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How do you decide if you buy insurance on goods? | cjg: Generally you should only buy insurance if you would not be happy insuring yourself (e.g. buying a new one when it breaks). I fyou buy insurance then the profit margin and overheads of the insurance company are an extra cost over insuring yourself.Buying insurance works best for expensive rare occurances (e.g. maj... |
Why No 'Save' Feature? | Tichy: If it is interesting enough to save, maybe it warrants an upvote? |
Why No 'Save' Feature? | ropiku: Use Instapaper, it's online and it has a bookmarklet and an iPhone app: http://www.instapaper.com/ |
Are there any good Internet marketing books? | jncraton: Permission Marketing (Seth Godin)http://www.amazon.com/Permission-Marketing-Turning-Strangers... |
Are there any good Internet marketing books? | wallflower: 1) "Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer" (A/B Testing)2) Aaron Wall's SEO Book - excellent primer for internet marketing and SEO - theory but with practice applied3) The original Backrub/Pagerank paper> probably with more emphasis on theoryAre you doing research for school? I k... |
Why No 'Save' Feature? | maurycy: Upvoted articles are saved. If it is worth saving, it is worth upvoting as well. |
Are there any good Internet marketing books? | showerst: I'm not sure that it exactly qualifies as marketing, but Avinash Kaushik's "Web Analytics: An Hour A Day" is really great on how to design for and think about project metrics on the net, which in my experience is one of the biggest advantages that the great guys are holding. |
Why No 'Save' Feature? | sireat: I use delicious for saving and noticed I am not alone on more heavily discussed HN threads. |
Are there any good Internet marketing books? | craigbellot: Breakthrough Advertising - Eugene ShwartzAdvertising Secrets of the Written Word - Claude HopkinsAnything by Seth Godin |
Why No 'Save' Feature? | jeremymims: The real advantage to a "save" option is that HN can create a set of "most saved" articles. Although it might not end up looking much different than the Hacker News home page at first, in time this might end up being a good reference set of important things to read when starting a startup. |
Why No 'Save' Feature? | bendotc: The feature request thread is here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=363 . The page footer has a permanent link to it, so I believe that's the place pg would like feature requests to go.FWIW (probably not much), I'm -0 on this suggestion. As others have pointed out, bookmarks (browser or social) work very... |
Are there any good Internet marketing books? | sivers: To get fundamentals and theory foundation, drop the "internet" part of your requirement. The internet is just another way to connect people.All successful marketing comes down to a fundamental understanding of people, how we like to be spoken to, what captures our attention, and what messages stick.Read my not... |
Are there any good Internet marketing books? | dmix: Four Steps to the Epiphany - Steve Blankhttp://www.amazon.com/Four-Steps-Epiphany-Steven-Blank/dp/09...I've read tons of marketing books and went to school for business, but this one is the best for tech startups hands down. |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | TweedHeads: I ask this question as I try to use my recliner as a workstation and the mouse is the only setback right now.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReclinerI already placed a huge flat monitor on a stand at 45 degrees from the horizon so my neck rests comfortably in the recliner.A wireless keyboard fits nicely on my ... |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | TallGuyShort: I wouldn't call them useless keys. When I'm typing in any multiple-digit number, I find it so much easier to use the num-pad than than the single row of numbers at the top. I only use that top row when I'm inputting a single number in the middle of other text.As for the track-pad, I think they're extremel... |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | michael_dorfman: Nope.Or rather, I might use it to click to find a site where I could buy a keyboard with a numeric keypad. I use the keypad all the time. |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | DanielBMarkham: If you're trained on 10-key entry those keys are not useless at all -- they're extremely fast accelerators for data entry.http://www.ehow.com/how_2106407_type-using-10key.html |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | jonknee: No, I use those keys and I have a mouse for a reason. The number/arrow keys are actually why I'm using the old style Apple Bluetooth keyboards as the new ones don't have them (but the wired ones do, frustrating). |
Please review our startup Euraeka.com | jackdempsey: Just wanted to say thanks for the comments. We've worked hard on this, and there's obviously still a ways to go....but we definitely appreciate the constructive criticism, and the time taken to reply.jack |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | endtwist: I personally don't mind the full number pad; it comes in handy when entering a set of numbers. However, if you're on Windows, you can also use the number pad as a way to control your cursor: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Use-Mousekeys---Move-...It isn't exactly a trackpad, but it works. |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | jcdreads: I type large numbers of numbers with the numeric keypad, and I absolutely hate having a numeric keypad stuck on the right of my keyboard. It gets in the way of my mouse, and it makes me move my unnaturally far to the right of my desk in order to center the text keys in front of my monitor.I find that a keypa... |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | stcredzero: I would like a trackpad like the one on the new MacBook. You could even print it with a numeric keypad and make it dual-use. I like using a keypad for entry, but I only need that occasionally. A trackpad would be more useful. Even better: also replace the arrow/delete/home/end cluster with trackpad gest... |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | pedalpete: Looks like you are talking about on a desktop keyboard. If that is the case, no I wouldn't want to have a trackpad instead of my numberpad (even though I don't use the numberpad much).However, I had this discussion with a friend a few months ago when he was trying to decide what laptop to buy. He couldn't de... |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | gjm11: Yes, I would use it. I spend very little of my time at the computer entering numbers.Now, imagine that instead of the number keys or touchpad, there's a bit of extra desk space into which you can move your mouse. That would probably be even better. Unfortunately, decent keyboards without a numeric keypad are sca... |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | hellweaver666: (I'm a Mac geek so apologies in advance!).Yes - I would use one, if Apple made it and it had a big multi-touch Trackpad that also somehow magically doubled up as a numeric pad when I need it. Oh, and it'd have to have the same keyboard layout as the existing Apple keyboards, cos they rock! |
How to disclose a phishing vulnerability | mbrubeck: You might be right that the institutions won't take a phishing exploit seriously - after all, phishing is easy enough to pull off against most sites without exploiting any specific vulnerabilities (just send an email saying "Please respond with your SSN and password"). But what I would do is to send details ... |
The importance of heredoc | villageidiot: I've never had a problem with heredoc. I'm curious what you mean when you say "I can picture a number of ways to get almost the same effect . . . without complicating the syntax". Would you care to illustrate your point with an example so we can make the discussion a little bit more concrete? |
Formal education or self-taught? | peterhi: My formal education gave me the tools (or at least the knowledge of the tools) that I would need to make sense of things that interest me.Without it the bootstrapping would have been a great deal harder. |
The importance of heredoc | gamache: Oh, heredocs absolutely still have a place. It's the right choice for any multiline string which might contain quoting characters.And what's so complicated about the syntax? Even if you have never seen a heredoc before, it's generally very easy to figure out what's going on from context. |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | aoeu: No, mouse closer better..http://tlb.org/keyboardchop.html |
The importance of heredoc | firebug: heredocs are great. I use them all the time for metaprogramming. I don't see them going out of style anytime soon. Not sure what you mean about complicated syntax.I supect you may be new to Ruby and confused by the heredoc sytnax. If so, this post has a review of some of the syntactical issues with heredocs:ht... |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | xenophanes: The numpad is needed to play some games like warcraft 3 or exile. |
Are there any good Internet marketing books? | nuzhack: Suggested reading list for a college level class:http://bit.ly/P2c5H |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | cmos: Possibly. I would probably prefer it in the same place as on my laptop, below the space bar.At this point why can't we put the trackpad on top of all the keys? The action of pressing keys would not change, and 'stroking' them would move the mouse. The most brilliant design change for the ipod was when they put... |
Formal education or self-taught? | darkxanthos: I've battled with this myself for a couple years now. I am going back to school half time starting Monday.Being a self taught software engineer, such as yourself, and making a pretty decent salary I've had a hard time really understanding what a degree could do for me. I get job offers left and right (and ... |
Are there any good Internet marketing books? | jamiequint: For the marketing process I also recommend 4 Steps to the Epiphany. For more depth on the online advertising industry itself I don't think you'll find much print material that is good (Its still changing too fast). One of the best in-depth blogs on the subject that I have found is http://www.jayweintraub.co... |
how to react to government borrowing billions? | pfedor: I don't have any advice specific to the situation described, but I'll make one general statement: you should not adjust your investments in any way based on news about recent political and economic events. You learned that the government is going to issue some new bonds and whatever, but so has everyone else. ... |
Review our startup: Tonido | linux-reviewer: I have no issues with the Music, files or other documents. Setup has been super easy thus far. I look forward to testing it out on my WinDoze machine next.A userful review may be found at: http://www.linux-magazine.com/issues/2009/105/cloud_9I agree the tonido website content does the toolset a 'huge'... |
How to disclose a phishing vulnerability | TallGuyShort: I'll second the question, but for a different reason. I once noticed a vulnerability on Facebook, and as a responsible citizen, took screenshots of what was happening and wrote a friendly email explaining how it could be used to compromise another user. I explained that I had just stumbled across the prob... |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | dunham: I probably would take the trade-off if it was a full multi-touch trackpad. These days I work with my macbook pro sitting to the left of a full keyboard and monitor. I frequently reach over to the trackpad to gesture (mostly zooming and two/three finger scrolling) and use the mouse (on the right) to point.I'd a... |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | anamax: Why would I replace useless keys with another useless device? (No, a trackpad is not a mouse replacement.) |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | lucumo: No, absolutely not.First, I love my keypad. It speeds up typing numbers considerably. In fact, I find myself wishing the non-decimal hexadecimal digits were added to it as well. As well as a comma as thousands separator (or as decimal point when I'm typing Dutch).Second, I loathe touchpads. They're much harder ... |
Are there any good Internet marketing books? | tortilla: Call To Action: Secret Formulas To Improve Online Resultshttp://www.calltoactionbook.com/ |
Formal education or self-taught? | ErrantX: Here's my 2p: a mixture is good, but ultimately it comes down to what is best for you.My background has been quite a mix. Most of my formal education is related to electronics (my degree was an embedded systems engineering) whilst my outside interests were in CS, programming and the internet (and some sociolog... |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | mmelin: I am currently using it - the ridiculously pricey Logitech diNovo Edge.http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/keyboards/keyboard/devices... |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | krschultz: This would have been better as a poll.And no. I use the number keys all the time. |
The importance of heredoc | mbrubeck: Perl and PHP also use shell-style heredoc syntax. The main alternative is to provide a newline-friendly quote delimiter, like the """string""" syntax in Python. |
What percent of iPhone apps make less than $100? | ujjwalg: I have more than 20 apps on the appstore. None of my apps have more than 20 reviews, so I cannot judge these numbers. This might be true for 99 cents app, but I am not sure how directly correlated will this be for >$4.99 apps. |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | TweedHeads: This is exactly what I want:http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/7545/applekeytrak.jpg |
Tool development as a job applicant filter? | mdoar: Perhaps a more balanced approach is to ask "What tools do you use? What do you like and dislike about them?". The choice of tools tells me something about a how a person does their job, any job. |
What percent of iPhone apps make less than $100? | mixmax: I have a hunch that the income distribution of Iphone apps follows a powerlaw. Things like this tends to do so (karmapoints and users of HN, for example, follows a powerlaw)So if you can get data for a few apps, which should be possible, you can estimate the K-coefficient, and voila you can make a calculated es... |
stats on phone calls from website visitors? | brk: I don't understand your question.If you have a phone number on a site that sells web-based products, it would seem that nearly 100% of the calls would be coming from people who had visited the site (which is what I think you're asking). |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | NoBSWebDesign: I would rather replace my trackpad with a numeric pad. |
Formal education or self-taught? | humbledrone: My take on this is that if you're not interested in the subject enough to learn it on your own, then you'll probably never gain a deep understanding of it. That's not to say that a formal education is bad -- it will just never be a substitute for real personal motivation. If you have the motivation it ta... |
Where do you get your design inspiration? | pclark: http://delicious.com/popular/inspiration |
Where do you get your design inspiration? | A-Merchant: http://www.viget.com/inspire |
Where do you get your design inspiration? | wmeredith: http://commandshift3.com |
When you sell a server-based iPhone app, how long should it work for? | ujjwalg: I would say it depends upon what is it for, how much you sold it for and what claims you made when you sold it to the customer.We are lining up server side apps for test preparation. If we ever stop server side, we will stop selling the app 3 months prior to server halt, post a notice about the same and boom. |
Where do you get your design inspiration? | alexkearns: http://webcreme.com |
Where do you get your design inspiration? | alexbeaudet: I usually leave LittleSnapper running in the background, and take a screenshot when I come across a design that I like, so my LS library is usually where I go first. The collection is pretty eclectic, so it would be tough to categorize to a specific blog / website / designer. The most recent entry is of ... |
When you sell a server-based iPhone app, how long should it work for? | gojomo: Set expectations fairly. Ensure degradation when server goes away is understandable. (For example, maintain a 'discontinued' message at a more-permanent URL as a fallback.) |
When you sell a server-based iPhone app, how long should it work for? | rubinelli: Can't you just use a subscription model? Give the customer a certain time (say, three months or one year) and start charging after that. This way, they won't feel as if you are taking something away from them when you pull the plug, and the service may actually be able to go on with this extra revenue alone. |
Where do you get your design inspiration? | jlesk: I get some inspiration from package design:
http://www.thedieline.com |
Would you replace your numeric pad with a trackpad? | chengas123: I want a trackpoint (the red nipple in the middle of IBM laptops) on every keyboard I own. |
Feedback on my project | sucuri2: Hey,I just played with the site for a while and really enjoyed it. The design is simple and easy to use.. you did a good job.Some comments:-The about button at the bottom doesn't work (at least not on FF on Ubuntu). I was trying to figure out how you get the musics/copyrights/privacy policy/etc.-How are you ge... |
Feedback on my app engine project? | sucuri2: I am getting this error when I try to access:"
The Google Maps API server rejected your request. This could be because the API key used on this site was registered for a different web site. You can generate a new key for this web site at http://code.google.com/apis/maps/.
" |
How to disclose a phishing vulnerability | technophillia: How is a phishing vulnerability based off a singular site? Phishing are just tricks How is a phishing vulnerability based off a singular site? Phishing are just tricks to get the user to give you their credentials in belief you are the site in some way (staff, admin, etc.). It's basically social engin... |
How do you store credentials to external services? | cperciva: Store them as a file on disk which you read in when necessary. The separation this provides gives you two benefits: First, you don't need to worry about "sanitizing" your source code if you ever want anyone else to look at it; and second, it makes it easy to use separate accounts for development vs. producti... |
Feedback on my project | ektimo: Clickable link: http://herdit.org/music/index.html |
How do you track time? | pasbesoin: In a previous job, I sometimes had to context switch often and on short notice. I'd invariably lose track of my time allocations. I needed to keep track of billable hours across often 3,5,7, or more projects and tasks (and categorizations of work type) at a time, and manual recording was just not cutting i... |
Feedback on my project | pedalpete: I've had some experience in this space, and good on you for tackling a very challenging issue.I really like how you've done your interface, the ability to add and filter by a fairly easily understood group of labels.Unfortunately, you still have a lot of work to do on the quality of playlists being created. ... |
Feedback on my project | ddemchuk: I tried looking up instrumental music (I've really gotten into instrumental/post rock stuff lately) and your site changed my search into "inxs" and I started to listen to "need you tonight"...although funny, I think you should disclaim that I'm only searching for what's in your system, rather than replacing m... |
Feedback on my project | pbhj: I had a very quick look ... initially noscript meant it just said "you haven't added any tags" - no indication as to what the website was nor what the tags were for. Enabled a temporary pass for your scripts ...Gah! move that Feedback button, it's the trendy way, but it's right in the way of the tags, push it ove... |
How do you track time? | elcron: For linux ktimetracker which can automatically time a task only when it's in a certain desktop. Of course my main reason for using it was to keep myself from wasting too much time on hn and other websites. :) |
Are there any good Internet marketing books? | skmurphy: I would recommend these books for a good grounding in marketing and fostering innovation: The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen
Crossing the Chasm and Inside the Tornado by Geoffrey Moore
Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker
Marketing High Technology by William Davidow
Four ... |
Feedback on my project | taitems: You know we mean well, so don't take these suggestions to heart:- "Vote for Pedro" logo font and colour looks a bit nasty.- Clicking the logo should take the user back to the homepage (I know there's only like, two pages, but still)- Typed "instrumental" in the search box, pressed enter, my input was cleared b... |
Feedback on my project | a5huynh: Thanks for all the feedback so far guys!I know the UI is a bit unwieldy at this point because it was a quick mash-up of the work of a couple students.The playlist generator is still a work in progres, but the feedback certainly helps. Our algorithm creates a pool of songs that match certain tags, and if the ta... |
What's necessary re: server RAM? | gojomo: It completely depends on your application/stack. Something with static content and simple dynamic pages could scream at 256MB, or even less. Something with other RAM-eating frameworks and code might run best with GB+.A nice thing with Slicehost is you can start with the smallest, and then if it seems you need m... |
What's necessary re: server RAM? | vivekamn: I am running a rails app with 100,000 pages views/month with a 86MB slice(not at slicehost though) with <2sec response times. The pages are pretty heavy dynamic pages. |
What's necessary re: server RAM? | bcx: You may want to also take a look at http://www.linode.com, they give more ram, for the same price, and have a pretty slick, albeit not as pretty control area. |
Are there any good Internet marketing books? | kuvkir: Thanks everyone for suggestions.Just for the reference, here is another related topic: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=193308 |
Where are you from? | ScottWhigham: You first? |
Where are you from? | csbartus: Tirgu Mures, Romania |
Should I give up? | wheels: I'd so go back to those folks that have given you a lukewarm reception and change the question -- what are they looking for? What do they want? What are the problems they're trying to solve?Take a really close look and make sure that you're not a hammer looking for a nail, but that you're solving a problem pe... |
Should I give up? | chaosmachine: Never give up and never surrender. The difference between failure and profitability can be as small as changing a few paragraphs on your sales page (it was in my case).Reduce your costs, and experiment as much as possible.The worst that can happen is you end up getting a day job.Bob Parsons (found of GoD... |
Should I give up? | bdfh42: Pretty good advice from "wheels" but ask another question.What have your potential customers got to do to get a benefit from your start-up? That could be adding to the inertia - mild interest will only turn into a sale when everyone else is doing it OR there are no barriers to entry. It may be that you can offe... |
Should I give up? | hvs: Without knowing anything about your product or industry, is it possible to do some contracting for these potential clients that would allow you to earn some extra money as well as get your foot in the door for your product? |
Should I give up? | SePP: Get somebody to take a look at your service/idea who has some experience in the B2B market. Talk about it.Maybe you're so in to it, you don't see what's missing.I think it's especially hard because you're on your own. Try talking about it with friends or family. They'll mostly give some high level advice, but you... |
Should I give up? | davidw: September to January is 10K of expenses? That seems like a lot to me. Do you have a family to consider? |
Should I give up? | swombat: This is probably easier to do with someone in person... I'd find another entrepreneur that you respect and trust and get a second opinion on what you can do. You may find that there's actually a whole range of things you can do (and you'll hopefully get some pretty direct, no-bullshit evaluation of whether you... |
Should I give up? | javery: I would recommend reading The Dip by Seth Godin. It is all about deciding when to quit and when to push through. My favorite line is "Quit or be exceptional. Average is for losers" |
Should I give up? | edw519: I have 2 signs above my desk.One says, "It doesn't matter". This is for when I get so stressed out, I have trouble doing anything. It helps keep things in perspective.The other says, "Jabez Wolffe". His guide boat forced him to abandon his swim across the English Channel because they couldn't see through the... |
Should I give up? | niyazpk: One thing about marketing is that it will take time for people to get to know about a product and then decide to try it.How much time did it take for you to adopt twitter/google/whatever? Even for trying out free products people take months (you have a product that solves a real problem, but people don't know ... |
Should I give up? | ErrantX: (I had written a long reply but then wrote this last paragraph and found it summed it up better than an essay could).It sounds like a challenge; run up and meet it head on. Im sure your project has pitched numerous technical challenges at you previously. Now this is a business one. Throw yourself at it the sam... |
Should I give up? | pg1: Also you can do some freelance jobs in your field. You can make some money and learn more about B2B. |
Should I give up? | xsc: I work in B2B. Do you have something of value for us at the right price point? Sell me. |
Should I give up? | mooders: Could simplification be helpful? I'm thinking that in a conservative B2B industry, offering too much too quickly from an unknown probably gets your target's risk radar bleeping.I spent a lot of time consulting for, managing projects in and selling into the wholesale banking industry - pretty conservative, slow... |
Should I give up? | DirtyAndy: Being down to 0 money left is quite different to bankruptcy, do you have large debts that are going to cause someone to file bankruptcy proceedings against you? Otherwise I would have thought worst case scenario was really just looking for a new job and you might know that you need to do that slightly before... |
Should I give up? | ckinnan: What about finding outside investors? Or partnering with a client? Your business idea may be impaired by your funding model...you didn't give yourself much of a runway. No matter what, don't cash out your savings just to stay alive through the holidays. It is too much personal risk-- it is better to dilute... |
Should I give up? | colinplamondon: What's your monthly burn? If you downshift to building something that will bring in $2k/month you have an infinite burnrate.With our startup we had a six month financial abyss timeframe, which was doable but risky. So, we spent the last two months pushing out a series of products- we shipped four differ... |
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