backgrounds, and hence they had a real stake in improving economic equality. Nowadays though, it feels like the average politician and supporter on that side are from fairly well off families with a decent level of education and a stake in making sure not much of the spotlight is shone on their own background and privileged upbringing. I suspect for these people, the focus on identity groups lets them support a left wing cause while not actually thinking too hard about their own situation or how they themselves benefited from inequality.

<comment><USER3> >Him turning away from the right because of the Iraq War and 2008 financial crisis seems kinda strange given that more 'left' wing parties also backed both in many parts of the world (like the UK, and probably the US) and how many people on both sides disagreed with one or both policies, which makes it questionable whether they'd be rightly counted as 'right wing' or 'conservative' ones.

He's an independent thinker. Instead of automatically affirming everything one side believes, he thinks out each major issue on its own merits. That was the point of how it was freeing to break with the conservatives on both of these issues. That is why he says we need solid thinkers on both the liberal and conservative sides.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Fukuyama makes a lot of good points. However, rather than identity as the root cause, I think it is culture as such, with the great dispute today being between, on the one hand, tribalisms left and right, and on the other side liberalism, in the broad sense of the term.</comment>


PersistIQ (YC S14) Hopes to Remove Excel From the Outbound Sales Process - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/12/with-yc-backing-persistiq-hopes-to-remove-excel-from-the-outbound-sales-process/

<comment><USER2> This is the type of product that immediately makes my life and the lives of my sales people easier (Its very rare you can say that in SaaS/ sales software).

If SDRs/ BDRs execute multiple follow ups (now automatically with this) you're more likely to get lead lists to conversation. This is awesome... not to mention, totally "guilt free" for SDRs which is a huge issue. We will be implementing sales-team-wide asap.

<comment><USER3> We use Yesware's mail merge for the same thing, and you can set it to execute subsequent stages only for folks who haven't replied. It's really stupendous.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This product looks great. I think that automating the sales process, from prospecting to closing will be a vertical that'll see huge growth over the next few years. Anything that helps companies make money faster and integrates with salespeople's existing workflows is an obvious winner. That's the good news, the bad news is how low the barrier to entry for this market is right now and will continue to be with the current business model. The company that becomes the leader in this will work out how to make something that is seemingly highly commoditisable (email sending and read receipts) solidly defensible so the next startup down the block can't just undercut you on number of prospects contacted per pricing tier. I suspect the answer will have more to do with more impressive mass personalisation rather than any network effects these companies can create. Fascinating space, this is a growth sector without doubt. The companies I recommend checking out: Stacklead, AutopilotHQ, Yesware, Streak and Docsend among others.

</comment><comment><USER5> Really interesting. I'd love to see it (and RelateIQ) integrate with a more complete sales solution, like close.io (which I love).

PS - just saw that RelateIQ has an API and PersistIQ has an out of the box Salesforce integration. Looking good :)

</comment><comment><USER6> This looks really interesting, I've done some outbound sales using Salesforce and it was pretty painful. I wonder if their name will be too close to RelateIQ, an intelligent CRM in the same market as PersistIQ.

</comment><comment><USER7> We've used Sendbloom for this, they have an automated response system with the ability to bump previous conversations and a programmatic funnel that solves these same problems.

<comment><USER8> Thanks for the shout-out :) (am part of the Sendbloom team). I wish the PersistIQ team well, it's really exciting to see other entrants in this space, especially one that's backed by YC. Verifies that there is a demand, or at least a projected demand for this sort of an application.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Awesome product from a great group of guys. Definitely check this out of if you deal with outbound sales of any variety.</comment>


Chinese Say They're Building 'Impossible' Space Drive - <AUTHOR> http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/09/chinese-buildin/

<comment><USER2> Article was from 2008, Wired did a follow up story a year later...

[http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/impossible-drive- des...](http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/impossible-drive-designers- dream-flying-cars-stealth-missiles/)

\</comment><comment></comment><comment>---- Last year, professor Yang Juan of the College of Astronautics at Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) in Xi'an was happy to confirm that they were building an Emdrive which would be tested by the end of the year. But following the publication of this news in Danger Room, the situation changed. I was informed that the publicity was very unwelcome, especially any suggestion that there might be a military application. (Yang had previous published a study on the use of plasma as a weapon against low- orbiting satellites. [.pdf]) No further information has been forthcoming, and no Chinese papers have been published on the Emdrive, though Yang has recently published work on (unrelated) microwave plasma thrusters (.pdf). \</comment><comment></comment><comment>----

Nextbigfuture did an article stating the tech was sold... [http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/03/controversial-emdrive- claim...](http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/03/controversial-emdrive-claims-to- have.html)

A few responses from physicists...

[http://scienceblogs.com/sunclipse/2008/09/the_emdrive_story_...](http://scienceblogs.com/sunclipse/2008/09/the_emdrive_story_or_how_to_pr.php)

[http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2006/10/new_scientist_re...](http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2006/10/new_scientist_reacts.html)

</comment><comment><USER3> This was written in 2008. Have we got a confirmation whether it's real/fake?

<comment><USER4> The fact we've heard nothing more in the years since is the typical confirmation of these sorts of stories.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> You know those batshit crazy inventors no one gives a shit about in the western world? Yeah, those guys become professors in China. The amount of tripe I've read in their journals is ridiculous.

</comment><comment><USER6> Awesome! Maybe this will have a similar effect on the US as Russia's program and get us innovating again and get me closer to space.</comment>


Atlas Shrubbed - <AUTHOR> https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/09/rand-paul-atlas-shrubbed-215810 <comment><USER2> Somehow the fact that one person got assualted (as in grievous bodily harm) over a triviality is never really given much consideration. Should be a pretty clear and shut case to reason about morally. Completely disproportionate response by the neighbor.</comment>


Let's Be Friends (How I use Twitter for business.) - <AUTHOR> http://spencerfry.com/lets-be-friends

<comment><USER2> I'd be interested in hearing other people's strategies.

<comment><USER3> Since my startup is just getting off the ground, I can tell you more about interacting with companies via Twitter from the consumer's perspective.

I actually recently had a little spat with Verizon over a bill. I posted some sort of generic comment about my frustration on Twitter, and within an hour, the local Verizion account had @replied me to ask if there was anything that they could do. This led to a ton of phone calls, and general customer service stuff, and in the end, I think my problems are fixed. It surely makes me want to stick with them more than move to a different company, because at least they're paying some kind of attention, even if they're not ideal.

I think that Twitter for businesses should work the same way as Twitter for a person; it's a great tool to humanize a company. Just interact with people the same way that you would as an individual, talk to people, RT cool relevant things that you see, etc.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Is there a cheap option to get a trusted IP for sending emails? - <AUTHOR> I've been helping a non-profit organization with email sending for a while and it's not going well.
Initially, I tried running an email server along with their site on Digital Ocean but Microsoft's (Outlook, Hotmail) filters were sending everything to spam despite SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Changing IP on DO and waiting for a few weeks to build up the reputation didn't help either. I also had compatibility difficulties like some ancient government server in Guatemala dropping emails because of encoding problems caused by Spanish accents.
We switched to a free MailGun account for routing and SMTP (all org members are using Gmail) and it worked for almost a year. But last month the shared IP on MailGun was blacklisted by Microsoft and lots of emails to Outlook/Hotmail addresses were dropped.
MailGun's dedicated IP is $59/mo which is a significant cost for a six-person organization based in South America. Is there any cheaper ($5-20/mo) option that can help with email redirection and delivery? They send only a hundred or two monthly.
(We are aware of free G Suite for non-profits but it requires migrating everything from personal Google accounts to G Suite accounts, which is really hard.) <comment><USER2> Take a look at AWS SES ([https://aws.amazon.com/pt/ses/](https://aws.amazon.com/pt/ses/)) you can send 100.000/month for only $3.8/month. And you can just configure it as relay-service for your smtp servers.

</comment><comment><USER3> [https://postmarkapp.com/](https://postmarkapp.com/)

They used to have a free tier in that you got 25.000 credits (one mail one credit) for the trial, not sure if it's still there. Otherwise the cheap plan is 10 dollar.

I never had e-mail problems using their servers.

<comment><USER3> Oh and really low cost. Get an mxroute.com account for $30. They use mailchannels for outbound traffic it's a pretty decent solution with solid delivery.

<comment><AUTHOR> MXRoute is great so far, thank you!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Does "Sendgrid" offer assistance or discounts for early-stage startups or non- profit organizations?

Yes on both fronts!

Eligible startups can apply to join our SendGrid Accelerate program. You'll receive valuable insight from our experienced mentors as well as special pricing on SendGrid's email solutions.

Documented non-profit organizations (501c3) can contact us to receive a 15% discount on SendGrid's email solutions after sign-up.

<comment><AUTHOR> They are not 501c3 because they aren't from the US.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> If there was a really cheap option in this space, spammers would abuse it out of existence.

So, good luck, and feel free to let us know the best solution you find.

More importantly, let us know how they keep the spammers from putting them out of business.

</comment><comment><USER4> Try sendgrid. its $79/month for dedicated IP, just follow their warmup schedule.

<comment><AUTHOR> Sorry, but as I said even MailGun's $59/mo would be expensive.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I'm not sure why you think you could get a better reputatian than Google?

<comment><USER7> That's not what OP is asking at all</comment></comment>


Show HN: I hacked git.io to shorten any url - <AUTHOR> http://sauravtom.com/gitiohack

<comment><USER2> For those that are wondering, it's a secondary URL redirecting service hosted on GitHub Pages.

      http://google.com ->
      http://git.io/hvTe ->
      http://sauravtom.github.io/4gitiohackRepo?u=http://google.com ->
      http://google.com

</comment><comment><USER3> Probably should have just sent a notice to email@example.com rather than exploiting it in production.

</comment><comment><USER4> Great! It's working: [http://git.io/hvlF](http://git.io/hvlF) How long can this hack survive? :)

</comment><comment><USER5> Nicely done! Wonder if GitHub will keep it up :)

</comment><comment><USER6> For what the hell this is useful?

</comment><comment><USER7> Nice Hack</comment>


Does AWS S3 Select Change the ELT vs. ETL Value Proposition? - <AUTHOR> Thanks! <comment><USER2> Maybe. Implementation details and specific use cases matter a lot now.</comment>


Recommended by a friend - do any HNers use FreeAgent Online Accounting Software? - <AUTHOR> http://www.freeagent.com

<comment><AUTHOR> Apparently I did something bad and inadvertently submitted an affiliate link. See here for the original submission:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4828289>

My response to the fact that it's an affiliate link is here:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4828392>

So anyway, that item got flagged into oblivion, even though some HNers clearly liked FreeAgent and recommended it. This is a resubmission without the tracking field to let people comment further, add alternate recommendations, and otherwise discuss without feeling that they've been stung.

Apologies for my ignorance on the subject.</comment>


Ask HN: Machine learning to classify tweets into topics – Where to start? - <AUTHOR> I want to build something that can classify tweets (from my timeline or lists) by topic. I can of course provide a dataset of tweets pre-classified for each variant, but then the software should be able to learn from that and apply that logic to new, future tweets.
Variant A) Take all tweets of a timeline and decide if one was "relevant" or "irrelevant".
Variant B)
Decide which of x topics a tweet belongs to.
Variant C) Group similar tweets together that are related.
Where to start? What are the correct terms to Google? What libraries or software should I look at?
(I am most comfortable with JS and PHP, but of course this is only semi relevant.) <comment><USER2> A) and B) are variations of a classification problem. You can use any kind of classifier algorithm / approach. Naive Bayes, ANN, etc. C) is arguably closer to a clustering problem, but you have to figure out how to define the notion of distance / density for the clustering.

Basically, from a "what to google for" perspective, I'd say read up on "classification algorithms" and "clustering algorithms". The respective Wikipedia pages aren't a bad place to start reading.

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

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

</comment><comment><USER3> [https://github.com/explosion/spaCy/blob/develop/examples/tra...](https://github.com/explosion/spaCy/blob/develop/examples/training/train_textcat.py)

You'll need to `pip install spacy-nightly` -- it uses spaCy 2 alpha. Until spaCy 2 stabilises it'll be a bit unstable, and unfortunately it's not in the docs yet.

You'll likely get better results by running `spacy download en_vectors_web_lg` and doing `nlp = spacy.load('en_vectors_web_lg')`. This will download word vectors, trained on an enormous web dump by Stanford NLP using their GloVe algorithm.

Once the model is trained you can do `nlp.to_disk(output_directory)`, and then run `spacy package <model directory> <package directory>`. This will setup the model data as a Python package, so that you can run `setup.py sdist`. You'll then get a self-contained Python package that exposes a `load()` function, to give you back the `nlp` object. (Note that if you do base the model on the GloVe vectors the package will be enormous, like 1GB. Shrug?)

If you're starting one step back and don't have the data annotated yet, you might be interested in our annotation tool Prodigy. There's a demo video of the text classification workflow here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=638&v=5di0KlKl0f...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=638&v=5di0KlKl0fE)

</comment><comment><USER4> JS and PHP won't get you anywhere - you will need to use something else like R or python to start looking at it.

Check out this course: [https://www.datacamp.com/courses/intro-to-text-mining- bag-of...](https://www.datacamp.com/courses/intro-to-text-mining-bag-of-words)

This will help you figure out how to convert those words into variables which can be used for modeling.

</comment><comment><USER5> [http://www.nltk.org/book/ch06.html](http://www.nltk.org/book/ch06.html)

</comment><comment><USER6> I'm currently working on something similar, these were my first two ideas:

Try to train your own word2vec model on a twitter dataset and then you could use the weighted tf-idf average of these vectors. You get a vector for each tweet, and tweets that are about the same topic should be next to each other. Then try clustering algorithms, you can use the cosine distance to find the nearest X tweets.

Second Idea would be to train doc2vec with twitter data.

Another worthwhile idea could be to use LDA, haven't tried it myself

</comment><comment><USER7> You could look at naive Bayesian classifiers or logistic regression classifiers. There are libraries for both in most languages and they are suited for your application.

</comment><comment><USER8> I'm lazy and would start with Textrazor or Alchemy Api

</comment><comment><USER9> For topic modeling, take a look at gensim along with k-means. Also, you can use tf-idf to improve the accuracy.

</comment><comment><USER10> For tweets naive bayes with bow approach works very well.

You need to do a ton of preprocessing. Think text transformation..</comment>


Visual C++ strtod(): Still Broken - <AUTHOR> http://www.exploringbinary.com/visual-c-plus-plus-strtod-still-broken/

<comment><USER2> Note that this is "broken" in a _very_ tiny way, which is unlikely to cause any real-world problems in code which uses floating-point correctly, i.e. does not rely on its exactness (or lack thereof.) It's not like with integers, where e.g. 1000000 becoming 999999 or 1000001 would be a _severe_ bug.

If you're interested in the details of floating-point maths, the rest of the site has other fascinating articles too. Converting strings to and from floating-point correctly in all cases turns out to be quite a tricky thing to do in practice.

<comment><USER3> There's nothing wrong with relying on floating point to be "exact". That is, correctly rounded. As exact as it can be.

<comment><USER4> Yes, but if you care about reading in exact numbers from text, floating point is usually not the right tool for the job.

<comment><USER5> It's perfectly fine as long as you know the rules. Virtually all JavaScript code is heavily reliant on exact answers from floating point (since floating point is all you have) and it continues to work. :)

<comment><USER6> They are heavily reliant on exact answers for the subset of small integers. But not that edges cases are handled 100% correct. Denormals, trigs of very large number, parsing of numbers with lots of significant figures.

It could lead to degraded precision for mathematical calculations with lots of steps, but that should be a problem for only a small minority of js code.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>