manglav

I've been very interested in machine learning/neural nets for the past year, and have been reading papers on arxiv in detail. Having implemented some papers myself, and training the nets and watching conference talks, I feel as I am missing a chunk in my understanding.

I can understand how new advances are being made, but what I do not understand on how to discover them in the first place, and what tradeoffs are. Why is going deeper better than a shallower, more connected architecture? Why are Resnet's better than RNN/LSTM's, when they seem like the same thing? It feels to me that we are picking up mud, and throwing it against a wall to see what sticks. I have a physics background, so I'm more used to deliberate design way of thinking (we used this architecture because of X, Y, and Z).

Anyway, I was hoping to see if someone know's where I can find some mentorship where these questions are answered. Maybe someone records a professor's office hours? Is there an online meetup that discusses these issues? I have particular interest in multiple object tracking and segmentation.

I will be applying for Google Brain soon, but I just wanted to have more of a fundamental understanding first. Thank you!

I'm working on a hardware project, and I am deciding on several avenues of hardware. My question is, how do I evaluate each avenue? I assume my hardware will be assembled in China for cost purposes, but the only places I know to get quotes for hardware are avnet express, digikey, arrow, etc. Large distributors.

Not to mention, image sensors are incredibly difficult to source. Long range wireless radios are a bit easier, but for me still difficult.

Does HN have any advice?

I'm working on a computer vision/machine learning project that could benefit from some guidance. While I have looked for consultancies, and even emailed students or professors that I thought were exceptional, I have had very little luck. Does anyone know where I could find an expert in this field for some consulting work? Thank you.

Hey all,

A very good friend mine works as a CPA for one of the big four accounting companies in San Francisco. The problem is she's been delegated to a dead-end role, and it seems like the company is just waiting for her to quit. I told her I'd reach out and see if anyone could give advice, or opportunities.

Is there a need for an in-house CPA in any of these tech companies? She has a range of talents including amazing people skills that would be very valuable to any company. Thanks!

Edit: She has around two years of experience.

Hi everyone. I was trying to determine where to live in SF when I realized there are no late night transportation services to East Bay from SF. I thought others might have the same problem, so I'm doing some research to see if it's viable to provide a solution. I would appreciate if some people here took the time to take it, and repost it wherever it would be useful(user groups, forums, etc). It would really help me out!

http://goo.gl/mwUIeN