Launch HN: Drifting in Space (YC W22) – A server process for every user
44 by paulgb | 17 comments on Hacker News.
Hi HN, we’re Paul and Taylor, and we’re launching Drifting in Space ( https://ift.tt/82AJLYS ). We build server software for performance-intensive browser-based applications. We make it easy to give every user of your app a dedicated server-side process, which starts when they open your application and stops when they close the tab. Many high-end web apps give every user a dedicated connection to a server-side process. That is how they get the low latency that you need for ambitious products like full-fledged video editing tools and IDEs. This is hard for smaller teams to recreate, because it takes a significant ongoing engineering investment. That’s where we come in—we make this architecture available to everyone, so you can focus on your app instead of its infrastructure. You can think of it like Heroku, except that each of your users gets their own server instance. I realized that something like this was needed while working on data-intensive tools at a hedge fund. I noticed that almost all new application software, whether it was built in-house or third-party SaaS, was delivered as a browser application rather than native. Although browsers are more powerful than ever, I knew from experience that industrial-scale data-heavy apps posed problems, because neither the browser or a traditional stateless server architecture could provide the compute resources needed for low-latency interaction with large datasets. I began talking about this with my friend Taylor, who had encountered similar limitations while working on data analysis and visualization tools at Datadog and Uber. We decided to team up and build a company around solving it. We have two products, an open source package and a managed platform. Spawner, the open source part, provides an API for web apps to spawn a session-lived process. It manages the process’s lifecycle, exposing it over HTTPS, tracking inbound connections, and shutting it down when it becomes idle (i.e. when the user closes their tab). It’s open source (MIT) and available at https://ift.tt/P3ovKHk . Jamsocket is our managed platform, which uses Spawner internally. It provides the same API, but frees you from having to deal with any cluster or network configuration to ship code. From an app developer’s point of view, using it is similar to using platforms like Netlify or Render. You stay in the web stack and never have to touch Kubernetes. Here's an example. Imagine you make an application for investigating fraud in a large transaction database. Users want to interactively filter, aggregate, and visualize gigabytes of transactions as a graph. Instead of sending all of the data down to the browser and doing the work there, you would put your code in a container and upload it to our platform. Then, whenever a fraud analyst opens your application, you hit an API we provide to spin up a dedicated backend for that analyst. Your browser code then opens a WebSocket connection directly to that backend, which it uses to stream data as the analyst applies filters or zooms/pans the visualization. We're different from most managed platforms because we give each user a dedicated process. That said, there are a few other services that do run long-lived processes for each user. Architecturally, we're most similar to Agones. Agones is targeted at games where the client can speak UDP to an arbitrary IP; we target applications that want to connect directly from browsers to a hostname over HTTPS. In the Erlang world, the OTP stack provides similar functionality, but you have to embrace Erlang/Elixir to get the benefits of it; we are entirely language-agnostic. Cloudflare Durable Objects support a form of long-lived processes, but are focused on use cases around program state synchronization rather than arbitrary high-compute/memory use cases. We have a usage-based billing model, similar to Heroku. We charge you for the compute you use and take a cut. Usage billing scales to zero, so it’s approachable for weekend experiments. We have not solidified a price plan yet, but we’re aiming to provide an instance capable of running VS Code (as an example) for about 10 cents an hour, fractionally metered. High-memory and high-CPU backends will cost more, and heavy users will get volume discounts. Our target customers are desktop-like SaaS apps and internal data tools. As mentioned, our core API is open source and available at https://ift.tt/P3ovKHk . The managed platform is in beta and we’re currently onboarding users from a waitlist, to make sure that we have the server capacity to scale. If you’re interested, you’re welcome to sign up for it here: https://ift.tt/82AJLYS . Have you built a similar infrastructure for your application? We’re interested in hearing the approaches people have already taken to this problem and what the pain points are.
Monday, February 28, 2022
Sunday, February 27, 2022
Saturday, February 26, 2022
New top story on Hacker News: Show HN: Esolang Park, a visual debugger for esolangs
Show HN: Esolang Park, a visual debugger for esolangs
14 by nilaymaj | 2 comments on Hacker News.
Hey HN! Esolang Park is an online visual debugger interface for esoteric programming languages, that I've been working on for the past few months. For every supported language, Esolang Park provides the powerful Monaco code editor, syntax checking, debugging functionality and a visualisation of the runtime state. The core is language-agnostic - a "language provider" only needs to implement the esolang's parser, interpreter and visualisation UI (and some other little stuff). Apart from trying to boost DX for esolangs, the idea is for this to grow into a platform where people can discover and play around with a variety of esolangs without leaving the browser. That's quite far away though - the project is quite early in development and currently only has 5 languages (Befunge-93, Brainf*ck, Chef, Deadfish and Shakespeare). Some features like non-debugging execution mode (0ms interval) are missing too. Currently the entire source code[0] (core + language providers) is written in TypeScript and React. Esolang code execution happens in a web worker. I'm planning to add support for WASM-based language providers for better performance, particularly for non-debugging execution. There's also a wiki[1] containing a description of the core design and a guide for implementing and contributing new language providers. Looking to hear some feedback on the idea and current implementation - bug reports are welcome too! [0] https://ift.tt/RKPLgbA [1] https://ift.tt/Q0kvIuW
14 by nilaymaj | 2 comments on Hacker News.
Hey HN! Esolang Park is an online visual debugger interface for esoteric programming languages, that I've been working on for the past few months. For every supported language, Esolang Park provides the powerful Monaco code editor, syntax checking, debugging functionality and a visualisation of the runtime state. The core is language-agnostic - a "language provider" only needs to implement the esolang's parser, interpreter and visualisation UI (and some other little stuff). Apart from trying to boost DX for esolangs, the idea is for this to grow into a platform where people can discover and play around with a variety of esolangs without leaving the browser. That's quite far away though - the project is quite early in development and currently only has 5 languages (Befunge-93, Brainf*ck, Chef, Deadfish and Shakespeare). Some features like non-debugging execution mode (0ms interval) are missing too. Currently the entire source code[0] (core + language providers) is written in TypeScript and React. Esolang code execution happens in a web worker. I'm planning to add support for WASM-based language providers for better performance, particularly for non-debugging execution. There's also a wiki[1] containing a description of the core design and a guide for implementing and contributing new language providers. Looking to hear some feedback on the idea and current implementation - bug reports are welcome too! [0] https://ift.tt/RKPLgbA [1] https://ift.tt/Q0kvIuW
Friday, February 25, 2022
New top story on Hacker News: Show HN: Cloning a musical instrument from 16 seconds of audio
Show HN: Cloning a musical instrument from 16 seconds of audio
25 by abdljasser2 | 2 comments on Hacker News.
In 2020, Magenta released DDSP [1], a machine learning algorithm / python library which made it possible to generate good sounding instrument synthesizers from about 6-10 minutes of data. While working with DDSP for a project, we realised how it was actually quite hard to find 6-10 minute of clean recordings of monophonic instruments. In this project, we have combined the DDSP architecture with a domain adaptation technique from speech synthesis [2]. This domain adaptation technique works by pre-training our model on many different recordings from the Solos dataset [3] first and then fine-tuning parts of the model to the new recording. This allows us to produce decent sounding instrument synthesisers from as little as 16 seconds of target audio instead of 6-10 minutes. [1] https://ift.tt/cdPY8O9 [2] https://ift.tt/xUdJoz8 [3] https://ift.tt/aFO0Pvo We hope to publish a paper on the topic soon.
25 by abdljasser2 | 2 comments on Hacker News.
In 2020, Magenta released DDSP [1], a machine learning algorithm / python library which made it possible to generate good sounding instrument synthesizers from about 6-10 minutes of data. While working with DDSP for a project, we realised how it was actually quite hard to find 6-10 minute of clean recordings of monophonic instruments. In this project, we have combined the DDSP architecture with a domain adaptation technique from speech synthesis [2]. This domain adaptation technique works by pre-training our model on many different recordings from the Solos dataset [3] first and then fine-tuning parts of the model to the new recording. This allows us to produce decent sounding instrument synthesisers from as little as 16 seconds of target audio instead of 6-10 minutes. [1] https://ift.tt/cdPY8O9 [2] https://ift.tt/xUdJoz8 [3] https://ift.tt/aFO0Pvo We hope to publish a paper on the topic soon.
Thursday, February 24, 2022
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
Monday, February 21, 2022
New top story on Hacker News: Dutch antitrust authority fines Apple for fifth time
Dutch antitrust authority fines Apple for fifth time
14 by keleftheriou | 1 comments on Hacker News.
14 by keleftheriou | 1 comments on Hacker News.
Sunday, February 20, 2022
Saturday, February 19, 2022
New top story on Hacker News: Show HN: Arduino 6502 Controller
Show HN: Arduino 6502 Controller
21 by billziss | 1 comments on Hacker News.
The 6502ctl project is an Arduino controller for the 6502 CPU. The controller controls all 6502 pins, including the clock signal and interrupts, and simulates an address and data bus with attached memory and an output peripheral. The controller includes a clock-cycle debugger with disassembler. An assembler is also included with the project.
21 by billziss | 1 comments on Hacker News.
The 6502ctl project is an Arduino controller for the 6502 CPU. The controller controls all 6502 pins, including the clock signal and interrupts, and simulates an address and data bus with attached memory and an output peripheral. The controller includes a clock-cycle debugger with disassembler. An assembler is also included with the project.
New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: What books are recommended to learn re semiconductors industry?
Ask HN: What books are recommended to learn re semiconductors industry?
13 by allie1 | 0 comments on Hacker News.
I want to understand the ins and outs of the semiconductor industry. What resources would you recommend for beginner, intermediary and technical person?
13 by allie1 | 0 comments on Hacker News.
I want to understand the ins and outs of the semiconductor industry. What resources would you recommend for beginner, intermediary and technical person?
Friday, February 18, 2022
Thursday, February 17, 2022
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Tuesday, February 15, 2022
Monday, February 14, 2022
New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: Why is Firefox losing marketshare and how would you save it?
Ask HN: Why is Firefox losing marketshare and how would you save it?
135 by feross | 219 comments on Hacker News.
What would you do if you were in charge of Mozilla? How would you save Firefox?
135 by feross | 219 comments on Hacker News.
What would you do if you were in charge of Mozilla? How would you save Firefox?
Sunday, February 13, 2022
New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: Tools to visualize data in SQL databases?
Ask HN: Tools to visualize data in SQL databases?
10 by dyml | 5 comments on Hacker News.
I’d like to hear what tools you use to easily visualize the data in a sql table? Preferably I’d just like to click on a MariaDB table and receive some plots and statistics on the columns. Whats your experience on this? Edit: to clarify, I don’t want to visualize the database itself (Schema’s, keys etc). Just the data within it.
10 by dyml | 5 comments on Hacker News.
I’d like to hear what tools you use to easily visualize the data in a sql table? Preferably I’d just like to click on a MariaDB table and receive some plots and statistics on the columns. Whats your experience on this? Edit: to clarify, I don’t want to visualize the database itself (Schema’s, keys etc). Just the data within it.
Saturday, February 12, 2022
Friday, February 11, 2022
Thursday, February 10, 2022
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Tuesday, February 8, 2022
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Saturday, February 5, 2022
New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: Best hosted alternative to Google Workspace for email?
Ask HN: Best hosted alternative to Google Workspace for email?
48 by CharlesW | 47 comments on Hacker News.
So with Google starting to charge previously-free users, I've decided that I'd rather give my money to someone else. I'd like a provider who is likely to be around in a decade or two. Tips on moving many years of Google email to a new provider are appreciated as well!
48 by CharlesW | 47 comments on Hacker News.
So with Google starting to charge previously-free users, I've decided that I'd rather give my money to someone else. I'd like a provider who is likely to be around in a decade or two. Tips on moving many years of Google email to a new provider are appreciated as well!
Friday, February 4, 2022
New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: Is there any tool for benchmarking responsiveness for Linux?
Ask HN: Is there any tool for benchmarking responsiveness for Linux?
25 by c0deR3D | 13 comments on Hacker News.
System76 recently announced their responsiveness optimizer, System76 Scheduler [0], which basically works as a daemon, adjusting the nice value and the CFS knobs for processes in the box for increased responsiveness. They've claimed that the responsiveness is therefore increased, which I'm also believed so. However, this got me wondering, is there exists any tool that can report the "numbers" (e.g., scheduling latency) regarding to the responsivenss? Maybe Google has such tool for testing regression for Android or Chrome OS, sadly, I didn't managed to find one. Thanks! [0] https://ift.tt/hPaDI3s
25 by c0deR3D | 13 comments on Hacker News.
System76 recently announced their responsiveness optimizer, System76 Scheduler [0], which basically works as a daemon, adjusting the nice value and the CFS knobs for processes in the box for increased responsiveness. They've claimed that the responsiveness is therefore increased, which I'm also believed so. However, this got me wondering, is there exists any tool that can report the "numbers" (e.g., scheduling latency) regarding to the responsivenss? Maybe Google has such tool for testing regression for Android or Chrome OS, sadly, I didn't managed to find one. Thanks! [0] https://ift.tt/hPaDI3s
Thursday, February 3, 2022
New top story on Hacker News: Show HN: I built a service to help companies reduce AWS spend by 50%
Show HN: I built a service to help companies reduce AWS spend by 50%
89 by kavehkhorram | 43 comments on Hacker News.
Hey HN: Kaveh here, the founder of https://www.usage.ai/ We help companies drive down AWS EC2 spend. Why? Because the way it's done now is a pain. DevOps and Software Engineers end up spending time managing costs rather than focusing on business problems. Previous to founding Usage, I worked on high-performance computing research at JP Morgan Chase and as a software engineer at a number of smaller startups. Here's how it works: We are typically brought in by a DevOps manager to cut AWS EC2 costs. The app is entirely self-service and the savings are generated automatically, typically we do this live on a call. On average, we reduce AWS EC2 spend by 50% for 5 minutes of work. To reduce by 50%+, we don't touch the instances, require any code change, or change the performance of your instances. We buy Reserved Instances on your behalf (a billing layer change only) and bundle them with guaranteed buyback. So you get the steep 57% savings of 3-year no-upfront RIs with none of the commitment (you can sell them back to us anytime after 30 days). We make money off of a 20% Savings Fee. Happy to chat directly kaveh@usage.ai Have you experienced any issues with managing your company or organization's AWS expenses? We'd love to hear your feedback and ideas!
89 by kavehkhorram | 43 comments on Hacker News.
Hey HN: Kaveh here, the founder of https://www.usage.ai/ We help companies drive down AWS EC2 spend. Why? Because the way it's done now is a pain. DevOps and Software Engineers end up spending time managing costs rather than focusing on business problems. Previous to founding Usage, I worked on high-performance computing research at JP Morgan Chase and as a software engineer at a number of smaller startups. Here's how it works: We are typically brought in by a DevOps manager to cut AWS EC2 costs. The app is entirely self-service and the savings are generated automatically, typically we do this live on a call. On average, we reduce AWS EC2 spend by 50% for 5 minutes of work. To reduce by 50%+, we don't touch the instances, require any code change, or change the performance of your instances. We buy Reserved Instances on your behalf (a billing layer change only) and bundle them with guaranteed buyback. So you get the steep 57% savings of 3-year no-upfront RIs with none of the commitment (you can sell them back to us anytime after 30 days). We make money off of a 20% Savings Fee. Happy to chat directly kaveh@usage.ai Have you experienced any issues with managing your company or organization's AWS expenses? We'd love to hear your feedback and ideas!
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
New top story on Hacker News: Show HN: Add a “1” to your Hacker News URL to get fancy social previews
Show HN: Add a “1” to your Hacker News URL to get fancy social previews
33 by statico | 13 comments on Hacker News.
For example, paste this into Slack or Discord or whatever: https://ift.tt/7tnZJLE9K It works with comments, too: https://ift.tt/2M9WXPB6J Hastily-developed source: https://ift.tt/YAML39fF5
33 by statico | 13 comments on Hacker News.
For example, paste this into Slack or Discord or whatever: https://ift.tt/7tnZJLE9K It works with comments, too: https://ift.tt/2M9WXPB6J Hastily-developed source: https://ift.tt/YAML39fF5
New top story on Hacker News: Exploring SIMD performance improvements in WebAssembly
Exploring SIMD performance improvements in WebAssembly
10 by hackthesystem | 0 comments on Hacker News.
10 by hackthesystem | 0 comments on Hacker News.
Tuesday, February 1, 2022
New top story on Hacker News: Show HN: Atlas – A deployment pipeline platform built on Argo CD
Show HN: Atlas – A deployment pipeline platform built on Argo CD
17 by mihirpandya | 0 comments on Hacker News.
Atlas is an open-source deployment pipeline platform built for cloud-native applications. Atlas allows users to: - Create continuous pipelines across all their environments and clusters - Add custom tasks/tests plugins (Python scripts, K8S manifests, Argo Workflows, environment setup, etc.) - Automatically rollback applications in case of failure or degradation (Atlas watches the application past the scope of a pipeline run to ensure and enforce stability) - Use all existing Argo features Would love to hear all of your feedback and thoughts on this!
17 by mihirpandya | 0 comments on Hacker News.
Atlas is an open-source deployment pipeline platform built for cloud-native applications. Atlas allows users to: - Create continuous pipelines across all their environments and clusters - Add custom tasks/tests plugins (Python scripts, K8S manifests, Argo Workflows, environment setup, etc.) - Automatically rollback applications in case of failure or degradation (Atlas watches the application past the scope of a pipeline run to ensure and enforce stability) - Use all existing Argo features Would love to hear all of your feedback and thoughts on this!
New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (February 2022)
Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (February 2022)
50 by whoishiring | 89 comments on Hacker News.
Share your information if you are looking for work. Please use this format: Location: Remote: Willing to relocate: Technologies: Résumé/CV: Email: Readers: please only email these addresses to discuss work opportunities. Searchers: try https://ift.tt/ycdjkFYON or https://ift.tt/HbAK3Pkc9 .
50 by whoishiring | 89 comments on Hacker News.
Share your information if you are looking for work. Please use this format: Location: Remote: Willing to relocate: Technologies: Résumé/CV: Email: Readers: please only email these addresses to discuss work opportunities. Searchers: try https://ift.tt/ycdjkFYON or https://ift.tt/HbAK3Pkc9 .
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