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Is there a point to school? | elblanco: If you don't understand the value of it right now, don't go.I didn't go for about 5 years after high school. Then one day I had a Eureka moment and totally got it. I signed up for school, and was straight A's until graduation. There's really nothing that says you have to go now.When you get tired of working dead end jobs, or watching people get promoted faster than you, or make more money...even if you are materially, objectively better than they are...someday you'll get sick of it and decide to fix it. You can either go through the next 25 years pissed off as to why you can't seem to make it through that glass ceiling, or you'll "get it" and go back to school and get your sheep's skin and suddenly find yourself with an extra 20-30k in the bank every year to start with. |
Are ACM worth a membership? | gmosx: Most definitely, yes |
what sites should use ssl? | stephenhau: Correct me if I'm wrong - looking at the source code, Facebook submits the form over https, though the page is http.By itself, a leak of information may appear trivial, but piece together a few bits of info and mix in some social engineering, and you could have enough to do naughty things!
Yes, users should use different passwords, but you should be the one who does the right thing and takes the responsibility for them, to prevent that exponential spread of consequences. It's more than just "This cert cost me x", it's "If I spend x, I save y people from losing z of time and money." where x<y<z.StartSSL offer well priced certificates - from free, up to ~USD150, and they are well reviewed here: http://www.sslshopper.com/startcom-certificate-authority-rev... |
Best office chair | pmjoyce: I know it carries certain baggage with it but I love my second hand Aeron http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeron_chair.As a freelancer I've worked in the offices of a good number of large enterprises and so trialled several office chairs. I've found that, once it's set up right for you, the Aeron is hard to beat for comfort, particularly over protracted periods. |
Is there a point to school? | ErrantX: The problems with modern schools are manyfold. Highlights:- it's designed for the slightly-below-average student. Even the average students get bored, but only the very brightest realise they can do their own learning.- it's currently often treated as somewhere to dump your kids for 14-15 yearsIt's perfectly possible to work through the system, though, and not work at company X. Some tips (from someone who managed it):- dont take anything too seriously- university is for fun, learning is incidental (assuming your competent enough to get a degree) [seriously: treat it like this and you will learn a lot more]- ignore recruitersAnd finally: it's fine to buck the trend. You either end up being a bit radical and rebellious (yeh!) or certain people just roll their eyes at you. Neither hurts too much (the first one just gets you laid more).Quitting Uni to do a startup etc. is fine and make that choice if uni isn't for you. However I'd seriously consider it - you develop a lot during the next few years. You'll make contacts, learn a lot about how people interact and probably make some really important friends. Most importantly your getting away from "home" and fending for yourself.Even if you end up doing the same thing in 4 years as you would do now (if quitting) it's not always a waste of time :) |
I want to become a co-founder | cperciva: Please get in touch via email in my profile.The email field in profiles is private (pg can see it, but not us normal people). Try putting your contact details in the "about:" section. |
Is there a point to school? | swombat: See also my article on the topic:http://danieltenner.com/posts/0004-college-vs-startup.html |
What payment gateways do you use for your app? | DeusExMachina: Although I still did not build any web app, for my software I'm using FastSpring and, if I'm not mistaken, they should be usefull also for subscription based web apps.Very good support and very good interface. It works very well. |
Job Titles for Sole Operators? | faramarz: How about 'Without Title' ?Good conversation starter and unique. |
Job Titles for Sole Operators? | jcrocholl: I call myself "Founder" in the context of my current solo project, even if that project is not really a "startup" or "company".As the legal term I use "Sole Proprietor": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sole_proprietorship |
How do you like the new design on NXdom? | Roridge: That's pretty cool. But I would like to see what TLD is available.Perhaps allow to only pick up .com or .net, or maybe have a grouping feature.I like the minimalistic nature too. (Oh and advanced options on the left is good.)
Edit: I just select "without dashes" and the top option had a dash. |
Job Titles for Sole Operators? | brk: The Dude. |
Is there a point to school? | richardburton: Dropping out to work on my business felt so right at the time. I was studying politics and hated it. Now I'm living with students and watching them enjoy a care-free life for a few years whilst I stress about wages, sales and tax-returns. The grass, it seems, is always greener. |
How to excel in English? | jcrocholl: Writing may help you more than reading, especially if you can find somebody to give feedback. Maybe start a blog or contribute to a magazine?I'm not a native English speaker, but here's some feedback for you: I would say "advice" (always singular) rather than "advices". |
How do you like the new design on NXdom? | jcrocholl: Clickable link: http://www.nxdom.com/ |
Job Titles for Sole Operators? | soyelmango: It depends who you're targeting - suits, techs, artists? If you choose quirky, make sure it's smart quirky, and not glib quirky.
"Your web guy" sounds a bit... bland. It sounds too average, like "Mr Site".
Come back and let us know what you choose! And let's see your business cards too :) |
How to excel in English? | shrikant: Start subscribing to the Language Log (http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll), and click on links to previous posts, ad infinitum.But what do you mean by "I don't see a big difference from where I started."? What are you doing to measure this? |
Review my website soundkey.com | soyelmango: Wow, I love the idea, and you're definitely targeting a problem that faces many people.My observations:- Why is the intro text set as an image? I know you have alt-text there, but it just seems an odd thing to do now-a-days. Also, when I send links to people to recommend they have a look, I often copy-paste the blurb to explain it. I can't do that easily with this.- Soundkey is too new a concept to just add it to a design as "soundkey: XXXXX" - not everyone is curious enough to find out what a soundkey is.
Encourage users or designers to place it closer to the difficult words.
A hint would make it clear that help is available "How to pronounce my name: go to soundkey.com/XXXXX" - in other words, promote the help first, and soundkey second.
Over time, I see this has the potential to become a generic (as in hoover)- Provide an easy to copy link, much like how URL shorteners present you with the entire link to copy. Currently, I have to see the key, remember or copy it, browse to your site, then enter it (...into the little box at the top right of soundkey)
What I'd prefer to do is copy and paste the URI that takes me straight to that soundkey. Every thought, click, key press makes people a step less likely to use Soundkey.- I'd swap positions of "Tell it like it is" and "Soundkeys in action" - the business card image tells me straight away what you do, without having to read the description. In fact, highlight the addition of the soundkey on the 2nd card. Just imagine that users are completely lazy - they don't want to read the text, they don't want to play 'spot the difference' between the two cards.Honestly, great idea, and keep us posted on your progress. |
How to excel in English? | slater: If you define "point of excellence" as "talk like a native English speaker", then I'm sorry, but that will take a LOT of time. Reading lots and lots will not make you a better speaker.My advice would be, if you want to become a better speaker, to seek out English-language programming available internationally (sadly, that may limit you to CNN International, but better than nothing), and focus on things like intonation, and the flow of discussion. Two things you won't learn from reading articles.Of course, the alternative is to spend 20+ years in an English-speaking country, then you'll probably have better pronunciation and diction ;) |
How do you like the new design on NXdom? | slater: 10/10 for coolness factor, but the usefulness has plummeted. How can I tell which domains are still available now? Oh that's right, I have to click thru?If I were cynical, I'd say you're just trying to get people to click your affiliate registrar links :( |
Is there a point to school? | dejv: I was like you few years ago. I finished high school with strait As, working full time on the side as a programmer and I decide to not continue in my education and take job as a programmer and then product manager and I thought that I know everything I need.I am from very well educated familly and they always says that I should go to the uni, otherwise I will regret this in my 50s and you can always make money later. It takes me four years to discover that and I am in the half of the undergraduate CS program right now (in my mid-20s) and I am happy with it.Maybe you need more time to see benefits of the college education, but be warned: comming back to the school "from-the-real-world" is very, very hard. |
How to excel in English? | soyelmango: Practise, practise, practise! In Real Life.Couchsurfing.org is good for this - you're not obliged to offer your couch. You can just meet up with people, hang out, speak English.Don't pitch it as "I want to practise my English with you" - that's off-putting. Be interested in the person - and as a side-effect of the fun, you'll be practising your English!Now, if only I'd practise what I preach... |
I want to become a co-founder | kimfuh: Can I check out anything you've worked on before? |
How to excel in English? | vishaldpatel: Hmm. Upon reading your post I'd say that you need to further tweak your grammar and choice of words.- The placement of your commas is often incorrect.- "I didn't reach" should be "I haven't reached".- "The hard point is.." should probably be "The hard part is" etc...So three things to work on:- Grammer, especially the placement of commas - when to pause in a statement.- Use of correct choice of words - this will come from more practice.And finally:
- Try listening to more rock / alternative music. For the first few years, it will mostly sound like gibberish. This is partially an exercise to train your ear =) |
What steps should I take to find a front ender? (And not be ripped off) | Cheeese: Find someone that cares about UX... and actually knows what that is. Its also important to for the designer to understand what it is you are tying to communicate and what the mechanics of the idea are. What is it that makes users come back? Who are you focussing on?I guess I am not really answering you question :) But I find crowd sourced design very hit and miss. You don't get any real thinking, you also don't get any solid UE stuff... and that's where it counts. let me know if you need a hand.
oneintenthousand@gmail.com |
What should two geek tourists do in San Francisco? | kroger: You may like to visit the science museum:http://www.exploratorium.edu/ |
How to excel in English? | chaosprophet: The best thing to do when you are learning a new language, would be to start thinking in that language. Trust me, it makes a world of a difference. |
What should two geek tourists do in San Francisco? | Roridge: I'd go and see Hendrix myself
http://www.yelp.com/biz/jimi-hendrix-statue-seattle |
How to excel in English? | DanielStraight: Surround yourself with English text, English audio or English video 24 hours a day. That's how native speakers learned it. |
How to excel in English? | drtse4: The first thing to do is define clearly what it means to be "fluent" or at least what it means for you (i.e. determine what level of proficiency you want to achieve and how you will measure that)
It may seems obvious but usually this is the hardest thing to do for someone learning a language. How i'm doing? What i need to improve? What i can do to improve? All stuff that comes as a consequence of defining a goal clearly.So, even if you can't immerse yourself in a "native speaking environment", i suggest first and foremost to understand you current state for area of usage of the language:- Can you understand spoken english/american english/fereigner english? Just watch some movie/tv show and you'll know the answer. With this you can also check your pronunciation.- Does reading english text slow you down too much? Do you sometimes forget if you read something in eng or your native language? If yes this is a good sign imho.- How is your vocabulary? Try reading different material, reading only IT oriented stuff is not enough and not indicative of how good your comprehension is, try reading books with completely different argument and see how it goes.- Writing. Are you able to produce a good non technical short/long text? Do you notice errors in the paper/etc written by others?- Speaking skill? Just register yourself to one of those language exchange sites and see hot it goes.Once you identify where you are,what need to be improved and where you want to go (language-wise, e.g. speaking- being able to converse on the news of the day with a good english), just go on and check how it goes once in a while.
(40 days are not enough to evaluate anything, i'll suggest at least 3 months... seems more reasonable) |
Have you read "Rework" yet? | maxdemarzi: Same here. I caught myself drifting off to personal experiences with scrum meetings that take over an hour and unnecessary management speeches, stalling tactics, the constant interruptions, etc.If you read SvN you have already seen all the material, it's more of a refresher course and a motivational push to GTFO of here and start something. |
What steps should I take to find a front ender? (And not be ripped off) | eliot_sykes: Never used it but might help? collabfinder.com |
Job Titles for Sole Operators? | eliot_sykes: I've pondered the same thing and ended up going with Founder. Sometimes I'll use Developer or "Developer Founder". Tried out Creator for a bit but I thought that sounded uppity. |
Your opinion on GWT vs raw JS | eliot_sykes: If you use GWT integrate it nicely into your build process. Worked at a place where it was a bit klunky whenever you made a change to the GWT code and subsequently GWT has left a bad taste in my mouth but I think that's probably unfair.If we'd taken the time, we could have ironed out the klunkiness.Might be worth building a vertical slice of you app, first with jquery (or another JS library) and then with GWT and see which one suits it better. |
What steps should I take to find a front ender? (And not be ripped off) | sushi: I just checked the design and I do think that it needs improvement. For instance, the navigation at the left is quite old-fashioned and also not good for usability. It should ideally be pushed on the top.The edges and border radius of certain elements is just not complementing well enough with the rest of the page.Now coming to your problem, I think you can take the help of http://sortfolio.com/ which has listing of really good web designers.On a sidenote, I am a designer myself. Just in case if you need any help you can reach me at sushaantum@gmail.com |
How to excel in English? | pmiller2: I think you underestimate yourself. IMO, had you not come right out and stated you were not a native speaker, I might have overlooked the couple of very minor mistakes you made. Seriously, go read some comments on digg, youtube, reddit, or slashdot to get an idea how far above the "average" English speaker you are already. You communicated your point effectively, which is a lot better than most writing on the internet does.As for what you should do to continue to improve, you're on the right track with the reading program. But, you must supplement it with conversation (preferably with native speakers) and writing (which you should also preferably share with a native for critique). If you continue to do this, I can practically guarantee your English will improve. |
Unable to login to YC on Android phone | mbrubeck: This happens because news.arc sends the login cookie as part of an HTTP redirect response. This isn't allowed by the HTTP spec, but most browsers handle it fine. Android doesn't.Anyone familiar enough with news.arc to try and fix this? I've looked through the source, but I'd need to learn a bit more of Arc and its HTTP library to get to a solution. |
What steps should I take to find a front ender? (And not be ripped off) | andreshb: I currently have an excellent front-end development team with an entrepreneurial background based in Latin America.I was able recruit and partner up with the best in the region because I run blogs, communities and events around tech and entrepreneurship and by actually meeting them at conferences.My suggestion would be for you to1. Network and meet your developers personally
OR
2. Try your luck at elance.com, freelancer.com, rentacoder.com or odesk.com; be very careful though, many bidders will say they can do everything by tomorrow, and end up not delivering. It is very trial-and-error process to find the right providerFinally for your budget, you can easily have the whole site redesigned and put in a CMSIf you'd like more help send me an email andres.barreto * socialatomgroup * com |
What steps should I take to find a front ender? (And not be ripped off) | mbrubeck: http://www.authenticjobs.com/ is another front-end/design job board (run by Cameron Moll). |
How to excel in English? | balding_n_tired: Feedback, as somebody says, is important. Nagging from parents and teachers smoothed out the rough spots in the native speakers' English. If there's somebody you can trust to review your writing, ask him or her to do so. Conversation will get you a long way on the rest. |
Your Soundtrack? | andreshb: Barbarian Horde from Gladiator by Hans Zimmer |
Best hosting solution for a startup? | davidw: It has been discussed here. Numerous times. Use google or the HNSearch link, below.The unanimous result of the discussion, in case you're curious and don't want to look it up, was that everyone doing any kind of startup anywhere should click on the affiliate link in this article;-)http://journal.dedasys.com/2008/11/24/slicehost-vs-linode |
Best hosting solution for a startup? | LiveTheDream: This is a very broad question. Heroku has dead simple deployment for Ruby applications; see the pricing page to play with options. Also it's free for very low usage applications, but scales up easily. VPS offering from Amazon, Linode, Rackspace, Slicehost, etc have a minimum threshold around $25-ish. |
Job Titles for Sole Operators? | apowell: I've used "Consultant". It's not really what I am (my main business is advertising/subscriptions), but if I'm handing you my business card, then I'm probably a consultant to you.Consider "Web Dev Consultant" if you want to be ever-so-slightly quirky while still being informative. |
HN alternatives to basecamp? | bgraves: I'm not sure about Basecamp Alternatives created by HN / YC members but I've used ActiveCollab, which is self-hosted and very nice. Zoho has a great offering, too.Here's a fairly comprehensive list, but I'm not sure how old it is. http://pm-sherpa.com/features/basecamp-alternatives/ |
HN alternatives to basecamp? | davidw: You could use Trailer Park;-)http://73primenumbers.com/trailerpark.htmlJoking aside, depending on what you're doing, you could probably get by with something as simple as a Google spreadsheet. |
HN alternatives to basecamp? | josefresco: We use voo2do for our small web firm.http://voo2do.com/It's nothing like Basecamp but fits our model well. |
HN alternatives to basecamp? | waivej: It's not a HN company...but what about http://unfuddle.com? |
What are you YC S10 applicants doing now? | icey: You should be building your software. No reason to wait on the answer from YC; if it was good enough to try to get them to invest in it, it should be good enough for you to keep building with or without them. |
What are you YC S10 applicants doing now? | coryl: Been checking the posterous account for new views, also checking the log for hits on the demo from Mountain View IPs lol.So far I think they've hit the video twice, but no hits on the demo which kind of makes me paranoid/anxious.Otherwise, just trying to not think too much about it and hack together some more stuff for the project. |
What are you YC S10 applicants doing now? | matrixownsyou: keep working on the day job to pay the bills and fighting the girlfriend for spare time to work on the beta |
HN alternatives to basecamp? | elliottkember: It's not an HN startup, but I've been building http://speckleapp.com/ for a while :)Edit: It is an HN startup! I need more sleep! |
What are you YC S10 applicants doing now? | bandhunt: Don't worry so much about getting into YC. I'm surprised at the amount of people who see this as make or break. If you're committed to building a great product you should just be building and iterating all the time. |
What are you YC S10 applicants doing now? | char: I'm a S10 applicant, and the only thing I've been doing since submitting the application is working my ass off to make my product better and increase my user base. It would be amazing to get into YC, but being reliant on it would be foolish. |
Learning Java in 2010 | tjr: If you're new to Java, I would suggest going through The Java Programming Language and Effective Java. The former hasn't been updated very recently, but should still be a good introduction. The latter was updated two years ago, and offers great advice on Java style. |
What are you YC S10 applicants doing now? | hikari17: Yeah, I've checked the posterous video for new views (alas, none so far). But mostly I'm working on improving the existing app, dealing with a recent influx of users, and filling out applications to other programs with later deadlines. |
Help me choose a mathematician to write about | raptrex: Clickable
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B3ydcK31R-ctMmFiZGI1NGUt...http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B3ydcK31R-ctOGJiZTRjZGQt...http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B3ydcK31R-ctYzcyMjY0NzEt... |
What are you YC S10 applicants doing now? | Dav3xor: Mostly working on the Awesomization Process.Out of curiosity; if you applied early, did you get some preliminary contact from Y-C? |
Help me choose a mathematician to write about | nlabs: hands down, John von Neumann: the greatest mathematician of the 20th century. Information theory, computer architecture, quantum mechanics, game theory, pure math - he did just about everything. |
What are you YC S10 applicants doing now? | Roridge: I have been head down looking at the server technology I want to use in order to help scalability of the application. If it is a powder keg I want to be ready.I have also been working on use case and domain models, and layout design. (and checking HN obviously) |
How do I avoid the Second System Effect? | run4yourlives: The best way to avoid the second system effect is not to build the second system.Stupidly obtuse, but nevertheless a simple truth.http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html |
How do I avoid the Second System Effect? | logicalmind: One way is to adopt iterative development practices that focus on customers actual needs and not just desires. The first system should evolve to meet any unmet needs of the customer. Rather than trying to build a bigger and better second system.In summary: small, iterative releases with direct customer feedback on needs. |
What kind of jobs exist for Computer Scientists in social justice? | dn: It's hard to find advice on this because no one really knows. You're getting into relatively unexplored territory.One thing you might consider is applying for Peace Corps (or some other volunteer development agency). What you end up doing may or may not be directly connected to CS, but it will put you into an environment where you're dealing with application of specific knowledge to practical situations. Think of it as a social justice internship. You get good professional networking out of it too. |
What is the name of this font? | Watts: I think it's Freestyle Script.http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/adobe/freestyle-script/ |
Help me choose a mathematician to write about | icey: I vote for Leonhard Euler.Paul Erdős would probably be fun to write about. |
Help me choose a mathematician to write about | morganvane: Kurt Godel, most definitely |
What is the name of this font? | grinich: Check out http://whatthefont.com/ |
What kind of jobs exist for Computer Scientists in social justice? | ig1: There are a huge number of things you could do, what's more important is finding something you're passionate about.If you want to work on the US west-coast I'd recommend biotech and cleantech, also have a look at places like Google.org.If you'd be willing to work in a developing country then there's lots of things you could work on. Corruption in particular is something that's often being tackled by computerization (by taking humans out of the loop, or by automating checks on them), for example the computerization of land records is taking place in quite a few countries. Don't underestimate the impact something like that can have, read Hernando de Soto's The Mystery of Capital if you want to understand why.Mobile development is something that's having a major impact in developing countries at the moment, things like mobile banking are huge in Africa because they allow people who would never previously had access to bank accounts to gain access. Information systems are also transforming economies, the fact that a fisherman can now know what the market prices are in the major city (often several days walk away) means that not only can he tailor what he fishes to maximize profit but it also means that the dealer (who buys fish from him and sells it in the major city) can't rip him off by lying about market prices. The Economist had a special section on this topic a few months ago which is worth reading if you find this interesting.Also have a look at the Grameen family of organizations, they've come up with a lot of innovative businesses and non-profits in developing countries.If you're want to be more entrepreneurial there's pretty much opportunities in any area you can think of. So I'd recommend just reading around various problems and find something that strikes a chord with you.One of my interests is social mobility, and from my research I found a major factors that prevents social mobility is that children from less priviledged backgrounds often get little or poor careers advice, so as one of my side projects I'm developing a website which tries to tackle that problem.If you want to help people and make money at the same time I'd recommend having a look at self-help web/mobile applications, as there's a lot of potential in that area.On a more general level you could consider the problems charities, ngos, etc have and how you could tackle them. In some cases the answer could be something as simple as taking standard enterprise software (CRM, ERP, task tracking, etc) and making versions designed for non-profits.Think about the more general problems non-profits have as well (try volunteering for a few or talking to some volunteers to get ideas). From my experience non-profits often suffer from poor organization and management, how could this be tackled ?Handling volunteers is also a major issue, if volunteering has a high barrier it puts people off from volunteering. Think about ways of reducing this (perhaps an open source approach where people can "check-out" small projects, distributed call centres that let people volunteer on an ad-hoc basis, a mechanical turk for volunteer work, etc).As you might be able to guess I've spent a fair amount of time thinking about this sort of stuff, so feel free to email/msn me if you want to talk about it ! |
How do I avoid the Second System Effect? | danudey: The method I use is to look at the old functionality, figure out the structure, and rebuild it. Don't build a second system, build the first system better.In my scripts and projects, I generally start out with a simple, procedural batch of code, hacking on bits as I go. Eventually, I get to the point where code flow is nearly impossible to understand - too convoluted, too many global variables, function calls nested too deep, etc.Once I'm at that point, I usually know what the program is going to do and how it should do it, so I rewrite it in a more object-oriented manner. I don't add functionality, I just move it around to make more sense. I implement only the features that were in the code already, usually using as much of the old code as I can, but restructuring it in a way that makes more logical sense. When possible, I take out code I wasn't using.After that, I can build on the code further, extending it as needs warrant, until the code flow gets more complicated. Then I go back and refactor again.I find that if done properly, each iteration happens sooner (it's easier for larger and more complicated code bases to become inscrutable), but that each refactor becomes simpler (as you work towards an optimized design). |
Help me choose a mathematician to write about | drallison: Benoit Mandelbrot best known for his fractels but a contributor in a number of other fields. |
Is there a point to school? | sam191: I would love to respond to everyone but I think a follow up would be better. I never expected getting this much feedback! Just wanted to start off with a big thanks!I've decided that the university route is the way to go. I was stressing over getting a job or doing a startup so much that I forgot about how much I want to learn. I think I will do whatever interests me and allow that to lead me, instead of having a pre-determined mndset of what I think I'm supposed to be. I won't stress out about grades or jobs and make the most of the next four years.And just to clarify, I've been going to the community college for two years full time, not high school. I know the uni is a great place to meet girls but, and I REALLY don't want to sound cocky, I've never had problems with girls. I'm not lacking in social skills and I'm sure many here on HN aren't either.I also never expected there to be so many people from UW here! The next four years should be exciting, and I'm really looking forward to them and also being more active in this community. Thanks again. |
How do you limit liablity in a company as a minority stake holder? | skmurphy: As a stockholder in a corporation (but not an officer or member of the board of directors) your liability is limited to your investment. In a partnership you have unlimited liability for work related activities of your partners. In a C Corp, S Corp, or LLC your liability is limited to your investment as long as you are not an officer or director. The worst case scenario is that you lose whatever money you have given your friend in exchange for the equity.I am not an attorney, this is not legal advice. |
How to make money from a IE8 flaw? | mdg: pics or it didnt happen |
HN alternatives to basecamp? | adammichaelc: Have you looked at http://pivotaltracker.com ? It's what Google engineers use to manage projects. And it's free for unlimited projects. It's tailored to agile software development. |
Job Titles for Sole Operators? | anactofgod: I don't put a title on any of the cards for my consulting or startup business(es). They tend to be over- or pre-loaded with meaning, frivolous, meaningless, and/or limiting, esp for a solo/small operation.Try this:
On the face: Name, pho no & email addr.
On the back (opt): Company name & catchy, descriptive tagline.
Use an interesting, legible font.
Keep the color scheme simple.A well crafted tag-line is much better than a title, and gives you a lot more freedom to market yourself, your services/products and your business.I get a lot of complements on the simplicity of my cards, I save # on printing costs, and there is plenty of room for potential clients & customers to make their own notes about what they want to follow up with me on. |
What steps should I take to find a front ender? (And not be ripped off) | japanesejay: Start with writing a job description for your deal candidate, post on a few boards, and start looking at resumes and portfolios. I would advise not overloading it with irrelevant keywords. you dont necessarily need a designer experienced with java, php, python who can write you iphone and android apps while being able to answer how many marbles can fit in a school bus.I would try posting your job description to design centric sites. there are a bunch out there. At least you can target your audience. Spend a little money on it if you have to.Ive posted on CL and other free sites and i'll get back too many resumes with a bunch of overhyped nonsense buzzwords.Have someone who knows design/ui help you look through portfolios. Ive scoured through hundreds of designer's sites and portfolios over time and i can see their trends, styles, methods. If they do dev, ask them what theyve actually developed, theming, js/jquery, etc.Things to pay attention to:
- the person's education/background in design. if they're not designers by nature... would you hire them?
- Avoid an engineering centric person too. Engineers are typically not designers. (please dont get mad for that statement)
- take a detailed look at their portfolio. Do you like what you see? do they have a certain "look" that you like? or do their sites look sloppy, too much like some template, etc.
- if you care about ux, does their site provide good experience? is it at least usable, logical and consistent?
- Avoid flash designers. Most flash guys know little about seo. Content management will be difficult too.I think you'll have a hard time finding a designer who can design, code and do seo. There are smaller web shops out there that can help. Make sure you know what you're buying into and ask for references.One thing i warn you is to becareful with eye candy. There are a lot of tutorial mongers out there who will run through psdtuts, create some variation and add it to their portfolio.i agree with andres, use a cms. im a fan of drupal.k. hope that help.
-jay |
Help me choose a mathematician to write about | phaedrus: You should write about Lagrange: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LagrangeI kept running across things named after him or invented by him in different areas (Lagrange points in orbital mechanics, the Lagrange Method in my Calc IV class, variation of parameters in my Diff Equ class.)He isn't such an obvious choice like Goedel, Euler or Newton, yet he has made contributions of a pretty amazing breadth and depth. That combination could make for a paper that's presents refreshingly new info while also allowing you to talk about a lot of different areas. |
What are you YC S10 applicants doing now? | sgacka: I took a week off from working on our app bc of a client project (we're a for-hire firm trying to create an app). We had hits on our demo from the SF Bay area and some hits on the video. maybe a good sign?Either way, we'll be building our app and launching this summer. We applied to YC for the advice and mentoring opportunities - we don't absolutely need the money to launch (it would definitely be nice, but we can manage without it). |
What kind of geo-focused APIs would you like to see? | adrianh: You've seen EveryBlock (http://www.everyblock.com/), yes? Among many other things, it'll give you newspaper/blog articles for a specific address in 15 U.S. cities. Not international or even U.S.-wide, but very damn good for its 15 cities.(Disclaimer: I'm proud to work for EveryBlock.) |
How to determine what's turning people off about your service? | faramarz: I was just having a conversation about this with a colleague yesterday. something new came out of it. if it fits your offering.. give it a shot.Consider giving the User an option 'Not to Purchase' on the pricing/product page.track it, measure it and force a quick two line feedback as soon as they click it.You need to be careful with the wording though, as you don't want to misguide them into thinking this is a 'remind me later' kinda thing and hurt your sales.
It's worth discussing with your team. Gluck! |
Help me choose a mathematician to write about | Xichekolas: For a mathematician with an interesting and unusual life story, I'd go with Srinivasa Ramanujan:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_RamanujanOf course, there are more traditional "greats" like Leonhard Euler, Leibniz, Euclid, or Riemann. |
Space in the market for luxury public transit? | sjsivak: I would think your best option is to carpool with those people who are already driving. Luxury public transit already exists in most cities with private limo and car services, and at least here in Boston it is very expensive compared to the cost of a T pass. While I also hate the smell of pee (I can't say anything about the customer service because basically everything here is automated), I am fine with it since it is only $60 a month. |
Space in the market for luxury public transit? | bravura: I would rephrase this question as: How do we make public transportation more convenient?The price of convenience is increased cost, which leads to fewer customers. So luxury will be a by-product of your approach, at least initially.But yes, I really want more convenient public transit. |
Space in the market for luxury public transit? | theli0nheart: Luxury and public are mutually exclusive.But I definitely see there being a need for people to have an alternative to public transit that's a tier above what there is now. I'm sure a ton of people would sign up for that. |
Space in the market for luxury public transit? | mixmax: Get a bike. It's healthy, it's cheap and it's environmentally sound. |
For the prototype.js users -- is it worth it? | mhakes: Love prototype, works around browser issues, is fast and if you really need special effects, get the script.aculo.us companion lib. Other bonuses, it enumerates, and navigating the dom is easy. If you need updating via ajax there is a lean function or full on functions and callbacks it can do that too. |
Space in the market for luxury public transit? | lsc: #1 problem with the bus for me is that I need to pay attention. Solve that problem (with a gps device that 'dings' when I need to get off, or the like.) and you don't need to build more infrastructure.Personally, if I can ride the train (caltrain here in the south bay, or BART in the rest of the bay area) it's pretty good. I work rather than paying attention to driving. the bus is right out, not because of the poverty, but because I have to pay attention, else I end up at the wrong stop.The thing is, on the train, I'm working. I've got one of those cellular modems in my laptop, so really I don't mind that it often takes longer than driving. In fact, I'd prefer to remove the complex 'express' schedules, as it's difficult to figure out what train you need to be on. (the shitty PA speaker is hard to understand, even when the conductor gives you clear instructions, which isn't often) Also, often in many trains it is difficult to tell which train you are in from inside the train, and the number on the cab flashes by quickly. |
Space in the market for luxury public transit? | jrockway: It's been done. Trains in Japan have the option of paying more for the "green car" or a "liner" instead of the regular railcars or regular trains.But really, how often are people actually defecating on the public transit? Maybe one time you read an article where someone said they saw that? Either public transit is really good in the cities I've lived in, or the problem is you rather than it. Just sayin'.I am in a pretty high tax bracket and I would never consider "luxury public transit". If I don't want to take the train, I ride my bike instead. (I don't have a driver's license.) |
How to determine what's turning people off about your service? | pierrefar: Generally, there are two types of data you're looking for: qualitative and quantitave.You seem to know a bit about surveys which are great for qualitative data. Keep em short, try different incentives (especially those tied to your product like a discount on next purchase or free X days of premium account) and always have the last question as an open-ended free form text to the voice of the customer.Quantitative data is basically analytics. Think about what you're offering, who would want it, and what you would consider a successful outcome of a person interacting with your company. Amazon wants me to buy stuff, but they'd also like me to sign up or write a review of a product or one of their merchants. A newspaper would like me to read more than one article, maybe watch a video or write comment, or even click an ad. The point is that you have an overall purpose and multiple related secondary offerings. Identify them, figure out how to measure them, and then test test test (and test some more) in a relentless drive to improve them. These numbers are your customers (and potential customers) telling you directly what they want or like.Happy to recommend web analytics books for you if that applies to your product. |
Space in the market for luxury public transit? | daniel-cussen: It exists in Brazil. It is in buses; you pay twice as much and it has air conditioning and more comfortable seats.It also exists on the Paris metro. |
Space in the market for luxury public transit? | pstuart: Sounds like a jitney. Add in onboard wifi, the ability to request pickup via geo-enabled sms.Bigger question is how much would such a service cost to be profitable to run, and would people pay that much? |
How to determine what's turning people off about your service? | soyelmango: Personally, I ignore exit surveys - I'm leaving, why would I bother spending a precious 10 seconds clicking some check boxes? It's ridiculous, it's lazy, and it's selfish, and it's what the vast majority of users are probably thinking!Donating to Wikipedia is very worthy, though it may not be a cause the users are interested in. I suspect they'd respond better to a donation to charity, possibly one of their choice.
However, users are not necessarily looking at financial incentives to give feedback. The incentive to make a difference to a product, to have some influence, to be credited somewhere may be all it takes.That particular group of users who did not purchase but would accept a little extra free time might be of value to you - they were about to go, yet you persuaded them to stay. Ask them personally (an email?) - treat them like people, not like survey box tickers.If you have enough users, have you considered (or already have?) trying A/B testing to see what gets these people to decline/accept your service?Any chance that you could share a link to your startup so that the community can have a look?
[Regardless, good luck, and please report back with any news!] |
Space in the market for luxury public transit? | gojomo: I believe there is such a market, but you'd have a hard time serving it given the power that MUNI and the cab industry have over municipal transport regulation.Cabs are a 'luxury' option costing 3x-15x MUNI for similar trip lengths -- and incumbent cabbies already politically limit the entry of new cabs. So, they would hardly sit still for the creation of another cost-competitive transport category.Similarly, the same political force (and romanticized vision of public transit) that insulates MUNI and its employees from much accountability can also work to insulate them from real competition. "Don't license this new 'luxury' service! It'll destroy MUNI, leaving the city with bigger transit deficits and the poorest with even fewer options." |
Space in the market for luxury public transit? | Mz: When I was living in the SF Bay Area, I took a class on 'Homelessness and Public Policy' from an SF college. My recollection: There were about as many homeless people in SF at that time as in NY and NY is quite a lot larger, population-wise. That is probably part of why you see so much crap (literally and figuratively, I guess) on SF public transit.I would be all for improving public transit in the US. I currently live without a car and I don't want to ever go back to owning a car or driving one. Yet I basically don't use public transit because, where I live, 'you can't get there from here'. (Ex: There is a bus stop maybe 15 minutes from my apartment and a bus stop maybe 10 or 15 minutes from my office. You can't get there from here by bus, except possibly by going an hour downtown, changing buses, and coming back. I can walk it in less time than that.) |
Space in the market for luxury public transit? | Scott_MacGregor: To begin with, I love cars. I live in cities so I can have a great lifestyle, and to take advantage of all the city has to offer. So you and I are sort of thinking along the same lines, but making a different choice--for different reasons.I love cars so much that once we get this business profitable and I get enough income from it I will probably buy a convertible Bentley GT like this one:http://images.paraorkut.com/img/pics/glitters/b/bently_-8712...I am not sure if people who drive their own car vs. ride on a bus are doing it out of any having less of a tolerance for the fistfights or other social problems though. I think that the convenience (and for some the prestige) of driving is why people drive rather than it being a cost point or service issue. I do not think public transportation will ever --draw--people out of their cars. To me it’s comparing apples to oranges.I love having a car and would really hate having to ride a bus or train. Although I do agree with you that public transit is lacking in some ways, in many places the cost is subsidized by the taxpayers to keep it affordable and it does serve to make life easier (and nicer) for people without a car.In times past, trains used to have separate cars for 1st class, 2nd class and 3rd class. Maybe given the current political climate the cities would be hostile to allowing a separate bus service to operate in this manner. A separate bus service that would be viewed as superior to the buses serving the general population might be frowned upon by the cities and for that reason be impossible to get going. Plus, what would stop the same problem causing riders from occasionally riding the upscale bus and causing the same problems. |
How do you sell software to academics? | TrevorBurnham: Well, it was worth a try. HN is, of course, a fickle forum on which to ask such a question. If anyone would like to contact me directly, I'm trevor AT theoryville.com. |
Would you pre-order GridSpy power monitoring? | gridspy: Hot : http://gridspy.co.nzBlog : http://blog.gridspy.co.nz/Overview of our stack : http://blog.gridspy.co.nz/2009/10/realtime-data-from-sensors... |
Would you pre-order GridSpy power monitoring? | rscott: No. The price is exorbitant for what I would ever get out of it. People would not rather have this service than say, a new 42" HDTV and TiVo service. |
Would you pre-order GridSpy power monitoring? | seasoup: $950! It seems the only reason to buy your product is to save money by knowing my consumption patterns. That's ALOT of electricity I'd need to save to make up $950. Plus, are you going to save me at least $10/month?But when it comes down to it, I don't want to have to think about my energy consumption, I don't want to compare charts and graphs and geek out on it. I just want to know how to use less without having to do more work.That's from a consumer viewpoint, I have no idea what industry would think or want.Good luck! |
How to excel in English? | alanthonyc: Don't just read articles (I'm assuming from the internet). Pick up some literature, maybe Dickens or something. That will help expand your vocabulary as well as get you used to different styles and syntactic constructs.They'd be fun to read too. |
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