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ihartley

121 karma · joined April 10, 2008

iain@streamwhat.com

Software Architect in Biotech, Software + Hardware + Biology

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ihartley··on My "Are you presuming most people are stupid?" test
I think the 50k miles estimate is probably pretty low given the average miles insurance companies assume most people drive per year is closer to 10k. Conservatively, that would place it closer to 200k miles by age 40.

I've always assumed the reason people don't get better at driving with that much experience is the reason people don't get much better at most of the things they do: they've never pushed themselves to the limit of their capabilities. While this can be dangerous in a car, it can be even more dangerous when you're put in an unexpected circumstance with no ability to respond calmly and correctly.

ihartley··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (March 2023)
Cepheid | Staff Software Engineer | $130k-170k + benefits | Full Time | IN PERSON HYBRID, SF Bay, Sunnyvale CA | US Only

Cepheid is a leader in the In Vitro Diagnostics space, we had the first EUA PCR COVID19 test approved in 2020. We are vertically integrated: from building our own plastic molds and injection molding the cartridges for our instruments to designing the software, hardware and wetware for our instruments and assays, there are many opportunities to work on every level of this stack.

We’re looking for a Senior+ Software Engineer to join the team developing the software for our next-generation molecular diagnostics system. This person will be a key contributor in the software engineering team that leads development efforts for software for commercial products as well as in-house research. The technology stack runs the gamut from Java and Windows, to Python, VueJS, Docker and Linux.

Familiarity with some or all of these technologies would be great, but we’re also open to a candidate that has a proven history of new things learning through doing the work. We’re currently in the process of remediating tech debt and developing a new systems architecture, so if you enjoy solving the puzzles that come from constraints imposed by existing systems, we have plenty of that, too.

Please reach out to me at iain.hartley@cepheid.com if this sounds like it might be a good fit, don't let the Staff title discourage you, it has to do with our internal pay grades: the only hard requirements are that you think you'd enjoy the work, you can learn quickly, be self directed and are in the area. Apply directly at https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/staff-software-engineer-a... though you might get filtered out by our recruiter.

ihartley··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (February 2023)
Cepheid | Staff Software Engineer | $130k-170k + benefits | Full Time | IN PERSON HYBRID, SF Bay, Sunnyvale CA | US Only

Cepheid is a leader in the In Vitro Diagnostics space, we had the first EUA PCR COVID19 test approved in 2020. We are vertically integrated: from building our own plastic molds and injection molding the cartridges for our instruments to designing the software, hardware and wetware for our instruments and assays, there are many opportunities to work on every level of this stack.

We’re looking for a Senior+ Software Engineer to join the team developing the software for our next-generation molecular diagnostics system. This person will be a key contributor in the software engineering team that leads development efforts for software for commercial products as well as in-house research. The technology stack runs the gamut from Java and Windows, to Python, VueJS, Docker and Linux.

Familiarity with some or all of these technologies would be great, but we’re also open to a candidate that has a proven history of new things learning through doing the work. We’re currently in the process of remediating tech debt and developing a new systems architecture, so if you enjoy solving the puzzles that come from constraints imposed by existing systems, we have plenty of that, too.

Please reach out to me at iain.hartley@cepheid.com if this sounds like it might be a good fit, or apply directly at https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/staff-software-engineer-a...

ihartley··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (December 2022)
Cepheid | Staff Software Engineer | $150k+, benefits | Full Time | HYBRID, REMOTE, Sunnyvale CA | US Only

Cepheid is a leader in the In Vitro Diagnostics space, we had the first EUA PCR COVID test approved last year. We are vertically integrated: from building our own plastic molds and injection molding cartridges for our instruments to designing the software, hardware and wetware for our instruments, there are many opportunities to work on every level of this stack.

We’re looking for a Senior+ Software Engineer to join the team developing the software for our next-generation molecular diagnostics systems. This person will be a key contributor in the software engineering team that leads development efforts for software for commercial products as well as in-house research. The technology stack runs the gamut from Java and Windows, to Python, VueJS, Docker and Linux. Familiarity with some or all of these technologies would be nice, but we’re also open to a candidate that has a proven history of learning fast. We’re currently in the process of remediating tech debt and developing a new systems architecture, so you should enjoy solving the puzzles that come from constraints imposed by existing systems as well.

Please reach out to me at iain.hartley@cepheid.com if this sounds like it might be a good fit!

ihartley··on Music for Programming

  > - Sleep: Jerusalem (occasional vocals but trust me they're not distracting)
I'm sure you're probably aware, but for posterity, Jerusalem is the cut down version that the record label released when they didn't know what to do with a 63 minute long song. Dopesmoker is the full song, along with Sonic Titan or Holy Mountain depending on which release you're listening to.

You may also be interested in the piece NPR did on Matt Pike a while back: https://www.npr.org/2022/05/19/1080581581/can-matt-pike-face...

ihartley··on Web Scraping with Python
You can use something like scrapy-playwright[0] to run a headless browser framework as your download handler. I think there are versions for some of the other headless systems, if you prefer those.

[0] https://github.com/scrapy-plugins/scrapy-playwright

ihartley··on Ask HN: Where can I see many examples of real companies' software architecture?
Just another example of Silicon Valley being ahead of its time: The Winchester House is pretty much exactly this. It used to be 5 stories, too, until the 1906 quake gave it a haircut.
ihartley··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (September 2021)
Cepheid Innovation Core | Multiple Software Positions | SF Bay (Sunnyvale) ONSITE, REMOTE possible | https://cepheid.com

Cepheid is a leader in the In Vitro Diagnostics space, we had the first EUA PCR COVID test approved last year. We are vertically integrated: from building our own plastic molds and injection molding cartridges for our instruments to designing the software, hardware and wetware for our instruments, there are many opprotunities to work with and on every level of this stack. The Innovation Core serves as a test bed for new technologies and ideas. The team listens to customers to develop Cepheid’s next generation technology. We operate much like a startup inside a large corporation with plenty of funding.

We are currently looking to add a DevOps-like role to our team. Key responsibilities involve developing and maintaining our cloud and physical infrastructure. We're looking for someomne with a passion for automating all the things. We're currently trying to figure out our data situation, and this role will be instrumental in that process as well.

Additionally, we have a few Data Science/Data Engineer positions open on another team that I can refer to.

If any of this sounds like an interesting opportunity, please reach out to me at iain.hartley@cepheid.com

ihartley··on USB-C Has Finally Come into Its Own
My understanding is that third party chargers work fine though may not charge the Switch while under high load, but most third party docks don't implement PD correctly or at all and that is what can cause issues or bricking. There are also some issues with using A to C cables since USB A chargers will only provide 5V, so if the output amperage isn't high enough the Switch can't charge because it will only use a fraction of the available amps regardless of voltage.

[0]: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/bjwpsy/nint...

ihartley··on Giant Molecules Exist in Two Places at Once in Quantum Experiment
Dunno if it was a link when you looked, but "Nature Physics" in the third paragraph links directly to the paper and bypasses the Nature paywall with some sort of referer link.

[0]: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-019-0663-9

ihartley··on Former NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz Restores Mission Control in Houston
The Level 9 tour is anything but boring, though I can see the larger tours being less interesting when you don't get to look in the Soyuz trainer or go to the National Buoyancy Lab. However, you don't need to take a tour our pay anything to go to the rocket park. It's free and open to the public, you can just tell guard at the main gate that's where you're going and they'll let you through.
ihartley··on Hard Lessons Breathe New Life Into Retail Stores
They're interesting. The one by me feels like a sharper image with 20 products, but they're fairly high quality/price. They seem to have about 20% turnover of new products every time I drop in which is maybe every two months or so. The products seems somewhat split between things I'd want to see before I bought, some of which made me not want to buy them, and things I wouldn't: I do want to see digital picture frames to see they still haven't gotten the resolution high enough, and I liked being able to try bone-conduction headphones without having to buy them, but I don't need to see wifi routers in person before I buy one.
ihartley··on Woman offers WaPo false tale about Roy Moore in effort to discredit the paper
Possibly worse than that: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jul/6/tsa-failed-de...
ihartley··on Dilution of whisky – the molecular perspective
Only if he's talking about scotch. Pretty sure it applies to bourbon and other non-scotch whiskeys, too.
ihartley··on Password Cracking with 8x Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti GPUs
Depending on when the land was flooded, some areas may me good candidates for underwater logging now or in the future. Apparently in some places this is a great source of wood for high quality musical instruments because there aren't many old hardwood trees available anymore.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_logging

ihartley··on Affordable Housing Program Costs More, Shelters Less
This already happens in cities with a large military presence thanks to their housing allotment and it does seem to drive prices up for renters.
ihartley··on Jeff Atwood on growing Discourse
A lot of that comes down to the quality and composition of the community you're looking at. The site admins have a lot of switch and levers to adjust the look and feel of a default vBulletin or phpBB install, and most communities' forums tend to end up having a similar aesthetic to the cars owned by the user base; anywhere from super bling'd out to subdued professionalism. The informational content seems to follow similar lines: some forums are populated by people who need hand holding through every step of an oil change, and others have more seasoned shade tree mechanics that just need some tips on how to do something without access to the factory tools.
ihartley··on Archaea: The 'Dark Matter' of the Microbial World
If anyone else is curious, this is called a ring species, and there are only four known examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_species
ihartley··on Zelda: Link's Awakening: Kennel Glitch
If you already have a GBA Micro, or other GBA, you can just get a Everdrive GBA: http://krikzz.com/store/home/42-everdrive-gba-x5.html
ihartley··on How a Car Engine Works
I'm pretty sure he meant that no car has electrically actuated intake and exhaust valves, which is mostly true, but the Fiat/Chrysler MultiAir (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MultiAir) line of engines does have electro-hydraulic valve actuation which allows for variable duration and lift, and I think they don't even have a throttle plate.
ihartley··on Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug
Phantom limb is actually an interesting case that may reveal more about idiopathic pain as we study brain/body mapping better. If anyone is interested check out the work of VS Ramachandran, here's a somewhat old article about his work with phantom limb patients: http://www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133026897/v-s-ramachandrans-ta...

His latest work has been investigating body integrity identity disorder which is sort of the opposite of phantom limb: where you feel like a part of you doesn't belong.

I believe this gist of the work is that there is a mapping between our body and our brain (this is what enables one to 'know' where your body is in relation to itself when your eyes are closed) that sometimes is overloaded or malformed and can result in these issues.

ihartley··on We Need a Better PC
It could really stand to suck a little less. Based on this thread I went to checkout the Elitebook line and the "View all notebook products" link from the Elitebook line page just goes to a promo for some new one that isn't available yet, and when you go to the shop it just takes you to search results with 217 results for "elitebook"
ihartley··on Riddle of cement’s structure is finally solved
Here's the PNAS article that they don't link to in the article for some reason: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/02/04/1520487113.abst...
ihartley··on What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner
While "leaky gut syndrome" as imagined by pseudoscience believers is a little ridiculous, the general idea of chronic low grade inflammation of the intestinal epithelium due to a breakdown of the innate immune system is not. If anyone is interested, checkout out David Artis' work on commensal bacteria on barrier surfaces.
ihartley··on Density Based Clustering Toolbox
I'm reading through the paper on DeBaCl right now which might be a little more accessible than the paper you found. I think the gist of it is that Level set trees offer better theoretical guarantees due to other methods being less rigorous with their theory. http://arxiv.org/pdf/1307.8136v1.pdf
ihartley··on Understanding Machine Learning: From Theory to Algorithms (2014)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffon%27s_needle for anyone that's interested.
ihartley··on When Disney Got Adult and Trippy
Godfrey Reggio also did Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi, which are similar with different themes.
ihartley··on When Disney Got Adult and Trippy
Also check out The Music Scene by Blockhead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhheiPTdZCw
ihartley··on San Francisco’s Newest Fast Food: Healthy, Cheap and Served by Robots
They still exist in the Netherlands: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FEBO
ihartley··on FinderPath
I used to have an Applescript app that I made a default icon in the Finder action bar that would open a new terminal tab and then cd to the path of the Finder window, but they introduced this a few versions ago and I think it works fine: http://lifehacker.com/launch-an-os-x-terminal-window-from-a-...
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