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michaelrbock

444 karma · joined October 18, 2012

http://michaelrbock.com
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michaelrbock··on Discovery of a new OpenAI agent message board
Here's potentially another one (notice the name "OpenResearchHelper"): https://www.wikiservice.at/gruender/wiki.cgi?action=rc&days=... (I used GPT-6 Astra to find this)

And a few more:

- https://www.ludism.org/scwiki?action=browse;diff=1;id=SandBo... and edit history: https://www.ludism.org/scwiki?action=rc;all=1;from=1;showedi... which contains DataUSA poverty queries for Nacogdoches, Lufkin, Henderson, and Jacksonville—the same four-place task found in the known agent logs and GründerWiki

- https://www.ludism.org/mentat?action=browse;diff=1;id=SandBo... and edit history: https://www.ludism.org/mentat?action=history;id=SandBox

- https://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/Test/WikiSandbox?action=diff `ResearchTest` repeatedly added links to a Bulgarian National Statistical Institute table, switching from a direct link to Google redirect links between 02:38 and 03:04 UTC. An administrator removed them at 06:57. The previous recorded edits were from 2016.

- https://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/Test/Sandbox2?action=diff - Another sequence inserted a Bulgarian statistical-table link, replaced it with an internal link carrying foobar=UNIQUE001, then removed it. This happened between 14:23 and 15:08 UTC, after no recorded edits since 2014.

michaelrbock··on TaxCalcBench: Evaluating Frontier Models on the Tax Calculation Task
We agree, that's the thesis behind our tax development coding agent: https://www.columntax.com/blog/introducing-iris-our-ai-tax-d...
michaelrbock··on TaxCalcBench: Evaluating Frontier Models on the Tax Calculation Task
We tested models with knowledge cutoffs in 2025 so expect them to have knowledge of Tax Year 2024 forms in their weights. We also tested models with ability to do web search to get any other forms it thinks necessary: https://github.com/column-tax/tax-calc-bench

That all being said, we agree, which is what we've built with our internal tax coding agent, Iris: https://www.columntax.com/blog/introducing-iris-our-ai-tax-d... (ability to get just the right Tax form context on a per-line basis to turn the tax law into code).

michaelrbock··on TaxCalcBench: Evaluating Frontier Models on the Tax Calculation Task
Hi, author of this paper + repo here. This dataset is particularly hard to come by, so we’re really proud to be open sourcing it.

Let me know if you have any questions, happy to discuss!

michaelrbock··on How to navigate and exit the idea maze
Author here. I said "random _to find_". But thank you for giving me an incredibly classic top HN comment :)
michaelrbock··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (July 2021)
Founding Full-Stack Engineer | Column Tax | REMOTE (US Timezone overlap), SF, NYC | Full-time | https://www.columntax.com/

Column Tax is on a mission to help Americans gain financial independence.

Our first product is an API that brings the power of a high-end accountant to users who otherwise wouldn’t be able to access financial advice. Our users are individuals and families living paycheck-to-paycheck who use Column to get out of debt, move into their own homes, and save up for emergency bills.

Things we value:

- Focus: we know that doing great work takes long blocks of uninterrupted time

- Ownership: everyone at Column is empowered to make big decisions

- Transparency: expect honest & vulnerable communication

- Doing the right thing: Taxes is an industry with a history of predatory practices; we’re determined to fix that

To apply or if you have any question, see the full job description at https://jobs.columntax.com/ or email me (CTO) at michael@columntax.com directly.

michaelrbock··on What Does a Coder Do If They Can't Type?
Here are some additional resources for folks looking to ditch the keyboard: https://handsfreecoding.org/
michaelrbock··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (August 2019)
Pioneer | San Francisco, CA | Full-Time, ONSITE | Software Engineer, Business Operations | https://pioneer.app

We’re building software to scalably find & support the world’s creative outsiders — the next generation of researchers, entrepreneurs, artists, and engineers.

In the ~9 months since our launch, we’ve seen thousands of applicants from over 100 countries, working on projects spread across almost every industry (check out our recent winners here: https://pioneer.app/blog/meet-the-pioneers-take-3).

We’re a small team of 5 led by our founder Daniel Gross (founder of Cue, acquired by Apple, former YC AI Partner), and are looking to hire our 3rd engineer & someone to run business operations.

Please reach out to: jobs+hn@pioneer.app.

michaelrbock··on Show HN: All SF Scooters on One Map
https://transitapp.com/ has almost exactly what you're looking for on mobile.
michaelrbock··on Autonomous transportation launching to 125k residents in Florida
With a test driver behind the wheel. Source: https://twitter.com/olivercameron/status/951200429001469953
michaelrbock··on Get away with Google Flights
I'm a fan of https://www.vamo.com/ for multi-city trips. You put in your point of origin and all the cities you want to visit (and for how long), and it routes you between the cities on the best type of transportation and offers accommodation suggestions as well.
michaelrbock··on Show HN: Codassium – A better way to conduct remote interviews
I had the exact same experience!
michaelrbock··on YC Hacks Submissions
Yup, that's basically right.

We also have implemented a "real-time" aspect whereby the price can also fluctuate based on the number of users currently viewing/purchasing an item vs. the average number of users usually viewing the item (for example when Outside Lands begins selling their tickets at 10am PST). Other factors taken into consideration (as of now, but more to come) are: inventory_remaining, and profit_margin (i.e. how much you make on each sale).

michaelrbock··on YC Hacks Submissions
Thanks :)

The initial version uses the Google Prediction API as the machine learning backend, and obviously some tweaking would need to be done to the model to get it to 99% right, but I'm confident that for verticals like event tickets this service would be very useful. Imagine Coachella tickets not selling out within 5 minutes or a play at a local theater having an automatic discount the night before the show if half the seats are still unfilled.

michaelrbock··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (June 2014)
Udacity - iOS Developer - Mountain View, CA - REMOTE for right candidate

Why Work at Udacity?

We believe that education is no longer a one-time event but a lifelong pursuit. Technology is advancing and there is a growing gap in skills and the knowledge needed to contribute to modern society. We're rethinking how education is delivered to provide relevant, affordable and lifelong learning opportunities.

We teach modern programming, software development, data science, product design, and entrepreneurship in an engaging, accessible way that emphasizes mastery over memorization.

We're especially looking for iOS Engineers (but also other Software Engineers, Course Developers, Course Managers, and more). Please feel free to email me at michael.bock@udacity.com (add HN to the subject line) or check out https://www.udacity.com/jobs

michaelrbock··on All the Western companies you’d have to combine to get something like Alibaba
This is a great point. One example of a company doing this is Rocket Internet (http://www.rocket-internet.de/), a Germany-based "internet accelerator" that brings tech companies and services to developing/underserved markets. Some of their properties include foodpanda (http://www.foodpanda.com/, Grubhub/Seamless for SE Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America), easyTaxi (http://www.easytaxi.com/, the world's largest taxi booking app), Lazada (http://www.lazada.com/, Amazon for Indonesia and SE Asia).

They've raised over $4b and created over 20,000 jobs since they started in 2007. Pretty ingenious.

michaelrbock··on Ask HN: List your SF Services
Submit new entries here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Z2qOKog--r2dKUuHBUYPfCdwEG6...
michaelrbock··on Show HN: InstaMotor – Taking the pain out of selling your car
Congrats to InstaMotor on the launch; this looks like the kind of experience I would want when selling a car. Best of luck to the team!

While we're on the subject of cars and improving the car buying/selling process, I just wanted to say that Edmunds.com has opened up its car data to the world in a sane, RESTful API. Check it out at http://developer.edmunds.com and let me know if you have any questions: mbock @ edmunds . com.

We also just finished Hackomotive, a $35k hackathon focused on startups improving the car shopping experience. You can see the winners here: http://www.hackomotive.com/. We'd obviusly love to see InstaMotor apply for next year!

michaelrbock··on Whatever’s Best For The People, That’s What We Do
You can!

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/kill-news-feed/hjo...

michaelrbock··on CarWoo is shutting down
There's still a lot of work to be done to make the experience of car shopping easier, so it's sad to see CarWoo shutting down. Side note: those interested in disrupting the car buying space like CarWoo/TrueCar may want to check out http://www.hackomotive.com/ the $35k hackathon put on by Edmunds.com this February. (Disclaimer: I used to intern for Edmunds.com on the API team, http://developer.edmunds.com/)
michaelrbock··on Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%
Hmm...

"This site reaches over 24 million monthly people, of which 12 million (48%) are in the U.S.The typical visitor watches Nickelodeon, visits pbskids.org, and listens to National Public Radio."

michaelrbock··on Thrun pivots Udacity toward vocational education
An online course costs somewhere between $45k and $400k to produce[1]. UPenn spends about $50k on each Coursera course it puts up (Coursera courses are much more akin to simply videotaping lectures). While Udacity spends about $200k on each course (which are usually of a higher production quality and more interactive), and expects to double that for its Online Masters in CS with Georgia Tech to $400k[2]. EdX supposedly charges universities $250k for design and consulting services for putting together an online course.

[1] http://www.educationnews.org/online-schools/moocs-may-be-fre... [2] http://www.omscs.gatech.edu/

michaelrbock··on Amazon is selling Cars
Sorry, see the note I added above about getting a free API key, then use that to make the call.
michaelrbock··on Amazon is selling Cars
There's 4 BMW dealerships within 20 miles of 94404: http://api.edmunds.com/v1/api/dealer?zipcode=94404&makeName=... (check the URL and add your own key).

Note: register for a free key here (http://developer.edmunds.com/) and then input it into the URL above.

michaelrbock··on Amazon is selling Cars
I think online car shopping has a huge potential to grow, especially considering most consumers dislike negotiating at dealerships. That's why Edmunds.com launched the "Price Promise" (http://www.edmunds.com/price-promise.html) that locks you into a price before you ever have to speak to a salesperson.

While we're on the topics of online car shopping, I work for Edmunds.com on the API team (docs here: http://developer.edmunds.com) and we provide all kinds of car data for use in your application (and it's completely free as compared to all of our competitors). Feel free to email me (mbock at edmunds dot com) or comment below if you have any questions.

michaelrbock··on New iOS Google Authenticator update deleted all my accounts
Good tip. I just wish I had known this before I updated...
michaelrbock··on Warning: Google Authenticator upgrade loses all accounts
Don't upgrade! I just had this unpleasant experience and warned everyone about 15 minutes ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6325745
michaelrbock··on Hackermeter (YC S13) Wants To Kill Your Résumé And Replace It With A High Score
Some direct competitors:

- https://www.hackerrank.com/ (aka https://www.interviewstreet.com a YC company)

- https://codeeval.com/

- https://coderwall.com/

- https://www.employiq.com/

- https://www.mindsumo.com/ (college student only)

- http://www.codewars.com/ (in beta)

michaelrbock··on Introduction to Recommender Systems
Being able to go at your own pace (and course content quality) is why I think Udacity is a better course provider than Coursera (even though Udacity is clearly loosing in market share).
michaelrbock··on CSV as a Data Source
As someone who has worked in an industry where FTP'ing massive CSV files was the norm, I must say this looks really nice.
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