A User Experience Designer Switches from iOS to Android - <AUTHOR> http://jacksonfish.com/2014/05/22/a-user-experience-designer-switches-from-ios-to-android/ <comment><USER3> Almost all of this guys problems are the result of giving the user options that simply don't exist in iOS. If you really need your OS to tell you how YOU want to do things then I guess you really should go back to the locked down iOS.

Choices are hard. Apparently even choosing what phone was too hard.

<comment><USER4> I often see the same argument made in defense of desktop Linux vs. Windows and OS X. It's a little more justifiable there, I suppose, but a phone is an appliance. Its job is to do the things I need it to do, to do those things well without fail. Otherwise, it's worse than useless, because it complicates my life rather than simplifying it.

Sure, as has been pointed out elsewhere, the iOS user interface is far from perfect. Judging by OP's experience, it's still a lot better than can be expected out of the vast majority of Android phones. It'd be one thing if that platform offered the options you so laud in a fashion which doesn't get in the way of satisfying the essential requirements of a pocket phone. Apparently, though, that platform fails to do so.

You can be just as contemptuous as you like of people who find Android unworthy of their time and money as a consequence. (Certainly nothing I say will change your mind! I've had enough arguments with Linux partisans to have realized that long since.) Your contempt for such people doesn't change the fact that Android has a problem.

<comment><USER3> A phone is a computer and a user should be able to configure it however they want. If that isn't for you then don't use it, but that doesn't make customization an inherent flaw because someone doesn't personally want to deal with it.

<comment><USER4> Customization isn't a flaw. Obsessing over customizability, to the point where you fail to notice glaring flaws in the user interface and the behavior of the device, is a flaw.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> There are some definite valid criticisms here (Photos/Gallery being the least understandable oversight), but you really need to try the Nexus 5. Fragmentation needs to be dealt with and OEM's need to stop "differentiating" themselves into UI hell, but pure Android is definitely worth experiencing. It will mainly make you more upset at HTC.

<comment><USER6> Yep. What's funny about HTC in particular is some of their additional features such as disabling apps and hiding them from the launcher, even if they're uninstallable, exist purely to work around some of the crap they've burdened the system with.

I've worked with Android for basically the whole time it's been around, and in that time never saw a single manufacturer led user interface change that represented an improvement. Supposedly the Chinese ones do, but I've never had the chance.

This isn't to say stock is perfect, but people underestimate just how much the OEMs have messed with in their efforts for software differentiation absolutely no one really wants.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I feel like this whole comments section just fell out of a time machine, which isn't surprising, as this article does as well. This would fit in well with all the 2011 "UX guy roughs it with Android" stories, but it feels weirdly archaic today.

In today's world, it's like writing a story about the time you went to Kmart instead of Target and barely lived to tell about it. They didn't even have price scanners on the end of each aisle! Who cares?

If you're a mobile developer (and do it all, apparently), you should have "lived with" an Android phone years ago. Talk about UX issues (and how about something actually interesting: as a new user, you might have insight on how people should be doing good UX _for apps_ on Android), but leave the drama behind. Talking about it as some horribly broken _experience_ you lived through sounds ridiculous to anyone who actually uses Android[1]

[1] Exception made for the 17.3% of people on Android before version 4. That _would_ be a journey still filled with terrors [https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html](https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html)

<comment><USER8> This doesn't actually address any of his points. I feel like you could change the "4" in your comment to a "5" in a couple years and feel equally justified.

If anything, it's a bigger sin today now that Android has been a player for so long. Things have improved. I guess. But the biggest issues (back button, notifications, messaging, the half-baked shovel-ware app store) seem pretty persistent.

Battery life is marginally better. Most of the benefits eaten up by bigger screens (I'm not complaining much as long as it gets me through a whole day: I just bought a 6.4" Android). Getting rid of the dedicated Search button was a step in the right direction. Swapping the "Options/Menu" or whatever button for an "Open Apps" button was definitely a win. Some wins in some of the OTB apps (Camera). But some noteworthy losses as well (Messages).

It should feel like an alternative. Not a compromise. And too often that's not the case IME.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I keep finding myself agreeing with the author whenever an encounter with the back button is mentioned.

One of my favourite things about an old HTC phone I had running a 2.x version of Android was that the back button worked very consistently everywhere. It made using the native apps feel like navigating around websites: just what you'd expect from Google.

On literally every Android device I've tried to use since then it's been a complete horror show. This should have been the best thing about the Android UI and it's ended up being the worst.

I think the thing that might be worse than back button behaviour is the horribly broken app permissions system.

<comment><USER10> What's interesting is that other people have commented on the back button; see [http://blog.codinghorror.com/the-one-button- mystique/](http://blog.codinghorror.com/the-one-button-mystique/) which I also find highly amusing for its link to the state diagram of what the one button does - simplicity? I think not!

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> It might be more fair if the reviewer also put together a list of UI failings on iOS. It's far from perfect!

<comment><USER10> Here's a start: [http://blog.codinghorror.com/the-one-button- mystique/](http://blog.codinghorror.com/the-one-button-mystique/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> What I like is the fact that I could combine 2 or 3 apps to obtain a new functionality - this composability of Android. Example:

I go to Flow (reddit app) and find an article I like. I am in the car at the moment, waiting at the traffic sign. I open the article in a TTS reader that does article extraction and automatically starts reading to me. The voice is separately installed from a choice of vendors. Some of the voices are high quality (I still love Alex from Mac OS better, but I can't find it anywhere on mobile - read back to be in the voice of Alex for text proofing - lol). So now I can drive while my mobile reads my press to me like a radio station.

I couldn't do that on my iPhone. The apps aren't able to combine like that on iOS. I have just used 3 apps I found in the Play Store to improvise a functionality that didn't exist and probably most people don't care about.

</comment><comment><USER13> [Unreasonable expectations and little knowledge or inclination to try things out] Please don't read the previous bracketed sentence as snarky or insulting - it reflects the fact that he bought an unlocked phone and expected it to work great out of box with T-Mobile (including WiFi calling!) and he wasn't inclined to search the Play Store for TMobile Voicemail - so there is definitely substance to that sentence. But I merely wanted to point out that he is a user who is perfect fit for iOS/iPhone design goals. And not all people fall into that bucket. And neither should simplicity at all costs be a universal design goal for every product. Obviously if he is inflexibly tuned to the iOS way of doing things it's no wonder he's going to have issues with anything else.

1) Two Apps / Choosing Apps - This is why many people prefer Android over iOS. If you are bugged by it - select the one you like and choose "Always" the next time. Done. (If you are a UI designer at least shed some light on what is the way to do a better UX on this feature - simply saying you don't know which one to pick is not really adding any value. You have to try Hangouts, Gallery, Photos and then choose them as "Always" \- that's the idea and I find it as intuitive as it can be.)

2) Hardware differentiation - yeah just install a launcher once and be done with it - oh you will have to choose the default once after you install it, but yeah after that it's even easier. Oh and Google autocompletes HTC disable blinkfeed - first result tells you how in two steps.

3) Fine print of an unlocked Android phone - he is troubled because WiFi calling isn't available on _all_ Android phones whether or not the carrier is T-Mobile - and if it was there he would be sure to complain about what's that WiFi calling thing that I don't understand on my Verizon HTC One. Hardly a UI problem and since it requires special firmware support it's hardly fair to have everyone put it in.

4) Unlocking - it's a HTC thing. Stock Android and even Samsung phones just swipe and unlock - plus you can thank slide to unlock patent for some of the differentiation there.

5) Back button - as much as inconsistent it is, having it still beats not having it altogether. But yes it can be a little annoying at times.

6) Navigation bar - he complains about there being differences in Samsung and HTC phones! I can't figure out why that is relevant as his target audience generally will stick to one phone.

7) He even complains about the Notification bar! (For crying out loud everyone pretty much copies this from Android - including iOS!) "I clear my notifications periodically, but inevitably a pile of tiny incomprehensible turds appear at the top of my screen, uglifying it to no end." Ugh, what? Does iOS magically know which ones you like and shows only those?

8) Copy/Paste - this is one point I agree with him on. It just isn't as elegant as iOS and neither is it consistent.

But I stopped reading past that - too much personal preference stuff rather than valid points and being on a "User Experience Designer"'s blog I thought there would be insights on doing this right - I only saw "iOS is right" in some places.

<comment><USER14> Insulting iOS users is not a productive way to start a discussion.

1) It's fair to let people choose a different app (I know many people really want this on iOS), but I think his complaint is valid. There are many situations where it's completely unclear to a new user why they should use app X over Y for photo management/SMS/etc. To ask them before they've even used the app the first time nearly ensures they're not ready to make that decision. Sensible defaults and perhaps delaying the prompting until the device notices the user uses an alternate app a couple of times may be a better way to handle this.

3) Why should it matter if my HTC One came from a T-Mobile store or not? The fact that they behave differently (and especially that T-Mobile's support isn't prepared for that) is clearly an issue. I think the voicemail note is telling. How many people, upon buying a new phone, would think "I need to go download a special app to get my voicemail working"?

4) HTC took something that worked fine and made it more confusing. That's clearly a design mistake.

5) If something doesn't work reliably, that's a design issue. Especially if it _used_ to work.

> But I stopped reading past that [...] I only saw "iOS is right" in some > places.

That's not what I saw. Rorschach test for your preference for Android/iOS perhaps?

<comment><USER13> Insulting iOS users? Where do you get that from? Users are users - they have preferences. Some prefer simple and not having to think and some prefer tweaking, suprises and flexibility. If I had said "stupid" iOS users then it would be an insult.

1) No his complaint isn't valid. There are sensible defaults - it only becomes a choice if you install another app that does the same things. In this case Gallery is built in and Google Photos is well Google's. It's not as if every app has a choice on launch. And how exactly are you going to solve the problem of user not having tried one or the other if the user isn't willing to choose one? Throw him a training video for both apps? That sounds even worse.

3) The whole idea of Android is different things for different people. You don't go buy an $699 unlocked phone and use it as a Specifically Optimized for Carrier X phone. It is an unlocked phone designed to run on many carriers as possible. If you need to download an app or two for further customization that's not really a big problem. If it is, then you should've bought something from T-Mobile store that they've customized for you. Wanting it both ways while pretending to be a simpleton user doesn't warrant any discussion.

4) If you need a certain type of lock screen and aren't willing to install one - you should at least look at the phones in a retail store and pick the one with the right lock screen - you can find a lot I bet. Complaining about HTC having confusing lock screen is contradictory to entire point of how Android works.

5) Yeah, sure - but at least it works. What other better options do you have - not having it? That's a worse solution. But yes, Google can do some tightening up on both Copy/Paste and Back button.

> That's not what I saw

So you saw him giving a solution or two that is not "do it iOS way - <USER2> don't have a back button"?

<comment><USER4> > Unreasonable expectations and little knowledge or inclination to try things > out - sounds like perfect iOS user to me

This you don't recognize as an insult? I'll bet you're a constant delight to your acquaintances.

<comment><USER13> I replied to a similar comment above. I sincerely wasn't insulting him. I was just pointing out that iOS/iPhone is a perfect choice for people who don't like to be bothered with these type of things. I might just change the wording given how many found it offensive.

<comment><AUTHOR> My issue is not that I abhor choice. Choice is fine and sometimes good. My issue was that I was confronted with these choices out of the box. And the impetus for this was Google's business choices at the expense of a seamless user experience.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> The two-apps/choose-your-app problems are something that my mother has found very frustrating, and I haven't really been able to come up with a good solution for her. It bothers me as well, but I have enough experience with similar things to be able to deal with it. But for her, it's a bunch of new stuff that all conflicts and interoperates differently. It's a disaster.

<comment><USER16> This part is funny, app interoperability is a huge feature. Some people should just stay on iOS I guess. I love that I can click a link and have various ways of understanding or consuming it. I guess there needs to be some tweaking around how and when it saves preferences for these intents, but personally this is a big part of the reason I'm on Android.

<comment><USER14> As an iOS user the concept is great and many people would LOVE something similar in the iOS world. It sounds like the implementation has some interface flaws that cause people problems.

The core idea that I should be able to choose what app to use to manage my photos seems self-evident.

<comment><USER17> Biggest issue I have with it is there's no way of saying "No I don't ever want to see this intent again" i.e. control the sharing options so I can see a subset</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Spotify Needs Big Funding To Pay Big Content's Tax On Success - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/23/spotify-funding/

<comment><USER2> I'm not greatly sympathetic to the major labels' policies, but I don't see how the "tax" angle makes sense here, even as a metaphor. You can describe something like the patent system as imposing a "tax" on innovation because it in effect adds across-the-board costs to everyone.

But here the fee is only being imposed in cases where you actually want to license someone's product! Could I really complain about the "publishers' tax" on my audiobook business, because I can't produce audiobooks of Stephen King without paying him (or his publisher) a fee? And of course they vary the fee based on what they think they can get out of each client; that's standard business practice, which is why many enterprise SaaS providers have a "call for prices" sort of thing if they think you're rich enough.

<comment><USER3> I think "tax" is being used just for the negative connotation. The studios and labels are jerking their customers around by proxy. "Sure, you can stream this movie from Netflix for $9/mo... unless it gets popular, then we're going to pull it." and "Sure, you can listen to this for free-ish on Spotify, unless that gets popular, in which case we'll drive them out of business and leave your personal library and social network unusable."

<comment><USER4> I think their attitude is, "Now that you're making money, we want more of it, and if you say no then we ruin your business completely."

<comment><USER5> I think thats what we define as a monopoly. Time to redefine what can be targeted by anti-trust lawsuits.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> You could look at it another way: the content owners gave a distributor a break in fees until they found a profitable business model. Then the price break was removed, because _most_ of the value is in the content, not the distribution.

</comment><comment><USER7> More and more of the music I care about is now on bandcamp or soundcloud already. It may take a generation but the middlemen are on the way out.

<comment><USER8> Not even close. Most people like mass marketed music (basically whatever they hear on the radio).

<comment><USER9> I feel that people like to share in the experience of listening to music. Often this happens at live venues, but radio also works well because it still feels like you are listening with others. Playing a CD of some obscure band nobody has ever heard of, not so much.

If those music services can crack the social experience of music, they stand a pretty good chance.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Record labels are determined to teach us piracy is the way to acquire music. Fools...

<comment><USER11> Related: [http://edinburgh.pirateparty.org.uk/2012/03/22/a-free- clue-t...](http://edinburgh.pirateparty.org.uk/2012/03/22/a-free-clue-to-the- record-industry/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I think spotify needs to develop their own artists somehow, that is the only way I can see this working in the long term.

Having said that , I don't really like the idea of having "spotify exclusive" music especially since that would essentially force people into using facebook just to hear a track.

Another option would be for artists to sell content directly to services such as spotify on a per play or per month basis.

<comment><USER13> This is what Netflix has started to do with some movies/series (e.g. Arrested Development). The problem with this model is that it doesn't scale, even if you could make a deal with a handful of the top grossing artists you'd still need to talk with WMG to license the rest of the artists.

More and more I think we need to reinvent the way that big music companies work. Some independent labels are doing just fine without treating their users like crap so at we know it's a viable business decision.

<comment><USER12> What I mean is actually develop the artists from scratch in the same way the record companies do currently.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Meanwhile grooveshark pays nothing, has a wider selection and charges less.

Are the labels trying to get others to kick the legit companies out of business?

<comment><USER14> Grooveshark is far from legit.

<comment><USER8> And?vthey are still winning.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Why wouldn't they sign a long-term agreement with the content providers?

<comment><USER16> Look at it from the other angle: why would the content providers sign a long- term agreement with Spotify?</comment></comment>


InstantChat (AngularJS and Firebase) - <AUTHOR> http://instantchat.io <comment><AUTHOR> It's a sideproject from a cyberfriend. He created it in a couple of days. I think it's kinda neat.</comment>


Finance world in the dark as Bloomberg terminals go offline - <AUTHOR> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/11544186/Finance-world-in-the-dark-as-Bloomberg-terminals-go-offline.html <comment><USER2> I don't understand how Bloomberg could be down worldwide.

Worldwide???

99% of what Bloomberg terminals are useful for can easily be replicated in multiple data centers. Why not, at a minimum, three separate regions, e.g. Asia, Europe, America?

These terminals lease for $24,000 a year. No discount for multiple terminals. I wouldn't be surprised if a single big investment bank pays $50 million a year to Bloomberg for its terminals. Michael Bloomberg is a billionaire. Surely the company can throw a few crumbs into some redundant data centers and availability zones.

And if it's down because of a botched worldwide software update, the people responsible should be immediately walked out the door and told "you're too f __*ing stupid to work here any more ".

IMO.

Sorry to be so dramatic. But the financial world depends on these terminals (for better or for worse). They have a right to expect unrealistic reliability.

<comment><USER3> Bloomberg has just paid a lot for their experience of what mistakes to not make in the future.

Walking them out the door would be a fantastic waste of money.

<comment><USER4> That's the way a _smart_ business would think. I wonder how smart Bloomberg is? It's not uncommon for the goals of employees ]assign blame, cover ass, grab more power, short term profit] to be misaligned with the long term goals of the business.

<comment><USER5> There is a lot of assumption going on (that a human messed up). Even if that was the case I've never known it to be a place that would have knee jerk reactions like that. The company is more interested in saying "failures will happen, how do we prevent them from becoming major issues?".

<comment><USER4> That sounds like a smart company.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Former bloomberg employee here. While the bloomberg service usually runs very well, its built mostley on spaghetti code that has been copy pasta'ed since the 80s and 90s. It might have improved since I worked there, but there were some serious deficiencies in development methodology.

<comment><USER5> I don't know when you worked there, but that is not how things are run. Source: I work there.

<comment><USER7> Hi Andrew!

What I remember from my time there (2003-2007) was how quickly everyone was able to ship code despite (or perhaps because of) no global style guide, unit test mandates, or even rules about copy-pasting code. Each team was able to do things the way they thought best, thanks to an incredibly resilient, flexible production infrastructure that could tolerate, isolate, route around, and quickly repair any newly-introduced bug.

The code path (Bloomberg four-letter function, to those familiar with the service) running through the bug could nearly instantly, and if I'm not mistaken, in a totally automated way, be flipped over to a hot backup instance running the previous week's code, and a patch or rollback could be released to the live code almost as soon as it was written.

Most tech companies see the problems caused by coding too fast and respond by doing things to slow people down. Bloomberg cured the ills of excess programming velocity by turning the speed up even further. Like Facebook's "Move fast and break things", but with an extra, "...and then move even faster to fix them", and in a way that (mostly) insulated customers from being exposed to the breakage.

The fact that it's front-page news when there's a hiccup shows that it's a man-bites-dog event. You'd be in trouble if it _wasn 't_ major news when there was a service incident.

<comment><USER8> That's very interesting, and definitely an infrastructure many companies should strive for and could learn from.

I'm wondering, however, not how problems were handled, but how were they _detected_ \- code throwing exceptions is the easy case, the real problem is code running almost correctly, but with slightly wrong outputs. I imagine there could be many different "sensibility" checks implemented, (e.g. no negative prices, no huge jumps price jumps), but in general it appears to be a very interesting and complex problem.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I wonder how many people appreciate the Irony that twitter is now the universal mechanism for people to report outages, and get updates on when critical services are down/up.

<comment><AUTHOR> All those that were early enough to see twitter go through their growing pains probably.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Is there an alternative to Bloomberg? I haven't ever heard of traders using anything else.

<comment><USER11> Depends on exactly what but FactSet. Have used both, FactSet is more user friendly, Bloomberg is way faster once you get used to it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER2> FYI another discussion going on. Parent link there is to an NY Times article. [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9393884](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9393884)

</comment><comment><USER12> IB still down for some people; think I heard 25% worldwide.

Just happy everything was up for me before getting to work.

</comment><comment><USER13> It also looks like the markets are dropping sharply (SnP futures etc). I wonder if there is a connection?</comment>


Work expands to the time allowed - <AUTHOR> http://www.johndcook.com/blog/2009/08/27/parkinsons-law/ <comment><USER2> Curiously, W.B. Yeats wrote that his father John Yeats did his best work only when hurried; otherwise he went back and redid the painting until it was worse.

</comment><comment><USER3> Comment #4 (which I subscribe):

 _My favorite principle from CNP was that when an enterprise constructs its own headquarters, its demise follows not long after._

It's in chapter 6 of the Parkinson's Law book, titled "Plans and Plants, or The Administration Block".</comment>


The DOJ Is Finally Suing US Telecom Providers for Robocalls - <AUTHOR> https://www.wired.com/story/doj-sues-us-telecom-providers-for-robocalls/ <comment><USER2> From 2 days ago, over 300 comments: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22175019](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22175019)

</comment><comment><USER3> I got pretty fed up with robocalls and none of the existing iPhone apps that use a blacklist approach really worked since robocallers and spam callers can just fake their number or use recycled numbers.

I created an iPhone app called MyHumans that takes the opposite approach with a whitelist using your phone contacts. Other callers are sent to voicemail without ringing your phone. It has an easy to access switch where you can temporarily disable any blocking for a time period, like an hour, if you're expecting a one-off call from a recruiter or whatever.

It works really well for me. Spammers rarely bother leaving a voicemail and legitimate businesses leave a voicemail that I can follow-up on later.

[https://www.myhumansapp.com](https://www.myhumansapp.com)

<comment><USER4> Serious question - do you ever worry that perhaps you'll get a call from a hospital about a loved one, or from a school about a hurt child, etc?

<comment><USER3> It's a legitimate thing to consider and something I've thought about. If the call comes from a loved one's phone then the call won't be blocked. If it's a major emergency where the call is from a hospital line then they will leave a voicemail and I'll find out soon enough when I glance at my notifications (although not immediately).

<comment><USER5> Which is exactly what I do would do anyways. If it's an unrecognized number I send it straight to voicemail and check it later.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Reminds me of the time I went to career night at my high school. I went to the seminar on running your own business, and the speaker was a guy who ran a telemarketing shop.

This was the 1990s when telemarketing was new, and there were still a lot of people in the US who tolerated it.

The speaker had absolutely no shame about what he did.

Anyway, halfway through his session he went around the room soliciting business ideas. My idea was a telemarketer blocker. He quickly interrupted me to move on to the next kid.

If I was a little older I would have raised a huge stink.

</comment><comment><USER7> These days, my voicemail greeter is quite literally a CAPTCHA:

"Hello! Due to the number of robocalls that have been spamming my phone, I will not answer any call I receive if I do not recognize the number. Please prove to me that you are a human by leaving a voicemail, and I will call you back!"

Surprisingly, I have missed very few important calls. Real people are more than happy to leave a message.

</comment><comment><USER8> What if we built an app in Twilio that is like the "firewall or Cloudflare for phones". Unless you are whitelisted or in the contacts, the call will be routed to voicemail automatically. You can get creative with that and may be even add things like voice captcha. "Thanks for reaching out. Since I don't know you, please press 1 to proceed further". This will weed out the auto callers/robots ?

<comment><USER9> I just met a founder in StartupSchool who is building this exact thing.

Here is their product: [https://www.callstop.com/](https://www.callstop.com/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I look forward to a future when I can answer my phone when it rings.

<comment><USER11> It seems to me like such a uniquely American problem for some reason. I've gotten maybe a single spam call in my life in the UK, most people I asked also say they either never got one or got very few. But you go on HN and it seems like people get a deluge of spam calls all the time.

<comment><USER8> It is a major problem in America for the past 4-5 years. It wasn't this bad before then but nowadays, you get like 2-3 spam calls a day at the minimum. The worst part is that the spammers use your local area code and sometimes even matching up to the first 6 digits which creates more doubt if it is coming from someone local or not. Absolutely hate this. I don't ever pick up an unknown number anymore. If is it really important/urgent, they will leave a voicemail and I check that immediately to ensure it was not a genuine/emergency call.

<comment><USER12> The best part of having an area code from when I was a kid is that if someone calls me from that area code I immediately know it's spam.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Based on the research I've done over the past year, the solution here is a few different features:

\- Whitelisting, with the ability to request to join someone's whitelist, which sends a push notification within the app to the recipient.

\- The ability to toggle filtering off and have it automatically resume

\- Easy usage of PINs you can share with loved ones or groups.

\- The ability to send via email call invites, where the recipient can only call you starting 5 minutes before and up until 5 minutes after the meeting time is over.

This is why I built CallStop, which is Superhuman for your phone number: [https://apps.apple.com/us/app/callstop/id1455892856](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/callstop/id1455892856)

</comment><comment><USER14> Recent discussion of DoJ cases:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22175019](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22175019)

</comment><comment><USER15> I have a phone with an area code far away from where I live. If I get a call from my phone's area code or one in the surrounding area not in my address book, it's spam. If I get a call from an area code where I actually live, it's usually not spam.

</comment><comment><USER16> +1 for trying to do something about it

If anyone from DOJ is reading this, could you sue the broadcasters next for continuing to present TV advertising at a higher decible level than the content it is embedded in - even after AFAIK law(s) were passed to try to combat this... what did they do to get around the legislation ( that you probably let them "help" you write ), say they were "decreasing" the decible level of the content instead of "increasing" the decible level of the advertising?

</comment><comment><USER17> I predict a lot of people calling the DOJ telling them to leave the poor telecom providers alone.

/s

From the article:

> The US Department of Justice has filed lawsuits (PDF and PDF) against two > small telecommunications providers that have allegedly connected hundreds of > millions of fraudulent robocalls from Indian call centers to US residents.

I wonder if this could be used as precedent to sue ISPs that deliver spam from foreigners.</comment>


The Click Modular Router Project - <AUTHOR> http://www.read.cs.ucla.edu/click/ <comment><USER2> Despite any staleness in regards to what constitutes news on the page, the Github shows the project still has momentum:

[https://github.com/kohler/click/](https://github.com/kohler/click/)

</comment><comment><USER3> Where does it explain what Click is? No explanation on the front page, and first FAQ is "Is Click experimental software?"

<comment><USER4> Click is a C++ framework for constructing routers and IP middleboxes out of modular components, somewhat like a modular synthesizer for packets.

It's a pretty great codebase.

<comment><USER5> How specific is it to routing network traffic? Can it be used for more general data processing?

<comment><USER4> It's specific to processing IP packets, but not to routing. It has a really elegant interface for handling packet events.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I used click in production. It was a great piece of software. It allowed us to do packet processing and routing in the linux kernel with high level C++ code. It also had a great "standard library" for packet routing primitives.

<comment><USER7> Cool! Are you at liberty to share any more details? Was it for an ISP or similar? I would be interested to hear more :)

<comment><USER6> We ran it on access points, switches, and a firewalls. We found it was pretty good to a certain extent, but was hard to scale with multiple cores.

<comment><USER7> Interesting!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I used this in my PhD dissertation. Very useful project! [http://www.ianthomasrose.com/pubs/argos- sensys10.pdf](http://www.ianthomasrose.com/pubs/argos-sensys10.pdf)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I discovered this when I read about ClickOS [0], a unikernel that builds on the Click modular router. Check this out: "ClickOS virtual machines are small (5MB), boot quickly (about 30 milliseconds), add little delay (45 microseconds) and over one hundred of them can be concurrently run while saturating a 10Gb pipe on a commodity server"

[0] [https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/nsdi14/nsdi14...](https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/nsdi14/nsdi14-paper- martins.pdf)

</comment><comment><USER9> Looked at this a few years back, but never started using it.</comment>


Environmental Impact of Aviation - <AUTHOR> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_aviation <comment><USER2> Note that the 737/A320 class of plane is by far the most common in the sky and the one that has the largest environmental impact.

Boeing and Airbus have been resisting a clean sheet upgrade of these planes because it would cut into their profits -- even though the impact in terms of lowering costs for airlines, reducing environmental impact, and a better flying experience for the public, would dwarf the 777 and 787 put together.</comment>


Show HN: Ulterius, complete control of your desktop – from your browser - <AUTHOR> http://blog.andrew.im/post/148661867485/ulterius <comment><USER2> This is amazing. Just what I need to control my home rig while at work. What security protocols are in place at the moment? Encryption type and so on?

<comment><AUTHOR> Every client is assigned a unique RSA key which handles the initial handshake. From there AES information is passed and decrypted by the server, all future packets, files and frames are encrypted. You can also enable WSS by installing your own certificate. Authentication is based on your local or domain account

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> This looks like an awesome tool, really promising; just about to try it out. Pardon the ignorant question, but are there other tools that do the same thing?

<comment><USER4> At least for the remote desktop functionality, there's Chrome Remote Desktop. The Android app is surprisingly useful. I didn't think it would be realistic to control a full resolution desktop through a phone, but I've succeeded in doing just that on several occasions when in a pinch.

[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-remote- desk...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-remote- desktop/gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp?hl=en)

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> This I think will be a very good target since you can take complete control of a computer. Any plans on introducing 2FA or external security audits?

<comment><AUTHOR> I will be releasing a roadmap later today, but extra security is planned. Everything is open source so anyone is welcome to help out.

[https://github.com/Ulterius](https://github.com/Ulterius)

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Freaking great work man. Now get me mah linux binary so I can make you that chrome extension!

<comment><AUTHOR> OSX/Linux soon hopefully.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Which android handset you use? - <AUTHOR>

I'm learning android development and wanna buy an android handset that is available under 10k INR? Which android handset are you guys using? <comment><USER2> My flatmate uses a HTC Wildfire which is quite cheap, runs android 2.2 and is pretty fast, I'd recommend it for a budget android phone. Only letdown is it's tiny screen.

I myself use a HTC Desire HD, which probably isn't in your budget :p

</comment><comment><USER3> Not sure what Android version or screen resolution you're after, but search www.t-mobile.com for "T-Mobile Comet Black Prepaid". Refurbished devices are going for $99 off-contract at the moment.

</comment><comment><USER4> Xperia x8. Custom 2.2 rom on it (Floyo). There's a 2.3 rom available apparently but I think it is still buggy.

<comment><USER5> I'm considering getting the Xperia x8... do you have any feedback on its hardware? Anything particularly good/bad about it?

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Adobe gave me a Samsung Galaxy S, and I've been playing around with that.

</comment><comment><USER7> I'm using the Nexus S, on stock Android 2.3. Does the job for me.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> How is HTC Wildfire? It's coming in 12k INR.

</comment><comment><USER8> 10000 Indian rupees = 225.5810 US dollars

</comment><comment><USER9> Motorola Atrix, Android 2.2

</comment><comment><USER10> HTC desire. Extra advice. eBay. Extra piece of advice. Buy a nexus one. Or galaxy s. The latter might be too expensive even on eBay but look hard. You might be surprised. I got my desire last year June (i think) for 400 dollars</comment>


The Firefox Browser is a privacy nightmare on desktop and mobile - <AUTHOR> https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2020/01/the-firefox-browser-is-a-privacy-nightmare-on-desktop-and-mobile/ <comment><USER2> This is a kind of bizarre hitpiece. As noted on the previous post linked below: (1) Chrome -- the far and away most popular alternative -- is worse in every way, and (2) PIA, the company publishing the post, is owned by a (former?) malware purveyor: [https://torrentfreak.com/private-internet-access- to-be-acqui...](https://torrentfreak.com/private-internet-access-to-be- acquired-by-kape/)

</comment><comment><USER3> This article is making this stuff out to be a way bigger deal than it is. The telemetry is basic, not hidden, and can be disabled with just a few clicks/taps.

</comment><comment><USER4> You can check everything that is being sent to mozilla at:

about:telemetry

and as you can see there is nothing that identifies you. And even if i'm missing something, you can always disable telemetry and be sure that (unlike others) firefox will respect your config and won't be sending any data

</comment><comment><USER5> previous discussion at [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22142104](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22142104)

has some clarifying comments</comment>


Tesla's ingenious strategy - <AUTHOR> http://www.maximise.dk/teslas-ingenious-strategy/ <comment><USER2> Tesla -- and Elon Musk -- have accomplished a lot with a combination of ingenuity and timing, but their future (and the future of viable electric cars) relies entirely on a single technological advance that's almost completely outside their control: the physics of storage batteries.

In terms of value returned for investment, present storage batteries are almost the single worst modern technology. The storage battery on the Tesla Roadster weighs 990 pounds, stores 56 kWh (about 202 MJ) and discharges in 244 miles (393 km) in normal conditions (vehicle speed and environmental temperature). This is a stellar example of applied science and engineering (it's much better performance than that of similar batteries) but it still represents a big obstacle to wide adoption of electric vehicle technology.

As a seasoned former NASA engineer who struggled with these same issues on spacecraft for years, I offer this advice: young people who are trying to decide what do with their lives should seriously consider a career in battery science and engineering. There is room for huge improvement -- huge.

<comment><USER3> Or a paradigm shift? Rethink the battery? But where to start?

<comment><USER4> right now we rely on chemistry to engage particles small enough to achieve high energy density. Maybe some nanomechanics can play its role? this way we could have better control over the dynamics and maybe use explosives as fuel (only they will oxidize in a controlled way and not explode)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Just got my Model S on Friday and it has exceeded all expectations. IMHO, the center console is at least as revolutionary as the fact that it is electric.

The software is world class and feels like it was written by Apple. In fact, it seems eerily similar to how Apple launching the iPhone reset the bar for the "right" way to do smart phone UI. I wonder if Tesla has considered licensing the center console software to other companies.

<comment> jim-greer I almost bought one but it's really more car than we need - almost too wide for our San Francisco garage. Instead I bought $20K of their stock and am waiting for the smaller sedan.

<comment><USER6> That's what I call a clever fall-back strategy!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> There's one piece that's missing: production support.

Now Tesla is entering a phase where they will have perhaps tens of thousands of heavy, battery-powered pieces of transportation hardware deployed, and user support might be a bitch. Nobody's done this before. Ever.

Don't get me wrong. They have done a tremendously fine job so far, but they are nowhere near out of the woods yet, as I'm sure Musk knows. Here's wishing them the best of luck through the hump over the next five years or so.

(Interesting how with startups you do one impossible thing only to be given another, and another. Each time it's like "And now comes the _really_ tough part...")

<comment><USER8> Tesla needs to empower a network of traditional mechanics and service stations who can run diagnostics and do basic maintenance on these cars.

Imagine a sign on auto service centers that says "TESLA Serviced Here" or something similar. This would build public awareness and confidence and create an entire new class of Tesla advocates.

<comment><USER9> (disclosure : I work for a major aftermarket parts distributor)

by law Tesla won't be able to exclude them but from what I have read they seem to think they can change all facets of current automobile marketing and support.

However laws prevent traditional auto manufacturers from requiring buyers to only obtain service from the dealers. I do not see how Tesla is going to circumvent that nor do I believe they should.

As for the article's premise, I don't see the genius. I simply see it as a requirement to break into the market. I also do not think battery powered cars will be the end all, the major automakers are going down many different paths, Tesla is betting the farm on one.

Plus, 400 hundred cars a day? Its going to be a long long time at that pace before they have any noticeable effect. Before then someone is going to craft an environmental impact law to make these battery powered cars more expensive.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> It is almost as if Tesla is travelling a familiar timeline at an accelerated pace, forced into the luxury market by the high costs of novelty and experimentation, waiting for production and brand uncertainty to drop low enough for mass production. In 1878 (t=0) Benz invented his first engine; by 1885 (t=7) he had built his first _Motorwagen_ and in 1914 (t=36) the Model T lines started running [1]. Tesla was founded in 2003 and sent off its first Roadster in 2008 (t=5) [2]. Assuming exponential growth this means we should expect a mass produced Tesla vehicle (or equivalent) no later than 2029 (t=26).

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile>

[2] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Roadster>

<comment><USER11> Interesting model, but I predict we'll see it _way_ before 2029. We're not going from the first engine to the first mass-produced automobile, and manufacturing, technology, and operations improvements are orders of magnitude higher than a century ago.

<comment><USER10> Absolutely correct, my crude estimate is an upper bound.

The Ford Model T sold for $850 in 1909 ($2012 21,390), $550 in 1913 (12,580), and $440 in 1915 (9,640) [1].

Also, noting that the Ford Model T was on sale in 1909 (t=31) I revise my original estimate down to 2025 (t=22). Assuming 2% CPI inflation that means {$2025: 27,670; 16,270; 12,720}.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Model_T#Price>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Contrast Tesla's from-scratch, top-down strategy with those of some existing car manufacturers, which is to add electric motors and batteries incrementally to existing car platforms, which leverage their huge economies of scale: existing plants and parts can be reused.

The same plants which make a million gas-powered Honda Accords per year can be used to make an incremental 100,000 electrics, then 200,000 a year later, then 500,000, as sales grow and technology matures. Ford is using this strategy to great effect with their Focus and C-MAX EVs which are fairly affordable and accessible to the average consumer.

The question is whether electric technology is so revolutionary as to require a complete redesign of the car, (e.g. body panels and frame) in which case Tesla's approach may win out. BMW, for example, is pursuing this route for at least one of their models; they're building a carbon fiber manufacturing facility in Washington State for their new i3 electric, which will use carbon fiber body panels for decreased mass.

<comment><USER13> > The question is whether electric technology is so revolutionary as to > require a complete redesign of the car, (e.g. body panels and frame) in > which case Tesla's approach may win out.

Aren't the body panels and frame of a Tesla basically just an off-the-shelf Lotus roadster?

<comment><USER14> The Roadster's basic chassis engineering was lifted from the Elise, but I believe most of the parts were custom. All the body panels certainly were.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I've noticed where they were going with their strategy a while ago. They're basically trying to cut the price in half or so for the next model, every 3 years. This worked perfectly considering they were a start-up and could only build a few one of them at first, and then as they become more demanded, they can build more.

We'll see a $30,000 model from them in 2015, and then a sub $20,000 model by 2018, with reasonable mileage. By then the country should also be covered with their solar-powered superchargers, that charge the cars for free. All of these factors should help them, and EV's in general, to become mainstream by 2020.

In regards to the author's last statement, when Tesla started pushing for Tesla Roadster I also thought they would eventually become the "GM of the new electric car industry". Tesla is the Apple of EV's, and GM is Nokia. And both incumbents were gigantic at first in their own markets, compared to the new entrants, but that quickly changed in a few years.

<comment><USER16> Electric tech is clearly developing and generating buzz.

And yet oil probably won't get too much more expensive for decades, while solar is ridiculously expensive without any clear prospect of becoming cheaper (currently parts are only as cheap as they are because the Chinese government is subsidizing their production, which can't last forever). Burning gasoline is not going to stop being economical and reliable any time soon.

Also, given the expensive reality of solar and the way we generate electricity, electric cars would still be getting their electricity from plants which burn coal. Perhaps in 20 years we will be using more natural gas than coal, which at least means we're not depending on the Saudis - but still we'll be using hydrocarbons, fracking, etc.

The only way electric vehicles will become mainstream is if the government mandates this. Seeing the way the Obama administration's "clean energy" agenda has tanked (even among the liberal base preoccupied with drones and Manning), there isn't going to be anybody to support this kind of action when it makes all transportation more expensive and thus makes everything more expensive. In a country which is physically very large, with an economy driven by domestic spending.

<comment><USER17> We're going to need _something_ as fossil fuels run low and coal becomes increasingly stigmatized. Solar is an interesting field to explore, as is wind, hydro, tides, and other non-fossil energy sources. Sooner or later, one of those fields is going to generate electricity efficiently, even if only because fossil fuels (very eventually) get more expensive. Researching these things _now_ means that there will be more options later.

<comment><USER18> You don't want to hear it, but the answer is nuclear fission.

<comment><USER17> I do want to hear it, actually. Thorium looks especially good in the long term, though it's still in the research phase.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Interesting article, but mostly wrong. The article claims:

> The point isn't to sell a lot of roadsters, it's creating a brand.

> The low production volume also gives the company a chance to learn how to > run a car factory on a small scale.

So the article claims that the primary reason to start with an expensive sports car is to build a brand, and that technical and practical concerns are less important. This is absolutely 100% wrong. There's absolutely no way Tesla could have started with a mass production car for the general consumer, exactly for the reasons everybody already knows. You have to build a factory. You have to learn from mistakes. You have work out the kinks in the design, and so on. This takes time.

The first Tesla model was mostly hand-assembled because that was _the only option_. As a _consequence_ of that the car model is very expensive and low volume. And as a _consequence_ of that the car has to be a sports car, because the high price low volume model doesn't make sense otherwise.

Creating a sports car also makes building a brand easier -- but that's just a nice side benefit. Nothing more. So the article gets the causality wrong.

<comment><AUTHOR> I don't claim in the blogpost that technical and practical concerns are less important, on the contrary. I even write that in the article, but maybe it isn't clear enough.

My argument is, condensed, that in order to build a mass produced car you need a brand and a factory that will churn out cheap working cars. Since you can't realistically go from 0 to fully working mass production you need to take it in steps. So you start on a small scale with the roadster, step it up with the model S. and so on. Of course the first models were hand assembled, but that's the first step on the long road to mass production.

Also, I think you severely underestimate brand value. There's noway Joe average would choose a car he's never heard of instead of a brand he knows. If you look at the statistics it's amazing how many people stick to one brand in cars, without even considering the viable alternatives.

<comment><USER19> You certainly do seem to claim that. You say "the point [...] is to create a brand", and a few sentences later you say "also [technical reasons]". That to me looks like a clear distinction between primary and secondary reasons.

Secondly, you say that focusing on the brand like this is part of Tesla's "ingenious strategy". However, as I pointed out in the previous post, all of the strategy you covered follows directly from constraints Tesla had. So Tesla's strategy of building a Roadster first is completely _straightforward_.

Tesla _does_ have an ingenious strategy, though. For instance they are working on Free Charging Stations, they have unique showrooms and they are willing to license their technology to some of their competitors. I don't think any of those things are straightforward. So there is a lot to say about Tesla's ingenious strategy, but their expensive-cars-first strategy is not the ingenious part.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Having driven an electric car (not Tesla, Nissan Leaf) I can say that they are pretty awesome and this article is spot on with my thoughts about how you get people to switch to electric, make it normal and everywhere and people will begin to buy. I disagree with the article with regards to people not caring about the fact it's electric, they will because of the finite, hard stop, don't get it wrong range limitation. Although the claims of 300 miles for the Model S is far greater than the LEAF that I drove (18 months old, 80 miles with climate control on as it was -5 outside)

<comment><USER21> I enjoy driving electric too. Electric motors are quiet, clean and responsive. There are 18 models of plug-in hybrid coming to the market by 2018. I think the hybrids will sell better than the pure battery vehicles as they don't cause range anxiety.

[http://www.torquenews.com/1075/plug-hybrids-chevy-volt- rapid...](http://www.torquenews.com/1075/plug-hybrids-chevy-volt-rapidly-gain- popularity-accoring-report)

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> I also love how the strategy ties in so well with SolarCity. Sign me up for that 1-2 combination when the Bluestar is launched.

Author: Missing a 0 in..."That's more than 20.00 cars a year."

<comment><AUTHOR> good catch. Fixed it. Thanks.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> One key advantage that is often overlooked and undermarketed for electric cars is they have a superior preformance and experiance than internal combustion (IC) cars. The Model S has a 0-60 time comparable to a Porche 911 Carrera or a BMW M3, is quite a bit faster accelerating than the (non-AMG) Mercedes S-Class, and knocks the socks off a BMW 5xx. The problem is I don't think the value translates into the $25-35,000 car market.

</comment><comment><USER24> I dont want to discredit the whole article based on a few things. There were some things that he says either didn't impress me or seemed inaccurate <Quote>These are huge obstacles, and is probably why there hasn't been a new major auto maker in the United States for 90 years </Quote>

Kia - Founded in 1940s.

Also its not clear why US is the only country that is being considered?

<Quote> Tesla's strategy for overcoming these obstacles is ingenious; Start at the top and work our way down. </Quote>

Thats how its been for many businesses. Cars in general had a similar history. It was only available for rich people initially!

<Quote> If I was General Motors I would be afraid. Very afraid. </Quote>

Statements like this are too generic. What time frame? No quantification? General Motors was about to be bankrupt a few years back. Their business is already being threatened by many things, I dont know if Telsa is their biggest concern!

</comment><comment><USER25> So why doesn't a huge car company buy them and put Elon in charge of everything? Or is this just too far fetched?

<comment><USER26> Think about what you just said for a minute and it will be clear why this will never happen.

<comment><USER27> I don't get it. Nearly that exact scenario played out with John Lasseter and Disney/Pixar. I don't see why it would be unreasonable here.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> Hydrogen! The auto industry is already looking past electric.

Look at market signals and the faltering focus on electric, despite massive efforts to sell electric cars by the industry. Nissan, who has taken the biggest stab at electric, is already (publicly) licking its wounds from its $5B gamble.

That's just one example from "Electric cars head toward another dead end": [http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/04/us-autos- electric-...](http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/04/us-autos-electric- hydrogen-idUSBRE91304Z20130204)

Tesla's making a brave and extremely innovative foray, I will certainly give them that. But with the lack of electric traction amidst $4+ gas (2x since 2008) and the promise of hydrogen...I'd say the odds are against them. Hybrids will probably be the bridge to something else.

Tesla could end up being Betamax.

<comment><USER2> > Hydrogen! The auto industry is already looking past electric.

At the moment the practical problems with hydrogen are worse than those involving electricity storage. There are many problems with the electric vehicle scheme, but on the plus side, there's already an electric infrastructure that can be used to charge the vehicles. There's no hydrogen infrastructure, it would have to be built.

This may all change in the long term, and hydrogen might end up being a much better solution, but the immediate problems are severe.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> nice article. I wonder when the time comes for new form factors. When there is no motor, do we have to have front hood, even if it's a shock absorber?

<comment><USER29> The Model S already uses space differently because of that, it can seat seven and still have lots of room in the (front) trunk.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> Though I agree with most of the article, the statement "you need a finely tuned, automated and hugely expensive factory". I've always seen that as a moderate flaw in Tesla's plan.

With the Roadster, they had essentially outsourced much of the 'car' engineering to Lotus which built the frames and many of the components for Tesla.

Just like computer companies don't manufacture computers anymore, I believe outsourcing the manufacturing of Tesla cars would have taken a large part of the financial risk off the table.

<comment><USER31> Elon seems to be really big on vertical integration. He does the same thing with SpaceX which allows him to have much lower costs by only outsourcing stuff if he absolutely has to with plans of bringing it in house in the future.

You can see this also in his desire to sell these cars directly instead of working through dealerships that is currently causing some legal battles.

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> Thw whole strategy assumes that battery cost will drop significantly (more than 2x):

[http://green.autoblog.com/2012/02/21/battery-cost- dropping-b...](http://green.autoblog.com/2012/02/21/battery-cost-dropping- below-200-per-kwh-soon-says-teslas-elon/)

Which may happen, but AFAIK Tesla isn't involved in that kind of research.

<comment><USER33> I'd imagine it's only a matter of time before Tesla gets involved in it... but for now Musk is on record saying that the current state of battery technology is sufficient, so it doesn't make sense for them to invest in R&D on that front until they have some surplus.

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> For all those thinking like I did this would be something about Nikola, I raise you some real Tesla's ingenious strategy:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tesla_colorado_adjusted.jp...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tesla_colorado_adjusted.jpg)

:)

<comment><USER35> Looks like you got downvoted, but I was confused as well. After reading the article, I conclude that Tesla could've used some of Tesla's ingenious strategies.

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> "If I was General Motors I would be afraid. Very afraid."

Or, I would be in talks to buy Tesla.

<comment><USER37> Musk has no reason to sell. He's already a billionaire. He is part of what is referred to as the "PayPal Mafia". They're not in it for the money anymore, they're in it for the "flying cars"—the things they were promised as children but the future didn't provide. This is also why he founded SpaceX and why there are so many rumors about a high-speed hyper-tube for mass transport.

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> tl;dr version:

Tesla's huge ambitions are to sell electric cars to the mass market. Becoming a new car manufacturer from the ground up is unbelievably hard. They are using the classic Silicon Valley approach: start with early adopters that just want a cool new toy, then cross the chasm to mainstream customers... [http://tldr.io/tldrs/51115df9de23f156580000a8/teslas- ingenio...](http://tldr.io/tldrs/51115df9de23f156580000a8/teslas-ingenious- strategy)

</comment><comment><USER39> One suggestion to the author of the article. Let the reader decide if Tesla's strategy is ingenious. It may seem like a small thing, but I don't like being told what to think. Make your points and leave it up to the reader.

</comment><comment><USER40> This is precisely why I purchased a large chunk of TSLA a month ago, and I suggest that all of you do the same.</comment>


Show HN: We built a social network for Pokemon Go to chat, share and connect - <AUTHOR> Hey everyone!
When Pokemon Go released in early July, I was on of the crazies that was looking for a way to help players communicate and chat with each other. I quickly created a slack group for them to join and a few weeks later there was over 1500 members chatting and sharing about their Pokemon journeys. I knew there was an opportunity to built something real. A true social network for Pokemon Go.
A person named Trevor emailed me around this time and we quickly chatted over the phone and realized we had a common goal to create this. Trevor has the technical skills as a genius designer/developer and I had experience in marketing, strategy, user experience, and growth (hopefully). The result is Pokechat. www.pokechat.co
Pokechat is simple a way to share, post, chat, and connect with Pokemon Go players! If you have any questions feel free to ask!
Pika Pika. <comment><USER2> Your team has been spamming this app for awhile: [https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=harvis](https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=harvis) (see w/ showdead)

<comment><AUTHOR> Not knowing the rules of Hacker news at the time, yes, I unfortunately was spam. Lessons are meant to be learned. This is a different app and will only be posted here once. :)</comment></comment>


Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing (c. 1546) - <AUTHOR> https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/marvels-of-things-created-and-miraculous-aspects-of-things-existing <comment><USER2> > Images from an illustrated version of a 13th-century Arabic treatise by > Zakariya al-Qazwini titled 'Ajā'ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā'ib al-mawjūdāt > (Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing).

The drawings resemble the fantastical creatures of the Voynich Manuscript e.g. woman with eight legs, turtle with a human head etc.

</comment><comment><USER3> _Images from an illustrated version of a 13th-century Arabic treatise by Zakariya al-Qazwini..._

Posted on publicdomainreview.org. The question is, how did this get past the Disney Intellectual Propery lawyers?</comment>


Startup School 2017 Presentations - <AUTHOR> https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/ <comment><USER2> As a solo founder, I found startup school invaluable. It really helped keep me honest with myself to discuss what I had done and what I will do at the weekly office hours.

I would recommend Startup School to any startup but if you're a solo founder then I think you will find the weekly office hours especially valuable.

Here's my presentation: Pingy is a desktop app to create, share and deploy websites: [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/373](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/373)

<comment><USER3> Really neat product! I could definitely see myself using this in the future instead of messing around with gulpfiles. Is deployment limited to the pin.gy server or can I deploy straight to my own S3 bucket?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> We completed startup school ([https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/470](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/470)). Took us about 3 hours to create a Keynote presentation and add audio to it.

Hopefully, this provides a somewhat different perspective. We aren't your typical founders in their twenties.

Startup School was overall very positive. Speaking with our advisor, Michael Johnston was absolutely excellent. He is an absolute mensch, very helpful, consistently useful advice and very generous with his time.

That having been said, would I say that time spent on startup school consistently added more value than just spending that time doing one of a) hacking away and pushing forward, b) resting or c) exercising? Nope. If you need outside validation and an external push and someone keeping you accountable for you to keep pushing forward, it's going to have much more value. On the other hand, if you know what you need to get done and your startup is something that makes you jump out of bed in the morning so you can get to it, which is how I feel about our startup, I'm not sure that you aren't better off just doing that and avoiding any distractions.

The startup school videos were consistently very good. I would recommend everyone watch those, even on topics that they think they know a fair amount about.

<comment><USER5> Your site seems to be down at the moment.

I read your blurb under your presentation, admittedly did not watch your presentation. However I would say that your blurb comes off too much of an attack on robo advisors and not enough about your own company/approach and how you're different from every other active investor. I'd focus on why you're good, rather than on why the competition is bad.

<comment><USER4> We can't talk too much about why we are different given that a) we aren't SEC and NFA registered yet. b) there are legal issues around saying you generate better returns than the competition.

We talk a little bit about why we are different in the video so give it a listen if you are interested.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Having completed startup school ([https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/240](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/240))

I can say without a doubt it's useful, and would recommend it.

This is a post I made early explaining my thoughts (relevant here):

What's helpful is that you're placed in a group of say 20 other companies all trying to produce something, some are making money, some have literally nothing. You can learn from one another, share ideas, test out each others products, etc.

One thing most people trying to start a company don't have is a support network of highly motivated people doing the same thing. I know I personally do, but many of my fellow startup school colleagues do not. That's what's helpful: The startup school group office hours (or therapy sessions).

The second most valuable portion of startup school, is that they force you to be accountable. If I say I'm doing X, they want to see it. They expect results, and they push you to share.

Finally, and perhaps most valuable portion of startup school for some, is the fact you can network. I'd argue this is different than group office hours. There are many companies that have synergies, for example my project: [https://projectpiglet.com/](https://projectpiglet.com/) can help identify trends, or "experts", which other teams could use.

There are other examples, but it's definitely been useful. That being said, it is not YC proper. You don't get funds, many of the founders don't actually have an LLC or C-Corps. Many are in school, or (like myself) have full-time jobs working 50 hours a week. Although not being able to work on the project full-time sucks, I've definitely made progress I wouldn't made, with the help startup school. We would have had less without it, the ideas from the team have bubbled up and the support pushes us to do better. I would recommend it.

</comment><comment><USER7> I recommend the program to anyone thinking about starting a startup. The highlight was having live mentorship from very successful startup founders. My mentor had raised tens of millions in VC funding for his startup. He spent 2 hours with us every week.

My presentation: [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/242](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/242)

<comment><USER8> I had a similar problem looking for a immigration lawyer. The problem with only looking at court records and other public information is it skews in favor of lawyers that take on slam-dunk cases.

If a law firm successfully processed 500 green card applications for Google that isn't as impressive as being successful in processing 10 EB-1 applications for early stage startup founders.

My solution was to ask for recommendations from people that required the same service as me. Could you integrate anonymous yelp style reviews for lawyers where the person giving the review could be verified?

<comment><USER7> It's a good idea to search for a lawyer who is good at the specific service you require. We're working on making the data as narrowly tailored as possible to the problem the user is searching for. Right now, the data is filtered to the level of case type. Later on, we can add additional specific factors.

Verified reviews are also something we'd like to add. Also, we'd want to filter the reviews to show more prominently reviews from past users who used the lawyer for the same issue.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> We had a great experience. Thanks to all of the mentors, who spent hours per week helping all of the participants in office hours.

We're working on Moonlight ([https://www.moonlightwork.com](https://www.moonlightwork.com)), where we're helping companies hire expert software engineers as part-time consultants. We grew from no revenue before Startup School to thousands of dollars per week in revenue.

Here is our presentation: [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/14](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/14)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> From what I can tell, YC Startup School's first batch had 10K applicants, 3K accepted companies and 800 graduates presenting.

It was very helpful for us (MoQuality) and seems like a huge success overall. Thanks YC! :)

PS: Our presentation: [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/536](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/536)

<comment><USER10> even considering that some companies have decided to not make a public presentation less than 30% graduating rate (3K to ~800) seens to be very low.

<comment><USER11> We're actually at a 56% graduation rate. Many companies opted to not make a video for various reasons, including wanting to remain in stealth or they felt they were too early.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Startup school was super helpful. Mike Robbins from Circuitlab/Pantelligent was an amazing mentor!

Every week before our group meetup, we had a few questions to fill out that really got us thinking deeply about our business. I wouldn't have thought something as simple as a few pointed questions would yield so much fruit, but it really was awesome. The questions force you to think about on your business value, how to describe it, your target customer and how you might address them. The advice is sound, and comes from the mentor's and YC's experience, which really grounds it. We'd do it again in a heartbeat.

<comment><USER13> Thanks for the kind words, Eric. The questions were not universal across groups... I had to come up with those each week!

<comment><USER12> Wow!!! I considered that possibility, but figured they were _too good_ to be something that wasn't honed over the years.

They'd make a good template for the other groups--I would absolutely go back to them for thought-exercises for future ventures.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Thanks to the YC team for the opportunity. Our advisor (whom is also Sequoia backed) had a breadth of knowledge. Listening to his advice to other teams was very valuable. The next best value was watching the partners conduct Office Hours.

Would definitely love feedback for our presentation [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/355](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/355)

And if you're an immigrant living in the US, I'd love to chat about the experience. Best of hard work to everyone.

<comment><USER15> Upon viewing the project website (linked in the presentation URL you shared), Radial appears to be some sort of music app - not a cultural social network.

<comment><USER14> Hi sjroot, you're correct. I mentioned in the talk that we started with music and discovered how much deeper it is. The actual app itself has social features and in the alpha version we're testing we have our video (think Snapchat for Music) feature. We'll be building out the food and events recommendations in our next couple sprints. Thanks for asking, I hope that helps. We should really update our website.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Ahoy,

Greg here, founder of MarineVerse - virtual reality sailing.

If you're interested in sailing, you might like what we're doing.

[https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/238](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/238)

Happy to answer any questions!

Best regards, Greg

<comment><USER17> Wow! I don't have a VR set yet but this looks very, very interesting.

I can imagine people competing against each other in short regattas from their homes. Or myself just practicing & trying a new boat.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> We've completed startup school alongside with a local accelerator program ([https://kworks.ku.edu.tr/en/](https://kworks.ku.edu.tr/en/)). As a co- founder, I have to admit that the YC network was really helpful. We've really benefited from the internal discussions and the local meetups really helped us a lot. Our mentor, Chris, kept giving us valuable insights and overall we had a great time participating.

Building a company requires a lot of time and dedication. And the biggest lesson we've learned so far from YC:SS is to keep iterating no matter what. The whole YC philosophy of having one key KPI and trying to improve it WoW no matter what is really important. It brings clarity to your decisions and helps you focus on the important stuff.

As an entrepreneur, I'm glad that our company had the opportunity to participate in this program and internalized such an important philosophy.

Here's our presentation: [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/447](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/447)

\--

Codela is a cloud-based platform for automating the technical screening of software developers using online knowledge measurements.

\--

</comment><comment><USER19> I just published an article about our experience from Startup School. [https://medium.com/@a13n/a-review-of-y-combinators- startup-s...](https://medium.com/@a13n/a-review-of-y-combinators-startup- school-938b9c003cca)

Also, here's our presentation video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07ljML9g0Yg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07ljML9g0Yg)

</comment><comment><USER20> After completing the course I can't recommend Startup School enough. For a free course the value I got out of it was amazing.

* Our group's mentor (James, co-Founder of Lista YC S09) was totally committed and freely giving of his time. We could set up individual office hours for 1-on-1 advice and he put a ton of effort into surveying us & adjusting his approach so we could get maximum value.

* Being part of a 25 startup cohort (the size of our group) was hugely motivating. Even when the conversation in our video chat office hours wasn't perfectly incisive it was still energizing to hear other founders pushing at the same things you're facing.

* The internal Startup School networking tools were decently effective and I don't think YC talked about them too much when inviting people to apply. Building a network of other founders when you're bootstrapping in Cape Town, South Africa can be a little tough. Now I've got around 30 different folks I'm emailing with - all of whom have resonating experiences due to the Tinder-style networking tool in the Startup School portal.

* I also got around $5000 in AWS, Azure and GCP credits. Apart from being able to spend this year's infrastructure money on other business things (awesome!) I can also experiment pretty freely with the different platforms and pick the most ideal setup for my app.

Finally a shameless plug for my startup: [https://watchdog443.com](https://watchdog443.com)

I'm building a tool for ongoing monitoring of your HTTPS state & configuration. Feel free to mail me (address in profile) to chat about it or Startup School!

</comment><comment><USER21> We participated in Startup School with AWW (shared online whiteboard) and it was a great experience - can't recommend it enough!

Although we knew a lot "in theory" and had some experience and traction already, we got a ton of value out of actually speaking with other founders and our group's mentor (jamesg - thanks mate!) who listened intently about our problems, gave constructive criticism, pointed out problems, and in general focused our thinking.

Based on this (and feedback from our users) we pivoted slightly to a more lucrative market and I'd say got our priorities straight (or at least less wrong :). Also, the huge motivation boost! :-)

(Our presentation video: [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/145](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/145) \- feedback welcome!)

</comment><comment><USER22> Startup School was great, but it doesn't end here. I expect we all will get more value from this amazing network in the following months.

Best of luck for all the founders!

BTW, I'm one of the founders of Hubtype ([https://hubtype.com](https://hubtype.com)), a messaging and chatbots solution for businesses. Our pitch here: [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/344](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/344)

</comment><comment><USER23> We had an incredible experience at Startup School. I finally feel connected to a startup community I thought was out of my reach. The networking opportunities alone make the program worth every minute you put into it. Thanks to everyone that made this possible!

We made Strength of Two - get alerts from people at risk of self-harm ([https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/205](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/205)). Any feedback/ideas would be greatly appreciated.

</comment><comment><USER24> i just watched 3 random presentations, and i was surprised how low quality these videos are.

I mean, they might have an amazing product, but the delivery could be a show stopper. What do you guys think?

<comment><USER11> For many of the teams, english is a second or third language, and they came from areas where startups/tech are in it's infancy, so access to decent hardware is tough.

With that said, we only spent a week working on videos and it's more our fault than theirs that we chose to focus on building product rather than pitching, as many companies were very early.

<comment><USER25> If they have a laptop with a microphone, they still have the ability to make a much, much more impressive presentation than nearly any of the ones I watched.

Why spend hundreds of hours building your product if you spent 10 minutes writing a script you're going to read out to your webcam in a dimly lit room?

<comment><USER26> Probably because they are busy growing their businesses in other ways.

As far as I can tell, the distribution of the pitch videos is unknown (and there are hundreds of pitches) so there is no end goal, it seems to be mainly a way of sharpening one's pitch.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> We went from startup school, to participating in techcrunch battlefield NY 2017.[1]

We were clueless to what to expect or how all this works, but through the guidance and many one on ones with our instructor we were able to manage it.

The course prepared us for meeting with investors, helped us with how to deal with the first rounds of investments (first money can be overwhelming) and how to do the non scalable things early on. It was definitely a useful course.

Also, being on a video call every week, listening to 20+ plus other people's business can be very valuable. Problems that seemed unique to us and unsolvable were solved with a quick chat with someone who already went through it.

Any way, i'll write a post about it eventually. In the meanwhile here is our presentation for Renly: [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/435](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/435)

[1] [https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/16/renly-launches-studio- book...](https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/16/renly-launches-studio-booking- platform/)

</comment><comment><USER28> Startup School was really a great experience for us. More than anything, getting into the mindset of delivering weekly results really changed the internal team dynamic. It also forced us to be very clear about our priorities, which in turn has helped us really achieve laser focus. The results are starting show with traction on our platform.

The other thing that I really appreciated was the fact that everyone in the batch that participated in the calls was treated individually by our mentor, Gleb. Not entirely sure how he achieved this but I can definitely say that if you put the hours in, the program helped organized thoughts and streamline energy.

To close out, my mandatory plug :)

We're building the first global marketplace for the space industry: "Digi-Key for space". Our presentation page: [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/465](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/465).

If anyone is interested in NewSpace, feel free to reach out!

</comment><comment><USER29> Startup school was awesome. The amount of dedication and commitment of our mentor, Daniel Kivatinos(founder drchrono) was beyond words. The Mattermost community helped us with ideas on growth hacking. The best thing about startup school was founders talking to founders. We got an opportunity to meet couple of YC alumni in Bangalore, India through offline(informal) startup school meetups. The talks at these offline meetups were very insightful and open.

We are from India, building Clorik for Indian market - 90% of the population prefers to converse in their native language. Clorik is a crowd-sourced discovery platform for content in Indian languages. Startup school helped us in being pitch ready, YCombinator style. Here is our presentation link - [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/354](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/354)

</comment><comment><USER30> Startup School gave us a lot of motivation for early developing our product. Weekly hours was great, thanks to our mentor Chad.

We are building web service called Adapty.

Adapty is AI-powered digital ads manager that helps you with automation routine tasks. Adapty works with Facebook Ads and myTarget platforms.

Here is our presentation [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/378](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/378) and slides [https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16R9qBkyUm2HIMngL19Ug...](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16R9qBkyUm2HIMngL19UgNfT3iJRTJP2YFkRidsbtLBg/edit?usp=sharing)

If you are interested in our product, please feel free to contact us via email firstname.lastname@example.com or directly via Facebook facebook.com/iwitaly

</comment><comment><USER31> Epic course, got great advice and even managed to raise some money during the process.

The best thing is weekly update structure which really forces you to get a lot of stuff done.

[https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/148](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/148)

</comment><comment><USER32> So, here we are.

11 weeks completed, lots of great mentoring sessions and listening to conversations with the rest of the startup of the group.

11 weeks trying to find product market fit for our product and idea and at last (coinciding with the end of startup school :) it looks like we might be there there.

This week we broke a few records all together. Most importantly during these 11 weeks we discovered that many people believe in what we believe and that many know inside that recruitment should not have to be as bad as it is today.

With Fluttr we are transforming recruitment in a very social process, where candidates can learn from the job application process itself.

Where recruiters are in charge, but no longer they need to "guess" if somebody is talented simply looking at their CV. Because through our platform they can ask help assessing candidates to real experts in that job and working in other companies.

We are the AirBnB of recruitment. A warmer, more social and alternative way to find a job or a talent.

Companies recruiting and recruiters alike can now hire the best talent confident that the technical screening (we focus on Design, Marketing, Data Science and IT at this point) has been run by real experts.

They can now hire people also measuring the candidates' motivation to join the company.

They can now discover the most talented people independently of age, sex, religion and other discriminatory factors, because the "experts" never know the real identity of the job applicants.

But more importantly every job seeker receives a feedback by an expert about their application and skills and can also benchmark their own skills against the other applicants too via our platform.

If it sounds interesting here you might find a few more details: [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/797](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/797)

And if you want to test out platform get in touch; write me at firstname.lastname@example.com or visit www.fluttr.in.

You too can help us making recruitment #awesome.

Thank you classmates, Geoff Flaherty and Y Combinator!

</comment><comment><USER17> During Startup School we built TechLeaks.org, a Glassdoor for Software Engineers ([https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/511](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/511)).

We went from idea to growth in just 10 weeks and I seriously doubt this could have been possible without the accountability required at the weekly office hours.

Thank you Ian (our mentor) and to the rest of mates in our group-45 cohort.

The best is yet to come. Good luck everybody!

<comment><USER33> Isn't Glassdoor, Glassdoor for Software Engineers? Why even make the comparison?

<comment><USER17> First, thank you for your question. You are not the only one with the same doubt. Probably it means we need to craft a better definition for TechLeaks.org

The difference between Glassdoor and TechLeaks is that Glassdoor reviews are broad and targeted to all kind of audiences. There's a lot of noise from sales, marketing and other departents making reviews and there's no specific info relevant to software engineering.

Techleaks is different than glassdoor because it just targets software engineers. The reviews hosted in TechLeaks are related to questions software engineers always ask in their job interviews. For example:

What is the Agile maturity in the project? Can you choose the computer flavour? Do you get free tickets for dev conferences? What's the level of CD/CI ?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER34> I would definitely recommend startup school. The weekly video office hours with our mentor was very helpful. Our mentor even had 2 other startup co- founders as guests and helped us brainstorm ideas on how to get more traction and improve the product.

Here is our presentation: keereo is where pinterest meets wikipedia for antiques.

[https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/21](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/21)

</comment><comment><USER35> We didn't do a video because we felt we were too early (we probably should have done one anyway). We're making a platform for "bite-sized learning", starting with daily email courses.

We don't have the platform ready yet, but if you want to learn React.js, check out our first course: (it's free!) [https://nanohop.com/react-daily- emails/](https://nanohop.com/react-daily-emails/)

</comment><comment><USER36> We already had a few thousand in MRR before joining Startup School, but didn't have proper roadmap towards growth, sales, development and running a business in general.

Startup School and the weekly calls helped us identify our weaknesses and now we're better equipped towards scaling Nestify.

Our presentation: [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/532](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/532)

</comment><comment><USER37> Another happy graduate - the program was great!

I highly recommend others to sign up for the next cohort when the opportunity arises. The weekly calls, content, and team spirit was all really motivational and taught me tons.

Here's my presentation for Monkey Test It. Check it out and let me know what you think:

[https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/461](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/461)

</comment><comment><USER38> Congrats to all the founders!

I hope it is okay to let folks know about our site in this thread: [https://capitalandgrowth.org](https://capitalandgrowth.org)

It is a free resource for founders to ask questions on sales and marketing--we have about two dozen and growing domain experts. We also do weekly interviews with investors, one of which ran on Y Combinator's blog (Paul Buchheit).

</comment><comment><USER39> The experience was great.

Aside from really great advisors, the group spirit and interacting with fellow founders was best part of the program for me.

Shoutout to our advisor, Joshua, and others at YC for all their time and hard work.

I will be launching in a few weeks, here is my presentation: [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/791](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/791)

</comment><comment><USER40> I like the sense that I can get a broad overview of what is out there and what the market looks like by seeing such a large sample of successful companies.

How do you guys pick the categories?

I ask because some categories are largbe (B2B) and there seems to be a lot of overlap. (i.e. what if there is a B2B company that is also a developer tool?)

There are also some categories that I cannot find. There isn't, for instance, a data science category.

Thanks in advance.

<comment><USER11> For the first version of Startup School, we stuck with pretty broad categories, just to keep it simple. However, we do plan to make these categories more granular in the future.

<comment><USER41> I liked your hn nick :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER42> Had a lovely time participating! Here's our presentation: Helping people in big organizations get help [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/611](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/611)

Please see this as an open invitation to ask question or give comments about our product :)

</comment><comment><USER43> We had a lot of run doing SS!

Launched [https://kyso.io](https://kyso.io) \- Kyso is the fastest way to share data analysis to your team and the world.

Our pres: [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/411](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/411)

</comment><comment><USER44> It was a great experience, and really helped focus on getting a MVP out in the world.

Barely managed to release a public beta this week in time for the presentation :)

[https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/91](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/91) (personal games for kids ages 1-5)

</comment><comment><USER45> Big thank you to Steven for making the entire logistics work and Russ CTO and co-founder at Rainforest QA our advisor for his help, advice and support.

[https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/324](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/324)

</comment><comment><USER46> YC SS helped us a lot, thanks to everyone making it happen.

We just launched Tuiqo (simple document versioning) and this is our presentation: [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/215](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/215)

</comment><comment><USER47> Launching soon, I'm proud of what we've accomplished so far.

"Mom, I'm on TV": [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/799](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/799)

</comment><comment><USER48> This is so cool. I watched a handful of presentations and was surprised/encouraged to see just how many startups are working on interesting things.

It was also great to see that there was clearly effort put into crafting a solid pitch.

</comment><comment><USER49> Yep, it was very useful, we learned a lot.

Shameless self promotion: :)

[https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/281](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/281)

</comment><comment><USER50> Marionette Studio looks great ! [http://marionettestudio.com/](http://marionettestudio.com/)

</comment><comment><USER51> I wish this were searchable. I mean, it's fun to browse but searching all of the teams for, "location" for example would be nice.

<comment><USER52> Sub categories would be good as well for larger categories.

</comment></comment><comment><USER53> Binge watched many presentations. This must be close to sitting through the Disrupt Conference at TechCrunch. Sigh.

</comment><comment><USER54> Startup School was immensely helpful. Having an experienced founder as a mentor (In my case Ben Sand co-founder of Meta) was just so incredibly valuable.

My startup is Mindmeld, a better way to work remotely. Check it out :)

[https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/518](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/518)

</comment><comment><USER55> that was a great time spent with YC Startup School. Our presentation at [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/309](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/309) Middle.io Thanks, Steven!

</comment><comment><USER56> Startup School was a blast. Connecting with like minded people, getting some sanity check and verification from YC alumni was awesome.

We're Gruply - Instagram for Learning ([https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/452](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/452))

<comment><USER33> Why would your opening line include Instagram? We are X for Y is always red flag number one.

<comment><USER57> >We are X for Y is always red flag number one.

I am curious about this. Half the vc's recommend you to strongly use this language while the rest half consider it a red flag. Damned if you do, damned if you don't ;)

<comment><USER33> What does Instagram for Learning even mean? If someone puts up short instructional videos on Instagram, isn't that Instagram for learning?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER58> Need a better way to split books with friends? [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/432](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/432)

</comment><comment><USER59> Based on the comments in this thread, it seems like there was some sort of instruction for all the students to come here and post about their experience, which has resulted in a complete non-discussion.

<comment><USER60> There were no instructions to come here and post about our experience, but most of us are huge HN fans so that naturally happens. And hey, since you're here already, check out my presentation on Toby: [https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/649](https://www.startupschool.org/presentations/649) hahaha.

Cheers!

<comment><USER61> Nice job on the video -- your pitch was very clear and I could understand right away what your company was about.

<comment><USER60> Thank you!!! That's great to hear</comment></comment></comment></comment>


My coding practices in 1991 - <AUTHOR> http://cowboyprogramming.com/2008/11/15/my-coding-practices-in-1991/

<comment><USER2> _6 - Use lower case! Upper case programs are a useless reminder of the ancient days of computing. They make programs difficult to read, and your comments either have to be in upper case, or you have to mess around with the CAPS LOCK key. It 's just a waste of time._</comment>