Ask HN: What are you using as an issue tracker in 2018? - <AUTHOR> I went through two startups and decided to use Redmine for both.  Tried GitHub once and later migrated over, due to data ownership concerns and bad usability for project management.  Tried self-hosted GitLab for a small group but abandoned it later due to inconsistency with internal workflow.
Redmine also has its own shortcomings.  As a Xoogler occasionally I really miss the ease of use of Google's internal bug tracker.
I've also heard people using Phabricator if they were in FB.  But I never had the chance to give it a try. <comment><USER2> Redmine. With some setup, it's easily the most powerful, customizable, and intuitive issue tracker I've used so far, and it meets my needs for a self- hosted solution. I recommend checking out the following plug-ins:

Redmine Mentions [https://www.redmine.org/plugins/redmine- mentions](https://www.redmine.org/plugins/redmine-mentions)

Redmine Banner [https://www.redmine.org/plugins/redmine_banner](https://www.redmine.org/plugins/redmine_banner)

Redmine Slack [https://www.redmine.org/plugins/redmine- slack](https://www.redmine.org/plugins/redmine-slack)

I'm partial to the Agile, Checklists, CMS, and CRM plug-ins from RedmineUp, too. I think they're essential. There are both free and "pro" versions:

Redmine Agile [https://www.redmine.org/plugins/redmine_agile](https://www.redmine.org/plugins/redmine_agile)

Redmine Checklists [https://www.redmine.org/plugins/redmine_checklists](https://www.redmine.org/plugins/redmine_checklists)

Redmine CMS [https://www.redmine.org/plugins/redmine_cms](https://www.redmine.org/plugins/redmine_cms)

Redmine CRM [https://www.redmine.org/plugins/redmine_contacts](https://www.redmine.org/plugins/redmine_contacts)

We still use GitLab, just not for issue tracking anymore. At the free and lower-cost tiers, GitLab lacks a bunch of issue fields (they seem to prescribe using tags for things like priority), and very annoyingly GitLab's agile board cannot display issue cards from multiple projects simultaneously on one board.

</comment><comment><USER3> In a true hackerish style, I rolled my own solution: [https://github.com/marekjm/issue](https://github.com/marekjm/issue)

Back in 2015, I decided that all the issue tracking systems I knew are too heavy-weight. I don't need kanban, agile, or any other buzz - I just need a simple tool to track my issues. I had several requirements: 1/ it must work off-line, 2/ it must be distrubuted (to allow many people working simultaneously on their off-line clones), 3/ it must work in command line, 4/ it must provide minimum distraction, 5/ it must allow me to tag, and search the issues, and I worked from there.

 _fast forward to 2018_ ...and I'm still using it. It does the job for my Free Software projects, and helps me at work (tested in three companies already). It is definitely not bug-free (but the risk of data-loss should be low), and the installation must be done manually from GitHub, but it Works For Me (tm) ;-)

Sample workflow:

        $ issue open "OH noes, a bug"
        $ issue ls --open
        deadbeef OH noes, a bug
        $ issue slug --git-checkout --git-branch --git deadbeef # or just issue sl -gBC de
        ...hack, hack hack...
        $ git commit -am "Fix"
        $ issue close -g HEAD de
        $ git checkout master
        $ git merge -

By using the `-` as the placeholder for "last active issue" I can make this sequence even shorter. Minimal distraction, no switching between the terminal and the browser, no waiting for slow Web interfaces.

/end of shameless plug

<comment><USER4> It took me far too long to realise deadbeef was your example issue ID and not a username or something. Maybe I'm a little slow or maybe it's a lack of coffee.

<comment><USER3> Probably the latter. The "deadbeef" string as a "random" hexadecimal example is pretty common.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> We're using Airtable at work. It's easily the best issue tracker I've ever used, mostly due to the near-infinite customizability. Airtable is just a spreadsheet on steroids, with cool, different views like a kanban view for your spreadsheet. I have absolutely loved it so far. We switched from Jira, so maybe I'm finally just getting over my Stockholm syndrome, but I love Airtable.

<comment><USER6> Last time I tried airtable it was inpossible to link to a specific single row. Is this still the case?

</comment></comment><comment> bluem-ap Was happily using Bugzilla but the company decided to switch to Jira and it's unpleasant to put it politely.

One of my main gripes is the ability to atomically update an issue vs incremental updates. For example, Bugzilla allows you to edit multiple fields then hit commit to save, Jira on the other hand applies changes automatically when you edit certain fields (e.g. assignee). This causes people problems (person gets assignment email before the comment about why it was assigned to them has arrived or vice versa), and automation problems (if you have anything driven by receipt of the emails, you now need to collate many before action can be taken). It may well be possible to configure Jira in a way that's more useful to us, but sadly we've got one mega instance that's supposed to be all things to all people and as such, doesn't do many things well!

Used Redmine before Bugzilla and thought that was pretty good.

<comment><USER7> To make several changes at once, use the "edit" button in the top left of the issuevderail screen to open the editing modal.

<comment> bluem-ap Yes, good thing to point that out. It can be a great help in some cases, but unfortunately that modal dialog blocks access to the comments on the bug, so composing your reply in it can be frustrating.

Yes I can compose my reply in another editor and paste it once it's final. However, IMO an issue tracker is something you use so often that working around these small issues comes at a high cost to me when it should not.

<comment><USER7> Yeah, I agree that the UI and modal abuse could use some work. I still prefer it over most other issue trackers, though, because it can be queried as a database.

<comment><AUTHOR> [https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirasoftwarecloud/advanced-...](https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirasoftwarecloud/advanced- searching-764478330.html)

Is this the query language that you are mentioning? I don't have experience with it but from the documentation it looks very limited.

<comment><USER7> It supports any type of filtering you could need. It hides the complexity of what I assume behind the scenes are table joins. It's not for quantitative reporting but rather for retrieving manageable lists of relevant issues out of a data base of hundreds to hundreds of thousands. What sort of query would you want to run against an issue tracker that you don't see supported there?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> If you're looking for a powerful tracking system, I'll recommend Tuleap[1] and esp. the "Trackers"[2]. If you need to build custom workflows or to adapt tool to an existing internal workflow, it's a tool of choice. We (I'm part of the dev team...) make a strong stand to make the tool adaptable to organizations instead of forcing orgs to adapt to the tool. Oh, and it's open source ;)

[1] [https://www.tuleap.org/](https://www.tuleap.org/) [2] [https://www.tuleap.org/features/issue- tracking](https://www.tuleap.org/features/issue-tracking)

</comment><comment><USER9> I like the concept of [https://crocagile.com](https://crocagile.com) , it is like a game.

<comment><AUTHOR> Never heard of it before. Looks really fun!

<comment><USER10> we try our best to keep it light. hit us up if you have any questions or ideas

<comment><USER9> need to import bitbucket issues

<comment><USER10> For sure... have bitbucket and github on the roadmap. Right now we're wrapping up a Jira issue import that totally migrates your whole deal over to Croc.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Clubhouse has been a good balance of structure and simplicity. They have a good API for automation too.

[https://clubhouse.io](https://clubhouse.io)

<comment><USER12> Yep I use Clubhouse for software dev projects as well. It's great. The longest I've kept using an issue tracker.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Pivotal Tracker at work. It's not great and not the worst. Missing a board view so I create several column queries. Asana was the slowest and their boards are completely disconnected.

For small side projects, I tend to just use the repo's issue management. Still looking for a light visual tracker that hits that 'just enough' sweet spot.

<comment><USER14> Maybe it's because it was an older version of Pivotal (not sure) but the pivotal use I've been exposed to was horrendous.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> I previously have enjoyed using ZenHub — it's a browser plugin that makes GH issues actually useful.

Reasons I like ZenHub:

\- everything is just a GitHub issue

\- one less login

\- GH issues put the content front and center, and let you use markdown. Other issue trackers do a poor job at visually distinguishing the issue metadata and the actuall report.

\- Comments are big, first class citizens.

\- much lower learning curve compared to Jira, imho.

</comment><comment><USER16> GitHub issues at current work. For personal projects everything really (Gnome To Do included). I was always wondering how would Basecamp compare but never had a chance to try it (and no I am not spending $100 for my own private Bc). I would also like to see some kickass theme for Redmine.

</comment><comment> thomas-b I've used a lot of Redmine, Phabricator and Jira. Redmine feels really old and dealing with upgrades that will necessarily break one of the plugin needed to make it decent is painful. If you don't touch it, it works just fine though. Phabricator is really cool, requires some good tech knowledge to administrate, biggest pain point was the ci cd apps that were more complex than the rest. Jira is what I'm currently using, works great for all but your Jira admin will decide of your happiness, a bad setup with bad workflow will kill productivity.

<comment><USER17> > your Jira admin will decide of your happiness, a bad setup with bad workflow > will kill productivity.

Ugh, I know all about this. We use Jira where I work and the implementation was so botched and horrible that it easily costs me an hour a day just fighting the awful workflows, required fields, etc., that were put in place by someone who had no idea what they were doing. Not to mention the fact that the same person accidentally wiped out our entire issue database/backlog during a maintenance window one evening.

I've worked with Jira before and while it's not perfect it can be set up pretty well. But, man, when it isn't, it sure is hell using it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> I haven't used too much many but just analyzing at whole project, using altassian suite makes more sense to me. (even for small team projects.). Using their hosted solutions is quite affordable and you don't want to spend your energy in learning new product or host or learning integrations.

JIRA (tasks + bugs) + Confluence (for any kind of internal docs) is all you need.

</comment><comment><USER19> Gitlab, has everything I/we need and having everything in one place. Bundled with Slack notifications is also great to provide status update to non- technical users who don't necessarily have Gitlab open all the time.

</comment><comment><USER20> GitLab is pretty big for a small group. If you thought redmine was ok, try gogs.

<comment><AUTHOR> It seems that gogs is specifically for Git hosting rather than issue tracking and project management?

<comment><USER20> its like github-lite, but self hosted. it has an issue tracker. IIRC when I used redmine, gogs issues supports everything in redmine.

Edit: also phabricator is an open source project.. so you dont have to be at fb... I would compare it to github/gitlab: [https://www.phacility.com/phabricator/](https://www.phacility.com/phabricator/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> There's also taiga [1]. More or less an open source clone of jira.

[1]: [https://taiga.io/](https://taiga.io/)

<comment><USER22> Whoa, that's a bold statement.. Taiga doesn't have the air of overengineered, slow monster that JIRA has become.

<comment><USER21> I meant only in a way of: could be used instead of jira. :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Manuscript by Fogcreek. [https://www.manuscript.com](https://www.manuscript.com)

</comment><comment><USER24> For personal projects, definitely Trello!

</comment><comment><USER25> Jira works really well for a small team.

</comment><comment><USER26> At work we use Trello. It's not suited for it at all.

</comment><comment><USER7> Jira. When properly configured it's awesome.

</comment><comment><USER27> Github issues.

</comment><comment><USER28> Bugzilla

</comment><comment><USER29> jira</comment>


Ask HN: How to inform management about much needed refactors - <AUTHOR>

My situation is that I've recently been hired by a startup that hasen't maintained its code base for 3 years. Im unable to actually add any new features to the mobile app until I refactor the code base into a much more manageable state, but this is super unpopular with the CEO and project manager who both think that there is no business case for a refactor since they need features. <comment><USER2> So what's the business case? The fact that you hate the current code is not. As a manager (and a developer) I'd be very wary of letting a new employee refactor a project that they are unable to work with. If they cannot work with it do they understand what it does? Do they understand future plans of the company? Will their refactor be objectively an improvement? Will they even finish the refactor? Doing a major refactor is a major risk. I was involved in a couple of refactors that only resulted in a different mess. If you want to convince me to do a refactor I need a strong case that will answer all the doubts.

Sorry if I came across as harsh :)

<comment><AUTHOR> The original engineer who came up with the code has laid out several key areas that need serious reworking within the documentation. The code base is a few years old and 30% of it is deprecated. In order to implement the new features, the code base will have to be refactored to better accommodate those features since the current code base has no such ability to accommodate such features.

<comment><USER3> You're getting closer to a business case, but if you're confident in your assessment, you need to put it plainly, in terms that management can digest quickly. The bottom-line is money, and in engineering, time = money.

So here's the case: the time to add the new features on top of current implementation + the time to support this new, perhaps brittle, version = X. The time to refactor the application and add the new features + support the new, perhaps more robust, version = Y. You must show, in reasonable detail and with confidence, that X > Y.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Give a little and get a little. Tell them that the code really has served well until now but it has grown to a point now that it is like an avalanche of issues and you are convinced it won't support too many more features and changes. Then give them a few updates of the easier features in turn for letting you redo a section of code, and keep moving it forward that way.

To this exact point. I recently have been involved with a company in a consulting gig. The reality is they need to just shit can their code base and start over. The fact is they can't do that, so we are adding features to their code base while we are also revising it in significant ways. We were just very up front and said that we cannot guarantee the changes at this point because the code is extremely fragile.

Also, part of what helped sell them at least, was my discussion that hey, what worked a couple of years ago was great, but today it isn't serving the needs of the clients so we have to rethink what is being done. Not saying they prior team was bad or incapable, regardless of my personal feelings. Maybe the same will help you.

</comment><comment><USER5> Do you mean refactor or rewrite? If you actually mean rewrite, then get a better plan. Figure out how to proceed with a phased refactor based approach. Fold the refactoring into new features.

Learn to speak in terms that the deciders understand. Speak in terms of FTE hours (cost) and reliability (risk). Speak in terms of What you're doing, not How. When you speak in terms of how, you're just inviting people to micromanage you. They really want to know how many FTE hours doing something is going to take, and how much risk they are exposed to. How you accomplish it is up to you.

If you tell them that next feature will take a year (because you're going to rewrite everything 1st), then they'll probably tell you to take a hike. So, you'll have to figure out how much refactoring you can do with each added feature to still make them happy.

Finally, you can't care more about the problem than the customer (in this case, your employer). You should care about your work, but don't put yourself in the position where you're more emotionally attached than the owner.

<comment><AUTHOR> Refactor, there are 3 modules that cause 75% of the crashes.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> This will always be a constant battle. Management wants new features asap and developers want to make the code base better. I've been there many times.

Just be honest. You will have to show them why it's a problem, you can't just tell them. Add new features onto the code base and show them how long it will actually take you.

</comment><comment><USER7> I'm not sure it's even possible to sell a good percentage of managers on the needs of a refactor no matter how good your arguments are. Many of them either don't have the technical chops to even understand the need for major refactorings (no matter how much you "educate" them), or consider the technical debt accumulation an acceptable risk vs a perceived low ROI with refactoring.

My advice: Don't tell them unless you think you have to rewrite the whole thing or huge chunks of it. Refactor as you go, and adjust your estimates accordingly.

<comment><USER8> Good advice, but when you give "correct" estimates (not pessimistic but realistic) you may be perceived as beeing a slow programmer.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: What is the most money a bootstrapped, one-person company has sold for? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> I would imagine most of these sales are non-public; there's little incentive for either the owner or the acquirer to publicize the data, if there are no other parties to the sale.

One that is public (assuming you mean "one-person" as in single founder, not "no employees at the time of sale) is PlentyOfFish, which sold for $575M to Match Group last year:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlentyOfFish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlentyOfFish)

</comment><comment><USER3> Interesting question. I don't know where to begin looking, though.</comment>


Why Ron Conway is Jazzed on Ecommerce - <AUTHOR> http://pandodaily.com/2012/05/16/why-ron-conway-is-jazzed-on-ecommerce/

<comment><USER2> I think (hope!) 20 years from now we will not be subjected to grocery stores. The redundant, recursive process needs to go!</comment>


Ask HN: What does $2000 in Web design/development buy you these days? - <AUTHOR> I have a couple of features that I'm interested in adding to my Web application, and I've also re-designed a few page elements. If I had $10,000 lying around I'd walk up to the office of my local Web development agency, but alas that is not the case - I'm a college student, and I'm broke.
Provided that I provide very detailed spec documents and mock-ups, is it realistic to expect that a custom search feature, social networking/profile features, and a few static pages will cost me more than $2000?
I know most designers/developers charge $60+ hourly, so my question is really, "How long does it take to implement these features?" <comment><USER2> 'custom search feature, social networking/profile features'. These terms are so broad in their scope that it's really not possible for anyone here to estimate with any accuracy the time/cost it would take to implement them.

If you actually do have a detailed spec then I'd recommend that you simply approach a web dev shop/freelancer and see what they say. Explaining the details of what you require is the only way that you're going to get an accurate answer. You may even want to tell them what your budget is up front so that they can be realistic and let you know what's possible for that money. We've all dealt with clients that have very tight budgets, so it's certainly not an unusual request.

</comment><comment><USER3> I can't really speak to design (we do that in-house), but most of the good/keeper Rails developers that I've used in the last year have been in the $100-150/hour range. So, for $2K that gets you 13 to 20 hours of development.

For that, I think you _might_ be able to implement one of the features you mentioned but not all of them.

I've had good luck finding developers at AuthenticJobs. If you post a freelance job there and you're detailed about your budget and requirements, most good devs will be honest about what's feasible.

<comment><USER4> Really? 100-150/hour?

Would you mind to share your experience? like...

\- how old they are

\- do they also help you with HTML/CSS?

\- do they also help you with graphics, icons, and contents?

\- what about unit-tests and quality?

Would be very appreciated if you can answer them. If this is just between you and the developers and both parties prefer to be private and decided not to answer, I would understand.

Thanks!

<comment><USER3> Yeah, I hope this doesn't sound bad but I wouldn't hire a US-based dev for under $50/hour. I don't feel $50 is inflated either—even in Tulsa that seems fair to me. To me, going below that is like having the guy down the street paint your car for $150. I'm hiring people for existing, production apps that are making money. I'll skimp on some things but not that.

As for age, I don't know but my guess is mid to late twenties. Of my most recent, one was in the bay area and one is a tech stars alum.

No, no help with HTML/CSS/graphics/icons. I do most of that myself. Plus we do a lot of Flash on the front end and have separate designers for that.

Testing is one area Ive found where the more expensive devs seem to separate themselves. Very thorough which is nice.

This may sound odd but I also try and hire developers who are smarter and better than myself. After almost every job, I glean from their code and end up learning a ton. If nothing else, the extra money we spend also goes to my own education.

<comment><USER5> I'm curious how this works, and what level of work you expect for that? Most of the contract work I see advertised is luck to get above $40 an hour, of course that's through agencies.

Is this just the difference between contract to hire and lone contracts to individuals? Is there a known place to bid for local work like this, or is it all word of mouth?

I've typically been a java/j2EE dev working full time, but I can't help but wonder if been missing out on something obvious.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Most designers/developers that I know that are good charge closer to $100 or $150 per hour. What you described seems like it would take closer to 30 or 40 hours, so I would say the cost would be more like $3k to $5k.

</comment><comment><USER7> You're a broke college student with 2K to spend on adding features to your website, surely you should be able to find another broke student that would like your 2K and could do a perfectly adequate job of delivering it - especially with the potential to be involved in future pieces of work.

Not only is a really good designer / developer going to be too expensive, they probably aren't going to want to get out of bed for a small project like that, so rather than outsourcing overseas why not find someone that is in a similar situation to yourself and you can have face to face meetings with to set expectations etc.

</comment><comment><USER8> Since the work consists of adding to an existing application it is even harder to estimate than usual. In fact, so hard that it is not worth trying. A lot of the time could potentially be spent just figuring out how your application works and the good ways to implement the new feature.

That said...

As long as all the flows for the features are well-defined, I'd say it'd be doable to implement basic search, social networking, and some facility for static pages for $2k. It should be a few of days worth of work for a developer familiar with the framework/libraries your app uses.

</comment><comment><USER9> Don't waste your time making useless estimates. Focus on what's important. Now return back to your project

\- Check all the features you want to implement. What are the most important ones? Prioritize.

\- Find a good freelance. The higher you pay, the more quality you'll get. I guess that $50/hour will be okay and would get you a good dev. It depends on the project and the quality your users are expecting. Start implementing the most important feature. Go as money can go with you. If your project is profitable, you get cash back.

\- Learn. If it's jQuery it's not hard, if it's PHP it's not impossible. Even if you don't create features, you can debug them.

</comment><comment><USER10> 2 hours of work from this guy: [http://le.mu.rs/motherfucker/Index/Entries/2010/6/24_What_mo...](http://le.mu.rs/motherfucker/Index/Entries/2010/6/24_What_money_can_buy.html)

<comment><USER11> I think it would be interesting to compare 2 hours of output from this guy vs. 100 hours of output at prices mentioned in various posts.

<comment><USER10> yeah, that would be a good way to prove/disprove his worth for sure. he should put himself up against someone who charges even $50/hour with the same budget, then have the work judged by an impartial panel of experts.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Like most of the responses here, it's pretty broad based on what you've described and most importantly 'Be Careful' if you have something custom done.

I do designer work out of the Seattle area: <http://consulting.nrml.cc>

But I'll tell you up front, most of the work we do is out of the box or ported.

If you're looking for a specifically tailored CMS plugin or custom ground up framework, you might want to ask around for a referral from someone that has first hand experience of what the developer can do.

</comment><comment><USER13> The problem with your question is that the answer is highly ambiguous. Asking how long it will take to implement those features is a bit off; instead, you should be asking "What needs to happen to implement these features and what would you estimate all of it to be?"

Just a search feature and social networking/profile feature implies a whole gamut of underlying logic that you aren't aware of (because you aren't a developer). Depending on what your vision is, those two features alone could end up being a two month long project just for a first iteration (don't forget about iterations!)

I charge about $65 per hour for web application programming work in either Python or PHP (I prefer Python), I segment my time into 40 hour work weeks. For two months of work that would equal out to a little over twenty grand for a _first iteration_. That does not include going through QA, user acceptance, feature list refinement, and finally a second iteration (then a third and a fourth and so on for as long as your product stays alive).

Many non-technical people trying to get into the web startup or software startup scene see that price tag and commitment to time (through iterations) and have a mini-gestalt. They simply aren't aware of what _goes into_ building a reliable, feature-rich, maintainable, and _clean_ web application! This is why almost all of the successful web startups have been built by people that do the work for a living already (or some by very wealthy people that can afford it), because they don't have to go pay a lot of money for someone else to do it, they just have to pay for their living expenses.

</comment><comment><USER14> Check out freelancer.com and rentacoder.com. You have to be extremely detailed and agree on everything in advance. You could always put your idea up for a bid. If it's too high, pull it down. Another approach is to break your specs down to individual pieces. Then, start by outsourcing the smallest piece as a test.

</comment><comment><USER15> How well does it need to scale? How many concurrent users? How easy does it need to be to add future features to? Does existing off the shelf software not give you most of what you want? What's meant by "social networking / profile features"?

</comment><comment><USER16> Can you tell us more about what the site is built on (Language/Framework)? If you've built your site on something standard like Wordpress or Django than it will be much cheaper to implement these features. If it's custom all the way things get a bit trickier.

The biggest problem with this sort of request is that a lot of people out there will say they can do it but won't do it well. Sites like scriptlance will probably get you quotes in the few hundred dollar range but their code will be of poor quality and missing important "behind the scenes" features like error handling. So you really have to be careful (and if you tell us more maybe we can help you with that)

</comment><comment><USER17> I'm working with a web development shop in Vietnam (disclosure: I own about 1/5 of the company). If you already have the mock-ups, then send it my way and I can forward it to the guys. I think if the requirements are not crazy, you can make good use of your $2K. Here's the link to the company's brochure: [http://www.scribd.com/doc/29808412/Quick-Solution- Credential...](http://www.scribd.com/doc/29808412/Quick-Solution-Credentials- rev1-040310)

Cheers!

</comment><comment><USER18> Simple answer is that it depends

Depends on if you care about the scalability, optimization, and speed of the site. If you do then you will pay a lot for US dev

The alternative is to outsource and get all those features for 2k. Go to elance, guru, odesk, or getafreelancer.

The latter I would suggest for proof of concept of prototyping an idea. Once you get a whole bunch of traffic and users you can rebuild it correctly when it's worth it to do so.

Launch fast with the least investment.

</comment><comment><USER19> You can get more for your money if you can find an existing framework/solution to modify (e.g., BuddyPress), and can find a solid freelance developer or small shop to do the work.

People who charge 100-150 an hour are not doing web sites for college students.

</comment><comment><USER20> It depends on who you go with. I know a secret - that price does not necessarily equate to quality + value when it comes to consulting work.

Some people are extremely talented & efficient but have never been exposed to the true value of their work. They are usually in college or recent grads, and probably live somewhere where well paying web work typically isn't either commonly found or fun.

It can be done for sure.

</comment><comment><USER21> Social Networking? No.

Forum Profiles? Possibly.

<comment><USER22> eh, there are lots of open-source things that would help with that.. where's phpnuke these days?

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> "What can I get for $2,000?" is an excellent question. As a consultant, I wish I'd get this question more often from cost-conscious customers rather than "how much is this going to cost me?", because the former is quite easy to quantify and quickly sets a budget and an expectation. The latter is very exploratory and immediately puts the consultant on the defensive.

<comment><USER24> I find it odd that your comment has so many upvotes. No offense but who is upvoting this? I figure it's one of two types of people:

1) People who are used to hiring others yet who don't like to talk "budget"

2) Consultants hired by #1

Really - I don't know of a single transaction in either my consulting practice or in my hiring of consultants/experts/etc in which budget was not a major discussion point. Maybe, as the consultant, I'd be the one bringing it up but I assure you: before I entered into any agreement with a client, the "Can you afford to pay me what I'm going to need to do this project?" question had been sufficiently explored.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> Depends on your area- contract to Canada, devs here are making much less than $50 / hr, and are just as qualified to make production apps. The internet makes it easy to hire someone from farther away, just be sure that they share your vision - detailed specs are a must!

</comment><comment><USER26> This kind of Ask HN could easily be abused if it becomes a trend. There are plenty of other websites that are more exactly suited to answering his question, and in a more direct and actionable way, based on a real submitted spec.

<comment><AUTHOR> noted. I wasn't trying to abuse HN with this post, just trying to get an idea about whether any type of a dynamic site can be created for under 2k. I'll refrain from this type of speculative posting in the future.</comment></comment>


Tell HN: Founder Institute companies in NYC looking for cofounders - March 11 - <AUTHOR> http://cofi-newyork.eventbrite.com/

<comment><USER2> Assuming that the tickets are evenly divided between the founder types, that would give 10 tickets per founder type. Business tickets are sold out first which is to be expected. However, I didn't think design would be the least popular.

</comment><comment><USER3> What is this, I was invited to it in the bay area... but still unsure?

</comment><comment><USER4> Adorable and perturbing at the same time.</comment>


Mind-reading wearable kitty tail wags when you're happy - <AUTHOR> http://io9.com/5945649/mind+reading-wearable-kitty-tail-wags-when-youre-happy <comment><AUTHOR> German readers: [http://www.crackajack.de/2012/09/22/mind-controlled- kitten-t...](http://www.crackajack.de/2012/09/22/mind-controlled-kitten-tails- for-humans/)

older product: [http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-05/5/neurowear- cat-...](http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-05/5/neurowear-cat-ears)

Not sure how I feel about stuff like this. It could end up the modern version of the mood ring, or actually be a thing.</comment>


Non Repeating Decimals - <AUTHOR> https://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/NonRepeatingDecimals.html?se26hn <comment><USER2> It has always bugged me that people call the numbers that Cantor 'constructs' the real numbers.

Underlying it is the axiom of choice, which says that it is meaningful to talk about the results of processes that would take an infinite amount of time to complete. (e.g. choose an infinite number of digits that create a unique number.)

A number like 0 or 75 or 1/3 has a name, in fact all the integers and rationals have names. You can pick one out individually and talk about it. You might encounter it in some way.

Some irrationals (sqrt 11) and transcendentals (4 pi) have names. Most don't, and you will never see them as individual numbers, only as members of an interval.

<comment><USER3> You do not need the axiom of choice to construct the real numbers: [https://www.quora.com/Is-the-axiom-of-choice-necessary-to- in...](https://www.quora.com/Is-the-axiom-of-choice-necessary-to-introduce- real-numbers-as-Dedekind-cuts)

However, I agree with the general thrust of your argument: it seems weird, in hindsight, to call them the "real" numbers since most of them do not meaningfully correspond to anything in physical reality. Especially since most of them are non-computable; i.e. there does not exist any computer program that outputs their digits in order. It seems difficult to say anything meaningful about those at all!

In case you haven't seen it, the proof of this is simple: there are only countably many computer programs, and uncountably many real numbers. Thus almost all real numbers are non-computable.

In fact I am not convinced that there is _anything_ in physical reality that meaningfully corresponds to an "uncountable set" in mathematics.

The real numbers are useful because their behavior _as a set_ matches our intuition about how numbers should behave, even though most individual members don't. I believe this is what you are alluding to in your last paragraph.

But anyway, they were named "real numbers" in opposition to "imaginary numbers", not rationals or computables or anything like that. Which is even more unfortunate because the construction of complex numbers from real numbers is extremely straightforward and not mysterious at all (just define them as pairs of reals with a particular multiplication operation).</comment></comment>


Interview with John Muratore: Rebuilding Mission Control and Spaceplanes (the X-38) - <AUTHOR> https://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/SSP/MuratoreJF_5-14-08.htm <comment><AUTHOR> John Muratore now works at SpaceX, but this is a pretty good interview with him during his NASA days.

There's a particularly enlightening paragraph about how he retooled Houston's mission control using the "pirate paradigm" and the "build a little, test a little, fix a little" philosophy. Even though this was back in the 80's, it seems like the kernel of more rapid/agile/test-based dev process that's well known today.</comment>


A French Grocery Chain Is Trolling Amazon Go - <AUTHOR> https://www.fastcocreate.com/3066794/quick-hit/this-french-grocery-chain-is-totally-trolling-amazon-go <comment><USER2> Monoprix customer for two years, I can relate this is no false advertising or demonstration of intent : it works like this in real life.

Monoprix live in a nice niche of upper class consumers living in the center of rich towns. The produits are kind of expensive, but the service is neat.

<comment> k-mcgrady How does the checkout part work? Obviously you can't just leave your trolley at the checkout - they need your address and need to bill you. Is there a membership card you quickly scan or something like that?

<comment><USER3> Two ways: 1\. You pay and leave your delivery informations. 2\. You're a regular customer and have an membership account for that.

I can see a lot of people living outside the city using this service because Monoprix is near their workplace. They go after work, ask for delivery, go back home by train, and then are delivered the day after for instance.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I am still sceptical about AmazonGo.

1\. How will Amazon technology work if two friends are walking into the store and both are adding products to the cart?

2\. How will it work in a crowded store as it's quite possible that the product will end up if a different account?

Amazon might have to invest in more security guards than cashiers!

<comment><USER5> Exactly and kids often pick things up on your behalf and stick them in the trolley. "Mum/Dad can I have..." "Sure, go pick it up for me".

<comment><USER6> That's why they're starting with a test-shop and once they'll figure it out they'll go big.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Fyi french supermarkets like carrefour or leclerc already have solutions where they give you a scanner and you scan yourself the stuff you buy and just pay when exiting. Very fast and convenient.

<comment><USER8> Here in Belgium the Carrefour also introduced that system. It's fast if the system doesn't (randomly) pick you out for inspection. Nevertheless I like the system.

What I have also seen in the Hypercarrefour in Bruges that they scan your groceries when waiting in line to the checkout. Then they print a ticket on their mobile printer which you just need to give to the checkout and pay.

A local Delhaize (Food Lion in the US) experimented with a fixed POS where you needed to take out all your groceries, self-scan and pay. I have also used the same system at Tesco in Prague. Not the most pleasant system in comparison than the mobile version Carrefour and also Auchan uses where you just walk through the store with a mobile scanner.

Other local retailers (colruyt, aldi, lidl, Albert Hein) are more classic in that regards.

"t's often broken, and some items are subject to different buying conditions and can't be purchased via these self-service checkout lanes, like alcohol, or "luxury" items with high margins, like razor blades."

To be honest that's not a problem when using self-scan at Carrefour. Only if you buy alcohol or tabaco they may ask for your age or if you are picked out for an inspection. There is no limit in what you buy.

Although that is the situation here in Belgium.

<comment><USER9> Carrefour is not the only shop here to have introduced it, I have seen it in Match as well (in Leuven). The smaller shops of Carrefour, the "express shops" don't have it iether, so not all stores of carrefour do, but then again they are smaller shops and there usually are not _that_ much people.

Colruyt, aldi and lidl might consider the expense of the machine + people to do the random inspection as a cost they do not want, as they do aim to keep the price as low as possible. Wether you pay people to sit at a checkout or wait to check other people, the amount of money you might end up saving might have been considered not significant.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> This is a very fun bit of PR, but it represents a very common mistake from corporate innovators.

1) Successful business model (retail)

2) Smart iteration on the business model (Monoprix livraison a domicile +)

3) For legacy reason, do not upend the whole business model, do not put it front and center, limit it to some categories / users

4) Watch a younger competitor, not uncumbered by legacy, focus solely on that service

5) Get shocked when they get PR. Release a video to say you've done it for 10years

6) Go bankrupt as the new service spreads like wildfire

Monoprix home delivery is great, my grandmother uses it quite a lot, but retailers are still totally going to get taken over by Amazon

<comment><USER11> I'm afraid you may be right, and it makes me sad.

I like shopping online with Amazon, but I would hate seeing groceries taken away with unmanned dystopian and probably very dysfunctional automated outlets like on the Amazon video.

What happens when something goes wrong? -- The automated video system thinks you have taken two products when you have taken just one; or it thinks you have taken one and you took two, and a security guy who has zero authority over how the system operates, or understanding of it, accuses you of stealing; or a discount was advertised on the shelf but not implemented on the system; etc.

What happens if Amazon decides, for some reason that they will not explain and that you can't appeal, to cancel your account? Then you can't even go grocery shopping?

The future is much less exciting than it used to be.

<comment><USER12> > What happens when something goes wrong?

Personally I've found Amazon's customer service is pretty reasonable (sometimes you need to dig in the site to find something). I know they aren't a great company in other ways - their workers are poorly paid and overworked, but that's one thing I'm not worried about.

> What happens if Amazon decides, for some reason that they will not explain > and that you can't appeal, to cancel your account? Then you can't even go > grocery shopping?

Only if they have a monopoly, if this proves successful I expect other shops will start investing in this too (or licence the technology). You're just as likely to have an issue currently if you live in Bumfuck, Nowhere and the only store around refuses to serve you because they suspect you of stealing.

<comment><USER11> The only store in Bumfuck doesn't operate a giant online marketplace and therefore is very unlikely to refuse to serve me because of a computer glitch, or because someone somewhere hacked my account, or because I changed the username on my Kindle ([https://www.reddit.com/r/amazon/comments/5gvgdl/using_a_amaz...](https://www.reddit.com/r/amazon/comments/5gvgdl/using_a_amazon_kindle_fire_destroyed_my/))

In any case I can always walk up to the manager at Bumfuck General Store and resolve any disagreement we might have, simply by... talking. Also, said manager is in charge, he can make decisions and reverse previous decisions.

Amazon employees aren't in charge of anything, the system is. They can read what's on their screen, and press a few buttons on screens that have choices, and that's it.

The problem with automation isn't only that robots are displacing humans, but that at the same time it's changing humans into robots (dumb ones).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Is this grocery charging 'Whole Paycheck' prices? The fact that they invest into this well-produced video, while referencing Amazon GO, located thousands of miles away in a different country, suggests their target demographic are tech-friendly and, by transitivity, affluent.

How about Amazon GO? Is that a toy / experience / novelty for affluent tech- savvy early adopters?

Sorry if I'm not political correct. I tried. My intent is not to troll or offend people who do shop at Whole Foods. I actually live in San Francisco, 10 feet away from a Whole Foods. I previously lived in Seattle, too. I feel that, compared to other fields such as Finance or law, tech tend to be more self- conscientious and guilty about income inequality.

<comment><USER14> Monoprix is definitely high end. Maybe not whole food prices though. French American speaking.

<comment><USER15> What? Monoprix is your regular supermarket.

<comment><USER2> No way. Monoprix is definetely a high end supermarket, not because it's organic or high quality food only (unlike whole food) but because it's always located in weathy areas of inner towns (your find Monoprix in the XVIth and XVIIth district, not in the XXth).

<comment><USER16> An analogy to America, to avoid having people imagine Monoprix is Le Bon Marché: Monoprix is like what Target is to Walmart.

Although unlike in the US, most of its competitors are owned by the same parent company, Casino Group.

<comment><USER2> I agree with the analogy, but I would add that it's usually located where your would have a Walgreens in the US, which is much smaller than the average Target.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Slightly different use case, though. Say I want a sandwich and a drink, I want that right now, not delivered to my house in one hour.

Funny PR, though !

<comment><USER18> So take it with you? You obviously don't have to get it delivered. It's still an awesome service.

<comment><USER19> He might have to wait in line though. Which really touches on what the Amazon service is good for. They should be focusing on putting their technology in gas stations and convenience stores, not supermarkets. It would be great to just go in and grab a few things and walk out. Where as in a Grocery store, the french version is much better.

<comment><USER20> There is often fast lines for clients with less than x products. They should generalize this system for carts and keep the lines for on-the-go clients.

<comment><USER17> But if it's lunch time, everyone is waiting in the same fast line, which defeats the purpose ...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Unsurprisingly, the food in the Monoprix ad look better :/

<comment><USER22> It's France, they actually have standards for food quality.

<comment><USER23> They actually have food culture.

I wish we've had some French bakeries and supermarkets in the Bay Area, not this Amazon stuff... Even Whole Foods is not quite there yet :-/

<comment><USER19> It is more then just "Have french bakery". Culture is fitting because it is not just the bakery that makes the bread great. Farms, delivery, trade schools, customers all are required for french level of quality.

<comment><USER24> A comment I've heard that I suspect has at least some truth to it is that France has something of a monoculture around French food. That may well be overstating it. But I think it's fair to say that there is a highly optimized supply chain around delivering a specific cuisine and rather high consumer expectations around that cuisine.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Websites like this one piss me off. Here's the video on Youtube:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sF868SJSrE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sF868SJSrE)

</comment><comment><USER26> This is seriously better than Amazon Go; error-free and free delivery!

<comment><USER27> When I go to a supermarket, I have to deal with finding the stuff I need, way too many people in the store, etc. but at least I can take my stuff home immediately.

When I buy online I have to wait for delivery, but at least I don't have to go looking for stuff in 20 different isles only to find out the thing I needed is in a completely illogical place, or deal with all the people there.

This concept combines all the disadvantages of physically going to a supermarket with all the disadvantages of buying online. Amazon's concept actually improves the physical buying experience.

<comment><USER11> Going to a (small) supermarket is not a disadvantage, I find it a nice experience, because you can see/smell/touch) the products you want. I wouldn't buy fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, cheese, etc. online.

Not being able to take your stuff home is a little annoying, but depending on where you live it can be almost necessary to have groceries delivered. In Paris many buildings don't have elevators at all, or very small ones that can hold at most two people and not many bags. If you live on the 5th floor you're happy to get someone bring the bags up the stairs for you.

<comment><USER24> For me, it really depends on how reliable the market is. If I know produce and fish are going to be reliably high quality and fresh, I'd be more inclined to use an online service. However, that's not really the case with the average supermarket and therefore I prefer shopping in person. (If it were available where I live, I'd probably use Instacart with Whole Foods from time to time, but I'm lukewarm on using Peapod which is available for me.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> This is exactly how innovation is supposed to work - if a rival company (or a new entry to the market) comes up with a better solution then you have to innovate to survive. It's exactly why competition is important. It forces companies to improve what they offer. If they can do it in clever ways that don't cost much, that's even better. The business wins and the customer gets a better experience.

If Amazon has shocked the supermarket industry in to action then that's _awesome_.

<comment><USER29> This service is actually 10 years old.

But you are right, though - I'm working in this space and Amazon Go definitely helped to shake up some people. Let's see if we can turn this into action.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> If my understanding of this Google-translated French page[0] is correct, it costs 1€, and there is a minimum order of 50€. I may be mistaken.

If so, that can be a big difference, especially to the crowd that puts groceries in their personal bags, as depicted in both ads.

[0] [https://www.monoprix.fr/livraison-a- domicile?menuName=servic...](https://www.monoprix.fr/livraison-a- domicile?menuName=services1)

<comment><USER20> French stores are forbidden to give non-reusable plastic bags, precisely to nudge everyone to switch to reusable bags.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> Did anyone else find the original Amazon Go video's mentioning "deep learning", "webscale technologies" and "generic buzzwords" funny, when in reality they probably use people behind security camera screens tallying up what you buy?

<comment><USER32> > _when in reality they probably use people behind security camera screens > tallying up what you buy_

I doubt they are using that.

<comment><USER5> I imagine that edge cases will be flagged and checked by a human operator, a bit like postal services do with machine unreadable addresses. Deep learning isn't perfect - how would you suggest those cases are handled?

<comment><USER32> > _Deep learning isn 't perfect_

Didn't claim it was.

> _how would you suggest those cases are handled?_

Obviously the same way as you suggest.

But the parent talked about them MERELY using human operators behind cameras, like it's just some mechanical turk-based fraud...

<comment><USER31> Eh, I'm sure they use some face recognition to track people and products, but that's about it. How would you have implemented it?

<comment><USER32> I wouldn't make any claims like Amazon did, unless it was an over 95% automated, with humans involved only in some case of dispute etc.

So, face recognition to track people + image recognition to track products (which is not that difficult, since it's a constrained data set e.g. 40.000 products to train, and they can also use information about position to narrow results -- eg. aisle B, so it's one of the soaps, etc).

<comment><USER5> "image recognition to track products (which is not that difficult, since it's a constrained data set e.g. 40.000 products to train, and they can also use information about position to narrow results -- eg. aisle B, so it's one of the soaps, etc)."

Wish it was that easy. People have a habit of picking stuff up and putting it in the wrong place. Staff at stores spend forever putting stuff back to it's correct place and binning stuff that should have been refrigerated but placed somewhere non-refrigerated.

<comment><USER32> > _Wish it was that easy. People have a habit of picking stuff up and putting > it in the wrong place._

Well, the stuff will already have been identified in the picking stage.

<comment><USER5> "Well, the stuff will already have been identified in the picking stage."

Sure, but you take some semi-random object out of the basket and add it to the wrong shelf. Do that a few times and things are going to get much harder.

If we're honest, regardless there will be wrong classifications anyway - if it wasn't for laser scanners humans would make more mistakes as well and these are nowhere near human intelligence.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> In India all local stores have this service, you fill up a basket leave it at counter with your address. They'll bill it and deliver at home and you'll pay in cash. Though no large chain I know does this.

</comment><comment><USER34> Is all this "deep learning", "computer vision" and "sensor fusion" necessary when you could just put RFID tags on the items?

<comment><USER12> RFID tags would raise the cost of the items. E.g. garlic costs pennies, less than an RFID chip.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> As usual Amazon tries to take over an industry and makes no profit, which is their usual recipe. They have a P/E of 174 which means there is no chance they will ever make enough to be a real profitable enterprise. Outside of AWS I think everything else contributes no profits at all. But I do like the leave the cart idea although that only works if the prices supports the extra delivery.

</comment><comment><USER36> Ahah, nice troll. But I still prefer to both those options the way I do it : I just shop on store's website and ask for delivery. This allows me to have shopping lists that I can use as templates, I can shop any hour of the day and take time to compare products.

Granted, this is especially a good fit for me because I work from home and can receive deliveries any time.

<comment><USER24> It's interesting that you see just about every permutation of shopping and delivery options out there.

You have online shopping and delivery as you mention. I'd do this more myself if there were a service I liked where I live.

One of the local chains around here started up a "To Go" service recently. You shop online and pick up. I assume the market here is people who can easily drive but may not be very mobile or have young kids that just make it a hassle to do the picking themselves. (My anecdotal observation is this service isn't being used much.)

And this case is pretty much what a lot of markets in cities have been doing forever. (Often smaller markets but I believe Whole Foods does this in some locations as well.)

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> The point of Amazon Go is instant gratification. The point of this is not carrying stuff to your house. Cool troll, but they should be careful of the false sense of superiority. Perhaps they could hire some Nokia and BlackBerry execs to explain the concept to them.

<comment><USER38> No, the point of both is convenience. Which one is more convenient? Depends on how many items you purchase on supermarket trips.

</comment></comment><comment><USER39> I wonder what the difference between the cost of Amazon's technology is vs Monoprix's service?

Monoprix may have found that they can make more money / save on initial outlay of shop fitting by offering a similar service, but without the technology.

</comment><comment><USER40> Amazon Go Is About Way More Than Groceries: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA2-iMz479o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA2-iMz479o)

</comment><comment><USER34> I know that I often don't go to the grocery store to pick up an item or two simply because I don't want to wait in the checkout line.

</comment><comment><USER41> "Seatle's a bit far away" :D:D:D:D

</comment><comment><USER42> The fun bit is that Monoprix is beating Amazon through a superior e2e logistics solution.

</comment><comment><USER43> I couldn't stand the feeling of anxiety that you have to be home an hour later and wait for someone to show up with your grocery. Not only that, but what if they miss or misplace something? Too many questions to write. Obviously not for me. But Amazon Go looks like something I could use.

<comment><USER44> I'm guessing that you could say "Deliver in 3 hours" as well.

</comment></comment><comment><USER45> Haha. Cute ad but let's see where customers go when everything is ~10% cheaper at Amazon.

<comment><USER46> Starbucks: Cute ad but let's see where customers go when doing it yourself is 90% cheaper.

Whole Foods: Cute ad but let's see where customers ...

There is always a market for people willing to pay more for whatever reason.

</comment></comment><comment><USER47> What is with the clickbaity title? Flagged, this is not Outbrain.

<comment><USER48> the title matches the page title, and is very descriptive as to the contents.

</comment></comment><comment><USER49> On another topic, please don't be that site: 66 MB over 325 requests and 30s to load over a 50mbps connection. And that's _after_ Origin blocked 166 more assets. You're ruining the internet for everyone.

By contrast, HN is 65k and 1s.

<comment><USER50> On the plus side, the site works fine with NoScript with just the Google properties whitelisted.

<comment><USER51> The site works fine with no javascript at all (disabled on my mobile)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER52> Human technology costs too much and doesn't scale well.</comment>


What are you working on? - <AUTHOR> A traditional monthly check in. <comment><USER2> In the home stretch of my Tiny House construction. [https://goo.gl/photos/dPnx7jttphUvQXcj8](https://goo.gl/photos/dPnx7jttphUvQXcj8)

<comment><USER3> Nice project. Where are you located? (Not your home addy, just the area)

<comment><USER2> Thanks, Southern California. Looking for a place to park if you know anyone ;)

<comment><USER3> I wish. I live in a crappy apartment in the bay area. You can park in Sierra Nevada, if you got a remote job:)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> GrockDoc.com: Technical documentation

It's a hobby project. I currently publish 3 new articles per day.

Some example docs:

Cassandra: [https://www.grockdoc.com/cassandra/2.1/articles](https://www.grockdoc.com/cassandra/2.1/articles)

Android: [https://www.grockdoc.com/android/5.1/articles](https://www.grockdoc.com/android/5.1/articles)

<comment><USER5> Looks amazing, definitely bookmarked. Hope to more documentation.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Just started a Coursera course on game development[0]

I've been building Space Invaders in C++ for almost a year now. It's been an excuse to learn things like building an entity-component system, messing with fonts, creating spritesheets, etc, and currently i've taken a week-long tangent into vectors and collision detection. It's more of a journey vs. destination kind of thing, otherwise it could have been "done" a long time ago.

I decided to wrap most of my Github projects into a small, threaded PHP forum, which is currently a HN clone because I can't be arsed to care about style right now. I've got lots of little things like related links generation and thread folding and sorting working. It will probably never actually see the light of day.

Since I just graduated from technical school, I have to find actual work so that's taking up a lot of time too.

[0][https://www.coursera.org/learn/game- development](https://www.coursera.org/learn/game-development)

</comment><comment><USER7> Continuing work on an online course on React JS, found here: [https://www.udemy.com/learn-and-understand- reactjs/?couponCo...](https://www.udemy.com/learn-and-understand- reactjs/?couponCode=4hn).

I had some challenges with the course at the started, but refocused my efforts in making sure I was creating a product that a beginning developer could work through and then feel confident to build their own apps. Once the quality content was in place, reviews, revenue, and engagement soared.

Revenue is up over the last two months, and I plan to write a blog post in the next few weeks regarding that topic. In addition, I plan to also release a new course covering React Native in the next week.

</comment><comment><USER8> I'm working on finding a co-founder in NYC.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10218445](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10218445)

Finding a co-founder is close to number 1 on the list of things a founder has to do, because the number 1 mistake that kills startups is being a single founder. Therefore learning from other people's search in finding a co-founder would be learning what to look for yourself.

I can easily imagine finding a co-founder to be a startup idea itself if done right.

[http://paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html](http://paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html)

<comment><USER9> I noticed your other post the other day looking for someone to hack with in NYC. Ok, seems fair. But you're looking for a co-founder "for what"? For "a startup"? To build what? What is your passion? It's fun to say "I want to start a start up, I'll read Paul Graham and make sure not to make those mistakes, 1) Check, 2) Check..." and so on. In reality, having a marketable and economically viable idea is the key to founding a successful business. But it seems from your posts that your key passion is not wanting to work in a large company. That's fair enough as well, but it's not the sort of thing that makes a start up successful.

Find a problem and start solving it. Then tell everyone about it. A co-founder will come. In fact, they will come because they are interested in the problem you are solving. Don't assume that two people who like sitting around together can actually come up with a viable, marketable idea and then become successful startup founders.

Also, Paul Graham is speaking from an investment portfolio perspective when he is speaking of the #1 failure point being not having a co-founder. He says, "Have you noticed how few successful startups were founded by just one person?" The thing you should be worrying about is "Have you noticed how few successful startups there are? Why is that?" Answer the second question first, and you will come to find it has very little to do with co-founders.

<comment><USER8> Thank you for the feedback. Yes, I'm looking for a co-founder to start a startup.

 _" In reality, having a marketable and economically viable idea is the key to founding a successful business."_

That's not 100% true. I mean, it is important, but it's not the one and only key. There's more to it than that. Here's a list of marketable and economically viable ideas that won't lead most people reading this comment have a successful business out of them. [http://paulgraham.com/ambitious.html](http://paulgraham.com/ambitious.html) People are more important than ideas.

I'm sorry my posts came off as my passion is not wanting to work in a large company. I don't work in a large company. My passion is to change the world, after becoming ramen profitable. If I had to pick between a business that makes lots of money but isn't fullfilling or a business that makes less money but has a shot at changing the world, I'd pick the latter. I don't know if this answers your question.

You are right that people who like sitting around together may be unable to come up with a viable, marketable idea and then become successful startup founders. It's not easy to generate ideas. It's hard to be a startup founder.

But you also may be presumptuous if you think I haven't found a problem or started solving it. And I may be presumptuous if I think you haven't found a problem or starting solving it too. I want to listen to other people's ideas. Valuable ideas can be risky or frightening enough that you don't even _know_ you have them. Bouncing ideas with someone else can help them surface.

If I had to make one assumption, it'd be that people who like sitting around together, and like each other, and are exceptional, are more likely to come up with a viable, marketable idea and then become successful startup founders than people who don't like each other and aren't exceptional. If this "success" quality can be put into words better, similar to being formidable, I'm open to a definition.

One problem with people coming because they are interested in a problem you are solving is that they also leave when the solution doesn't work. People who stick together are more likely to stick with a solution longer. They are also more likely to be open to changing the idea.

I saw this problem with people who weren't friends first. They wouldn't be in sync. They would refuse to switch ideas.

This may be a very simplistic reasoning, but if you go from a single founder to two, you potentially double your growth rate. Or you at least double your productivity. Because now there are two people working to make some big tech breakthrough and get that initial toehold of users, assuming they can work together.

It seems to me growth rate is more important than equity. With growth rate you can get rich enough to not have to work again. With double the equity but no growth you don't.

<comment><USER10> That's the problem right there. Delusion. Everyone aspires to change the world, more than that everyone thinks that they 'can' change the world. But if you think about it from a neutral perspective, your chances are less than 0.0001%. And maybe less with your type of attitude, you might consider money as an 'evil' but its a mean to an end. You need to find a viable economical problem, work on it, develop it and then create something around it. Sitting around all day in coffee shops talking about how you're gonna change the world with absolutely no viable plan or foresight for the future is a bit pretentious in my opinion.

Plus people don't make the company, a good leader does, and one of the characteristics of a good leader is to get the most out of people around him. And that is probably the solution for 'they also leave when the solution doesn't work'.

To be honest with you, your attitude pushed my buttons, i know it shouldn't and that everyone has a different perspective to life, but thinking just by the power of 'friendship' and 'sticking together' that you could change the world, you've got another thing coming

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> As always hacking on Quoddy[1] and Neddick[2]. Beyond that, I've been dabbling with a number of new languages, tools, libraries, etc. See [3] for all the details. The tl/dr; though, is this - working my way through _Machine Learning for Hackers_ and _Practical Common Lisp_ , and starting on an AI bot[4] to give me a playground to mess with AI and Machine Learning techniques. Right now it's just AIML[5] and doesn't do a whole heck of a lot, but I just started on this a couple of days ago. Right now it can chat over XMPP and basically say "hello" and give you the current time.

[1]: [https://github.com/fogbeam/Quoddy](https://github.com/fogbeam/Quoddy)

[2]: [http://github.com/fogbeam/Neddick](http://github.com/fogbeam/Neddick)

[3]: [http://mindcrime.github.io](http://mindcrime.github.io)

[4]: [https://github.com/mindcrime/LearningAIML](https://github.com/mindcrime/LearningAIML)

[5]: [http://www.alicebot.org/aiml.html](http://www.alicebot.org/aiml.html)

</comment><comment><USER12> I left my job this Monday, and decided to leave app support jobs behind for good. I am getting up to speed on python, bash and linux for a start and try to get a position more oriented towards sysops. I will be making some smaller projects related to automation. Nothing extraordinary, just a guy turning 30 this year looking to turn his life around for the better.

</comment><comment><USER13> A few random things, a game with a couple friends ([http://www.craterkings.com](http://www.craterkings.com)), a funny little Craft Beer Generator still very much in-progress ([http://chrisgermano.github.io/CraftBeerGenerator/](http://chrisgermano.github.io/CraftBeerGenerator/)), and a very rudimentary stock trading bot [http://stockbot.infinityclub.us/](http://stockbot.infinityclub.us/) (add "#[symbol]" [no quotes] after the / to follow a specific stock, it starts with 10k if there's no existing data, unfortunately you need to keep the window open for it to keep "thinking")

</comment><comment><USER14> Upgraded the db master node to a SSD server (yay no more seeks) for my Android app, Graticule[1]

Used the opportunity to get better acquainted with ansible, finally no more manual configurations.

On the hardware side, I did my first breadboard to perfboard transplant[2]. It's a basic circuit, the layout is not so great, the soldering is messy, but it's _mine_.

[1] [https://graticule.link/](https://graticule.link/)

[2] [https://goo.gl/photos/DkzE63ZfrHpR2VC3A](https://goo.gl/photos/DkzE63ZfrHpR2VC3A)

</comment><comment><USER15> I've been polishing a game jam game from last weekend. We won best art style, but having lost our lead programmer half way through we barely got a working build finished to present.

2D Split-Screen Capture the Flag. One player assumes role of Firewall, robotic-security guard, other assumes role of the androgynous Cracker. Cracker has to break into the corporate system and take down the mainframe to start the cyber-revolution, while Firewall has to catch them before they do so and escape. We have some fantastic Darude-esque electronic music and a cartoony art style.

</comment><comment><USER16> My little Side Project: [http://www.BetterSnipper.com](http://www.BetterSnipper.com)

A screenshot utility that is more powerful than the free Greenshot, yet less expensive than the over the top SnagIt. (Free unlimited trial, $5 to buy, Donating 10% to my favorite charity).

Its got a lot of great features, and a lot more in the works. (I've now started building a light-weight editor... Learning the 'Command pattern' for Undo/Redo'ing)

</comment><comment><USER17> I'm working on an MVP for online shell history (bash/zsh) as a service. Source a script, add a command to your $PROMPT_HISTORY, and all your shell history will be available online.

It will also provide some graphs along with insights/advice, for example, suggesting possible aliases to save time. Looking to get it out in the next week or two, would love to hear if you guys would be interested in something like this!

</comment><comment><USER18> [http://newslinn.com](http://newslinn.com) (beta) Share photos of Local News with Local Journalists with a simple email in real-time - combining real-time photo validation with user authentication. (end marketing pitch)

still a side project, using Python PyKE as the rules engine is anyone is familiar with that??, and socket.io, node and mongodb for the "real-time" stuff.

<comment><USER19> How is PyKE? Pros and cons? Just took a loot at the SourceForge site for it, will check it out later, but appreciate any feedback based on your use of it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Building android apps:

\- kiosk app for employee survey

\- groupon inspired app for niche market

\- airbnb for dogs (thinking)

\- building next version of niche appstore that i launched a year ago [http://appsjhola.com](http://appsjhola.com)

Fixing bugs on customer's website.

Looking to transition to a full time job in cool startup in San Francisco. contractor / agency dev to => startup hacker (suggestions ?)

trying to finish reading Crossing The Chasm

</comment><comment><USER21> I'm working with a friend on a PHP framework, specifically helping with the docs: [https://github.com/spiral](https://github.com/spiral)

The coolest thing about it is IDE autocompletion of db fields. Other cool stuff is UML generation for Mongo/RDBS, and a storage abstraction for s3, ftp, etc so switching providers is just a config change.

</comment><comment><USER22> Working on Songfari - you can call it Product Hunt for new music. :)

[http://songfari.com](http://songfari.com)

</comment><comment><USER23> Ruby on Bales: [https://github.com/YellowApple/bales](https://github.com/YellowApple/bales)

Little command-line framework for Ruby in a similar vein as Thor or Boson or Rake, but with some ergonomic and structural differences that I think are improvements (but then again, I'm probably wrong :) ).

</comment><comment><USER24> Studying:

      Machine Learning via Ng's course.
      Modeling for Discreet Optimization using MiniZinc with Stuckey.
      Devops via Managing Remote Teams on Edx Edge.
      Org Babel.

Thinking about:

      Construction industry economics and processes.
      Who could be a cofounder.
      CQRS, event sourcing, testing, actors.
      Sheds.
      Tiny Houses.

</comment><comment><USER25> Recently finished personal project (Dog Food price comparison + ratings website) and working on SEO and PPC: [http://www.best-cheap-dog- food.com/](http://www.best-cheap-dog-food.com/)

Working on a startup demo using React Native (still learning Node+React and native mobile).

</comment><comment><USER26> [http://bandsoftheweek.com/](http://bandsoftheweek.com/) \- make a playlist of the bands coming to town.

Recently got some attention on reddit. It was fun to do, and Clojure worked quite well under traffic.

<comment><USER27> Pretty cool - anyway to be able to save the playlist to my own Spotify?

<comment><USER26> Sure, just follow the playlist and it should show up in your playlists like you made it

<comment><USER27> Heads up that UBlock on Chrome is blocking all the functionality of the Spotify content unit.

There's also no button to click to open the playlist in Spotify (maybe you could add this as a link below the embedded playlist).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> A Whatsapp chat analytics web app: [http://groupstats.io/](http://groupstats.io/)

Basically, you upload your chat history and we show some nice visualizations (no, we do not store your chat).

</comment><comment><USER29> A projector based Virtual Reality solution for home use that doesn't require headsets.

I've also just launched www.immersiveauthority.com - an Immersive Tech / VR site. Whatever I learn I transcribe on the site.

</comment><comment><USER30> Working on iOS app for Quotesy: Read memorable quotes from your favorite movies and TV shows - [http://quotesyapp.shyahi.com](http://quotesyapp.shyahi.com)

Launching on 21st September

</comment><comment><USER31> Helping retailers and franchises in the United States and Canada find good locations: [http://getinsightico.com](http://getinsightico.com)

</comment><comment><USER32> Wife and I made a joke political t-shirt. [http://teespring.com/get-dump- trump](http://teespring.com/get-dump-trump)

</comment><comment><USER33> Monetising [https://www.pentesterlab.com](https://www.pentesterlab.com) by creating an online version of the exercises...

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> A simple cloud call center solution. In search for the first users. [http://try.dialbase.com](http://try.dialbase.com)

</comment><comment><USER34> I'm working on reinventing static site generation/hosting at [http://Spudpress.com](http://Spudpress.com)

</comment><comment><USER35> Building a way to learn data science online, using python -- [https://www.dataquest.io](https://www.dataquest.io)

</comment><comment><USER36> A local restaurant reviews site for the Albany, NY region. [http://www.noshlocal.com](http://www.noshlocal.com)

</comment><comment><USER37> Unlimited email address for everybody, not too far to a Beta version...

[http://mailroad.co](http://mailroad.co)

</comment><comment><USER38> Trying to keep the baby alive, candy subscribers supplied with sweets and when I have a free market ment, writing a subscription box ebook.

</comment><comment><USER39> A mobile word game. Really re-working the game mechanics, and re-skinning prior to launch. Hopefully it launches _very_ soon.

</comment><comment><USER40> Putting together the mvp (protocol + example) I need to support my application for YC W16!

</comment><comment><USER41> locator-app.com: refactoring backend structure into microservices using seneca and rabbitmq. We're a bunch of students developing this platform [it's german and has currently no internationalization].

</comment><comment><USER42> Artificial Intelligence : [http://caigengyang.com.caigengyang.com](http://caigengyang.com.caigengyang.com)

</comment><comment><USER43> I am learning Python and Django.

</comment><comment><USER44> reworking my network-lab-slash-home-network.</comment>


Parallels Green Computing Bundle for Mac - <AUTHOR> http://www.parallels.com/green_bundle1 <comment><USER2> How exactly are you saving the environment buying this?

<comment><AUTHOR> Parallels - virtualization means less machines, means less energy. PageSender - helping offices go paperless w/ digital faxing. I'm not sure about the other apps though.</comment></comment>