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40,505 | 40,472 |
epi0Bauqu
|
Age and the entrepreneur, part 1: Some data
|
terpua
|
This reminds me of "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" by Thomas S. Kuhn (http://www.amazon.com/Structure-Scientific-Revolutions-Thoma...). Kuhn dissects the idea of the "paradigm shift" in scientific thinking in the context of classical physics. It is basically argued that it takes people who aren't indoctrinated with the "old thinking" to come up with the "new thinking." In physics, this usually turns out to be people younger than 26, often through seminal PhD theses. But not always. Sometimes people dabble in secondary fields at older ages and come up with significant breakthroughs, like Linus Pauling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Pauling).I'm not sure what I think about this regarding entrepreneurship. It seems that very successful entrepreneurs are not always coming up with revolutionary thinking, but instead executing well and paying attention to small details that make things work where they haven't before. As such, the age indoctrination barrier may not be as present as it is in physics. But of course there are the risk and drive barriers--people get settled and less willing to take risks and go through the arduous process of starting something new later in life.
| null | 1 | 40 |
2007-08-08 14:43:22 UTC
|
40,507 | 40,486 |
pg
|
What the hell where these guys thinking?!?!
|
jtoy
|
I knew we were headed for trouble as soon as I read "I was brought on to lead up the development of their software platform." That's the kind of thing founders should be doing.
| null | 0 | 3 |
2007-08-08 14:45:51 UTC
|
40,510 | 40,480 |
epi0Bauqu
|
Nah Seriously! For geeks only. Name 3 things you can't live w/out ?
|
rokhayakebe
|
Internet, emacs, putty
|
Internet ready laptop/ Cellphone/Coffee. I can do anything with these 3 guys. I am D'Artagnan and they are my 3 Mousquetaires.
| 1 | 1 |
2007-08-08 14:51:06 UTC
|
40,519 | 40,482 |
pbnaidu
|
Accept a position as "Lead Developer"?
|
lispy
|
I saw one of my lead developer / architect became a project manager, within three months he wanted out of that role and came back to design and coding job.If this "Lead Developer" role involves designing, prototyping, trying out new technologies, then I would say take it as you still be coding as part of the job. Even if it involves analysis and knowledge management and you haven't tried it before and there is an option to go back to what you were doing, I would give it a try.
|
There's a promotion on the table for me to take over a small IT department at a smaller company that has different needs than the parent company it spun off of. It's not a heavy management role: there'd just be one network guy working for me. I love coding more than just about anything... but this looks like it'd be more of an analysis and knowledge management thing. I'm probably going to take it because it's the only way "up" in my current situation... but will I have killed my chances for becoming a hard-core heads-down code-cutting developer in the process?
| 0 | 1 |
2007-08-08 15:13:31 UTC
|
40,520 | 40,412 |
Ultrapreneur
|
We went ahead with it anyway.
|
blored
|
Has anyone ever tried to pitch their idea/website on a reality T.V. show such as American Inventor? I was a pitcher/presentor on CBC's Dragons' Den (here in Canada) and one of the presenters pitched a job website called JobLoft... any thoughts or storys?
|
We got rejected the first time around with Ycombinator and have now been offered funding. Thanks for your support everyone, this forum rocks.
| 5 | 25 |
2007-08-08 15:21:22 UTC
|
40,532 | 40,462 |
aswanson
|
21 Critical Life Lessons You Didn't Learn in School
|
vlad
|
This would have been beneficial to learn in school, but my arrogance would have rendered it useless to me back then.
| null | 1 | 19 |
2007-08-08 15:53:15 UTC
|
40,534 | 40,524 |
epi0Bauqu
|
Is a PMP valued in IT?
|
motivi
|
What is a PMP?
|
I see many people getting a PMP, is there market demand for it? Do startups look for PMP candidates? Do big companies hire PMPs? I have heard that a PMP in IT does not do as much a PMP in contruction. What do you think?
| 6 | 2 |
2007-08-08 15:57:13 UTC
|
40,536 | 40,472 |
iamyoohoo
|
Age and the entrepreneur, part 1: Some data
|
terpua
|
This is a classic case of making a really simple analysis complicated.The reason for age was simple - as you grow up there are more dependencies which demand a share of your time and more responsibilities to live up to - which is what pulls you down. The age question was not about productivity. Given equal circumstances and responsibilities, there is no question that this thesis would hold true - however that is not the case !!Sorry Marc - this time it was thought through a little tooooo much and the original reasons that started this debate were largely ignored. I hope you read this comment.
| null | 3 | 40 |
2007-08-08 15:59:01 UTC
|
40,539 | 40,524 |
run4yourlives
|
Is a PMP valued in IT?
|
motivi
|
It depends on who you're asking. Big corps and upper management love PMP's because it's like having an MBA to them, somehow, they can't imagine that anyone else could do the job.If you as programmers, PMP's are useless and a clear signal to avoid the company at all costs.If you ask me, as someone who's been to a few courses, the PMP cert isn't ideal for IT. It lags behind in more up to date PM methods, and focuses too much on process and not enough on results.
|
I see many people getting a PMP, is there market demand for it? Do startups look for PMP candidates? Do big companies hire PMPs? I have heard that a PMP in IT does not do as much a PMP in contruction. What do you think?
| 3 | 2 |
2007-08-08 16:01:35 UTC
|
40,549 | 40,548 |
vlad
|
13 Simple Words That Could Change Your Life Forever (on accountability)
|
vlad
|
"The only person I can control is myself. So when I accept responsibility for something, I am giving myself power to change it. Yes, life will victimize me, but I cannot control all the random external forces that may harm me X I can really only control myself. Therefore, the position of accountability is the most powerful position of all because it encourages us to look inside ourselves and make necessary changes.".."Sometimes, it's better to take responsibility, even if the fault is not your own. Only by taking responsibility for your problems can you take control of your life."
| null | 0 | 9 |
2007-08-08 16:36:08 UTC
|
40,551 | 40,503 |
ivankirigin
|
Are You a Ninja or a Pirate?
|
eastsidegringo
|
5D personality test: ninja pirate monkey robot zombie.What could these things possibly have in common to make them used in the same fashion in metaphor and play so often? Maybe they all break the rules, in some way.
|
You know the part in Pulp Fiction where Uma Thurman's character states that you are either an 'Elvis man' or a 'Beatles man'. I couldn't agree more but I prefer to classify people as either Ninjas or Pirates. My wife recently blogged about this and our friend Kathleen introduced a new variable into the equation: Monkey or Robot.
| 0 | 3 |
2007-08-08 16:38:43 UTC
|
40,552 | 40,535 |
sabat
|
Surviving in a Downturn
|
run4yourlives
|
This one clears things up.Here's where I think you "went wrong" (so to speak) in the first article:
you spoke of a possible downturn in the economy as a "dot-bomb". To us startup types, that says "party's over, give up your projects, go home". I know, you didn't mean that. Today's post made that clearer. It was the language you picked that caused a lot of the backlash. That, and questioning whether ad-based services are much more than a fad. :-oTruth is, a downturn (self-prophetic or not) is always a possibility, and preparing for to insulate yourself is just good common business sense.Saying "hey, it could happen, nothing's a sure thing" would resonate with everyone here, I imagine. Getting (perhaps too) specific and suggesting that the "Web 2.0" market (whatever that exactly is) will die Any Day Now is bound to get people irate because:1- there is no actual reason to believe that there's anything going wrong in the web economy2- you cannot have a 2000-style crash when the stock market isn't very involved with the businesses3- just about everyone here is heavily invested in working the web economy, and so we don't take kindly to what we perceive as groundless doom-and-gloom.Most of today's startupians want a buyout as an exit strategy -- or to become self-sustaining for a while. To me, there isn't a lot of difference between your John Chow (www.johnchow.com), successful blogger, and your self-sustaining web business (I'll point to plentyoffish yet again). Er, except Chow doesn't make the kind of cash that the dating site does. Me, I'm not sure I'd mind that much. I'll take small success over none.The 2000 dot-bomb happened because of three interconnected reasons, in my estimation: 1- all the dumb, no-profit businesses burned through their VC money2- the stock market got impatient and wanted to see some profits3- VCs got spooked and stopped fundingThat won't happen again. Something else? Maybe, but it will have to be a cause quite different.Myself, I'll bet if something causes us heartache, it will be a downturn in the economy, most likely caused by the population believing that we're "due" for a downturn in the economy.As PG would point out, as long as we keep trying to find ways to create wealth (not so much by making literal $$ but by improving the world), downturns cannot last forever.
| null | 2 | 6 |
2007-08-08 16:41:59 UTC
|
40,554 | 40,524 |
mattculbreth
|
Is a PMP valued in IT?
|
motivi
|
I had some back luck hiring a couple PMPs when I ran a consulting division. They're very much old-school in their methods. Big Gantt charts, PERT, waterfall, etc. Didn't match at all with my move towards a more agile approach and we had conflicts.The best way I found to manage bigger projects was to get technical PMs who still coded, and break down the management into a few sub-teams, each of which could still work in an agile fashion.
|
I see many people getting a PMP, is there market demand for it? Do startups look for PMP candidates? Do big companies hire PMPs? I have heard that a PMP in IT does not do as much a PMP in contruction. What do you think?
| 4 | 2 |
2007-08-08 16:48:09 UTC
|
40,558 | 40,535 |
nostrademons
|
Surviving in a Downturn
|
run4yourlives
|
Couple things:1. The #1 thing you can do to protect yourself in a downturn is "Don't spend money." I interviewed at a dot-com in 2002 and know a few others that it made it through. The features they all had in common were that they were just a couple of founders working for subsistence wages, they had simple professional offices (just a couple of rooms), their furniture consisted of yard sale castoffs instead of Aerons, and their only employees were an intern or two and maybe someone working mostly for stock. You see this with more famous companies too: Flickr, HotOrNot, del.icio.us, they were all just a couple guys during the bust.By contrast, the VC-funded startup I worked at from 2000-2001 flamed out in a spectacular way, as did most of the other venture-funded organizations. The only VC-backed startups to make it through were the ones that had been started in 1995 and 1996 (well, except Google) and had already begun to dominate their market niches. Even those were touch-and-go for a while: Akamai stock was down at $0.50 for a while, and there was some serious doubt over whether Amazon.com would make it through.2. "In the depression, people were so concerned about making money that they actually took on extra jobs instead of having fun, which as seen as frivolous and risky."That's actually not true. The 1930s are often seen as the "golden age" of the motion picture, because no matter how hard up they were for cash, people still went out to the movies. Walt Disney got his start then. Bootleggers and bordellos also did well during the 1930s. Radio did well in fundamentals, but their stock was hit hard because they were trading at P/Es > 100.The whole point of the depression was that there was no work to be found. Very few people worked extra jobs - even if there were jobs to be found, companies were loath to give them to someone who already had an income when 25% of the population was begging in the streets. Many people tried to supplement their income with eg. selling apples on the street, but even more stayed at home and sulked. There was a major sex role reversal: women often found themselves the primary breadwinner, doing piecework out of their home, while the men found themselves unable to get any sort of work and eventually gave up searching.
| null | 0 | 6 |
2007-08-08 16:57:03 UTC
|
40,560 | 40,482 |
sherman
|
Accept a position as "Lead Developer"?
|
lispy
|
Taking the position doesn't stop you from being a hardcore hacker. Do you ever code outside of work? Projects like these tend to be a lot more engaging, at least for me, because it's something you chose to do versus company needs.Hackers like to build things, so I understand your concern for taking on the position. But it sounds like you still would have opportunity to write code, just that most of your time is spent elsewhere.
|
There's a promotion on the table for me to take over a small IT department at a smaller company that has different needs than the parent company it spun off of. It's not a heavy management role: there'd just be one network guy working for me. I love coding more than just about anything... but this looks like it'd be more of an analysis and knowledge management thing. I'm probably going to take it because it's the only way "up" in my current situation... but will I have killed my chances for becoming a hard-core heads-down code-cutting developer in the process?
| 1 | 1 |
2007-08-08 17:04:20 UTC
|
40,562 | 40,480 |
sherman
|
Nah Seriously! For geeks only. Name 3 things you can't live w/out ?
|
rokhayakebe
|
motivation, internet, music
|
Internet ready laptop/ Cellphone/Coffee. I can do anything with these 3 guys. I am D'Artagnan and they are my 3 Mousquetaires.
| 2 | 1 |
2007-08-08 17:07:55 UTC
|
40,564 | 40,256 |
hugh
|
This basically blows the Google calculator away
|
rms
|
Very nice. But it doesn't have one of my favourite google calculator features: built-in physical constants -- things like "speed of light", "electron mass", "permittivity of free space", "planck's constant" and so forth.I realize I'm in a bit of a niche here, but that's a very useful feature for me.
| null | 4 | 21 |
2007-08-08 17:12:01 UTC
|
40,569 | 35,015 |
mulcher
|
The Equity Equation
|
rams
|
Great article! Very informative.. I think you just improved my prospects by 10% and that advice was free!
| null | 23 | 72 |
2007-08-08 17:28:15 UTC
|
40,570 | 40,535 |
menloparkbum
|
Surviving in a Downturn
|
run4yourlives
|
These articles are poorly written, and the content is not only wrong, it is self contradictory. Paul Graham was right in suggesting that these articles are trolls. Sadly, I think it is a case where the author of the troll is sincere. The author describes three traits of businesses that will fail during a downturn: based on ad-based revenues, being fun or recreational, and being innovative. Earlier in the article he says: "Back when the sector was hit hard in 2000, there were companies that managed to survive and grow." It is interesting to note that one of those companies that managed to survive and grow during the last downturn was ad-based, innovative, and also could be considered "fun" and "recreational." Google, anyone?
| null | 1 | 6 |
2007-08-08 17:28:51 UTC
|
40,573 | 40,524 |
KB
|
Is a PMP valued in IT?
|
motivi
|
I've found that most IT managers consistently push certifications such as PMP and lead employees toward the path of management, because that is the same choice they made for themselves in the past.I actually started working on a Masters in Program Management with a goal of also becoming a PMP to compliment the degree. After 7 courses (about half way through), I came to the realization that this path was leading me right into IT management... Something I quickly realized I wanted no part of.I then shortly after jumped from IT to Software Engineering at my company and have become much more satisfied with my work responsibilities. Not to mention the ability to follow a technical career path, which doesn't exist in IT at my company. To date this has been the best decision I've made when it comes to my career. For me... technical is the way to go.
|
I see many people getting a PMP, is there market demand for it? Do startups look for PMP candidates? Do big companies hire PMPs? I have heard that a PMP in IT does not do as much a PMP in contruction. What do you think?
| 1 | 2 |
2007-08-08 17:38:40 UTC
|
40,580 | 40,565 |
waleedka
|
YC backed Disqus launches on VC Fred Wilson's blog (see comments)
|
paul
|
My first impression: it's a feature, not a product. But after a little digging, I like their concept. If they successfully build a cross-blog comments system with portable karma, they'll help Web conversations be smarter.
| null | 0 | 6 |
2007-08-08 17:51:13 UTC
|
40,583 | 40,222 |
SwellJoe
|
What language is the majority of startups using today?
|
rob
|
During WFP07 it looked something like this on the backend:45% Ruby (mostly RoR, but one might not have been using Rails)
30% PHP
15% Java
10% PerlAlmost all of the groups were heavily using JavaScript, as well. In fact, some of them were predominantly JavaScript with quite lightweight back-ends (Zenter and Weebly come to mind). Heysan were predominantly Flash at the time, but I believe they have a lot more PHP back-end code now.I don't believe there were any Python projects.
|
Based on what I can see, it looks like more and more people are switching to Python and Ruby from PHP.What's your startup using and your reason for choosing said language?
| 19 | 14 |
2007-08-08 17:53:03 UTC
|
40,592 | 40,576 |
tuukkah
|
Should I be concerned about putting my code on a 3rd party server?
|
gatorade
|
Don't worry, they probably couldn't understand the code anyway even if their ethics lapsed.
| null | 3 | 5 |
2007-08-08 18:32:24 UTC
|
40,593 | 40,524 |
nanijoe
|
Is a PMP valued in IT?
|
motivi
|
I actually have a PMP cert, but concluded a long time ago that I would rather watch grass grow, than do the work of a PMP.
Note that there is a difference between managing projects and working as a PMP.
|
I see many people getting a PMP, is there market demand for it? Do startups look for PMP candidates? Do big companies hire PMPs? I have heard that a PMP in IT does not do as much a PMP in contruction. What do you think?
| 2 | 2 |
2007-08-08 18:34:54 UTC
|
40,594 | 40,585 |
tuukkah
|
How would you approach this problem?
|
cellis
|
Step 1: Can you predict what someone's face will morph into with age?Step 2: Even if you can't, does the domain knowledge exist?Step 3: ???Step 4: Facebook app aka profit!
|
One of my extremely ambitious friends that is rather naive about software dev (but nonetheless wants to make tech money), asked me a question that tortures me to this day: can you build me [an application] that predicts what someones face will look like at 20...60,etc? And maybe its because I haven't had any AI classes yet, or just because I am not looking at this the right way...but it was very interesting to me. Wondering if anyone had an opinion?
| 6 | 3 |
2007-08-08 18:39:55 UTC
|
40,602 | 40,585 |
jsjenkins168
|
How would you approach this problem?
|
cellis
|
As cool as that might sound (and technical hurdles aside), you have to ask yourself, do users really want it? Maybe its just me but I dont think seeing what you look like as an old person is a burning desire that users need satisfied..
|
One of my extremely ambitious friends that is rather naive about software dev (but nonetheless wants to make tech money), asked me a question that tortures me to this day: can you build me [an application] that predicts what someones face will look like at 20...60,etc? And maybe its because I haven't had any AI classes yet, or just because I am not looking at this the right way...but it was very interesting to me. Wondering if anyone had an opinion?
| 5 | 3 |
2007-08-08 19:04:04 UTC
|
40,603 | 40,576 |
jsjenkins168
|
Should I be concerned about putting my code on a 3rd party server?
|
gatorade
|
Encrypt it. There are lots of open source programs that can do that for you. Even if they get a hold of the files they will be meaningless without your private key.
| null | 1 | 5 |
2007-08-08 19:08:06 UTC
|
40,606 | 40,256 |
mynameishere
|
This basically blows the Google calculator away
|
rms
|
If you can't tell me how many pints are in a cubic acre, then you can't tell me anything:http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=pints+per++cubic+ac...
| null | 8 | 21 |
2007-08-08 19:26:35 UTC
|
40,609 | 40,256 |
npk
|
This basically blows the Google calculator away
|
rms
|
Cool.1) You need more units! Especially physical units, erg, joule, etc.2) The interface is too slow on my mac camino browser. 3) Play a little with Frink. In terms of calculations, frink is awesome. However, the plotting and the shared aspect of instacalc is very cool... perhaps you can merge the two?
| null | 2 | 21 |
2007-08-08 19:44:51 UTC
|
40,610 | 40,472 |
terpua
|
Age and the entrepreneur, part 1: Some data
|
terpua
|
I think it comes down to passion, no matter the age.
| null | 7 | 40 |
2007-08-08 19:50:23 UTC
|
40,614 | 40,585 |
dpapathanasiou
|
How would you approach this problem?
|
cellis
|
Search for "Facial Image Morphing Algorithm" and check out some of the intro papers.
|
One of my extremely ambitious friends that is rather naive about software dev (but nonetheless wants to make tech money), asked me a question that tortures me to this day: can you build me [an application] that predicts what someones face will look like at 20...60,etc? And maybe its because I haven't had any AI classes yet, or just because I am not looking at this the right way...but it was very interesting to me. Wondering if anyone had an opinion?
| 1 | 3 |
2007-08-08 19:55:39 UTC
|
40,618 | 40,563 |
iamyoohoo
|
How to Hide Your Email Address from Spam Bots
|
donna
|
make it an image, use other encryption methods ...
| null | 0 | 2 |
2007-08-08 20:16:42 UTC
|
40,621 | 40,615 |
yubrew
|
Tandem Entrepreneurs -- seed investors
|
vegashacker
|
It would be nice to know more about their portfolio, such as the companies that have gotten funding from them and achieved a liquidity event.
| null | 3 | 18 |
2007-08-08 20:29:51 UTC
|
40,623 | 40,194 |
koolmoe
|
There's no one programmer who does the work of ten other programmers
|
papersmith
|
I like to think of programming like building a house of cards. A great card house builder would necessarily have ot take care building the foundation of his card house. In fact, he may require more time early on than an inferior builder.However, once the house of cards gets large enough, the great builder can build much faster than the inferior builder, not because the great builder is building any less carefully, but because the inferior builder must take more and more time to place each new card, perhaps even being forced to rebuild portions of the structure.At some point, the inferior builder can no longer extend his structure for fear of breaking large portions of his creation.As a result, the superior builder not only builds the higher levels faster, but he is able to reach levels that inferior builders can only aspire to reach.
| null | 2 | 18 |
2007-08-08 20:34:50 UTC
|
40,624 | 40,097 |
sbraford
|
Dot Bomb 2.0 is coming
|
run4yourlives
|
Lots of great stuff in this thread.Elephant in the room no one's talking about: almost everyone reading news.YC wants the market to remain as healthy (and bubbly, if you call it that) for as long as possible.In 1998, the voices of the naysayers were drowned out by the shouts of irrational exuberance. Still don't agree with the article's assessment -- but who wouldn't love to pull a Mark Cuban this go 'round?
| null | 6 | 13 |
2007-08-08 20:35:42 UTC
|
40,625 | 40,574 |
dawie
|
An example of Apple's latest Web2.0 app: Gallery viewer (best gallery so far?!)
|
nickb
|
Looks nice, clean and simple. Its slow as hell though...
| null | 0 | 5 |
2007-08-08 20:39:03 UTC
|
40,626 | 40,524 |
sbraford
|
Is a PMP valued in IT?
|
motivi
|
If you're a startup founder -- RUN, don't walk, from PMPs or any other type of overly-complex project management process.As a small team of 2-5, if you can't figure out how to ship code on your own, you're already in deep, deep trouble.Maybe when your team is 10-20 strong, bring in the project management gurus.
|
I see many people getting a PMP, is there market demand for it? Do startups look for PMP candidates? Do big companies hire PMPs? I have heard that a PMP in IT does not do as much a PMP in contruction. What do you think?
| 5 | 2 |
2007-08-08 20:39:12 UTC
|
40,627 | 40,615 |
vegashacker
|
Tandem Entrepreneurs -- seed investors
|
vegashacker
|
Their FAQ (http://www.tandementrepreneurs.com/html/how_we_work.html) says, "We typically invest $850,000 in a company over three stages."
| null | 4 | 18 |
2007-08-08 20:39:50 UTC
|
40,629 | 40,472 |
sbraford
|
Age and the entrepreneur, part 1: Some data
|
terpua
|
"If you want to increase your success rate, double your rate of failure."
- Thomas Watson (thought I heard it attributed to Edison as well)
| null | 2 | 40 |
2007-08-08 20:45:37 UTC
|
40,633 | 40,576 |
dfranke
|
Should I be concerned about putting my code on a 3rd party server?
|
gatorade
|
No. There are basically two parts to your code that you want to protect: the algorithms and the copyright. If your hosting provider's terms of service are anything resembling sane, then keeping your code on their site isn't doing anything to compromise the copyright, and anyone willing to steal your code outright in manner that violates the copyright isn't your competition.Most applications don't use or require any algorithms sufficiently innovative to be worth protecting. If you're in the minority, then you should be a lot more concerned about your former employees than your hosting provider. It might be worth getting a patent, but really the odds of having your ideas stolen by your hosting provider and then sold to competition and having this result in a meaningful loss to your company are probably orders of magnitude smaller than your odds of getting struck by lightning.
| null | 0 | 5 |
2007-08-08 21:08:17 UTC
|
40,640 | 40,576 |
blored
|
Should I be concerned about putting my code on a 3rd party server?
|
gatorade
|
Make sure to obfuscate your Javascript/CSS files.
| null | 4 | 5 |
2007-08-08 21:34:27 UTC
|
40,641 | 40,472 |
dfranke
|
Age and the entrepreneur, part 1: Some data
|
terpua
|
Conjecture: the fields with late peaks are those where success requires insightful planning and consideration, whereas the fields with early peaks are those which require discrete strokes of inspiration. The distinction between the two skills is similar to PG's description of the distinction between intelligence and wisdom.
| null | 6 | 40 |
2007-08-08 21:36:05 UTC
|
40,644 | 40,005 |
andyjenn
|
The Fuzzwich Cartoon Maker (yc summer 07)
|
dhouston
|
I bet Terry Gilliam wished this was invented years ago...
| null | 11 | 29 |
2007-08-08 21:46:47 UTC
|
40,646 | 40,462 |
brianmckenzie
|
21 Critical Life Lessons You Didn't Learn in School
|
vlad
|
I graduated seven years ago and my writing still suffers from bad habits I learned writing college papers.
| null | 2 | 19 |
2007-08-08 22:08:37 UTC
|
40,647 | 40,615 |
nickb
|
Tandem Entrepreneurs -- seed investors
|
vegashacker
|
Looks like they offer a lot of value. What percentage of the company do they take and what's the valuation they typically expect? Do they offer more money than YC?
| null | 5 | 18 |
2007-08-08 22:10:28 UTC
|
40,648 | 40,615 |
rms
|
Tandem Entrepreneurs -- seed investors
|
vegashacker
|
If only they did biotech...
| null | 7 | 18 |
2007-08-08 22:19:17 UTC
|
40,649 | 40,472 |
nostrademons
|
Age and the entrepreneur, part 1: Some data
|
terpua
|
I read an absolutely fascinating paper that suggested a further connection with crime: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/MES/pdf/JRP2003.pdf. Basically, the paper's thesis was that males are biologically driven to do extraordinary things when young in order to impress females. For people who have the ability, this can take the form of scientific achievement, or entrepreneurship, or arts or music. For people who don't have the ability to succeed in "socially acceptable" fields, it usually takes the form of crime. The age curves themselves look very similar, and they don't see similar distributions with females.After a man has children, the odds are significantly lower that he'll contribute some world-changing discovery. This is not because his ability level has decreased - Marc's article suggests that quality of work remains constant. Rather, it's because he has no reason to. He's already reproduced, and likely found a lifetime mate. His children's genetic legacy is set in stone. There's no reason for him to expend the extra energy needed to perform at the top of his game.Curiously, men that continue to produce at top-of-the-field levels also seem to have multiple successive wives/lovers. Look at Rudy Giuliani, Richard Feynman, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Graham, etc. Perhaps they remain geniuses because they see the reproductive game as not over yet, and hope to continue to impress younger, more beautiful women.
| null | 0 | 40 |
2007-08-08 22:19:30 UTC
|
40,657 | 40,651 |
rms
|
What artificial stimulants do you use?
|
ericc
|
In the way that caffeine is the socially accepted stimulant of the USA and coca leaf is the socially accepted stimulant in South America, Kratom is the stimulant of choice for workers in Southeast Asia. It is the leaf of a tree native to Thailand and is unfortunately illegal in Thailand.In small doses, it is stimulating in a very clean way that measurably increases focus. If you take too much caffeine, you get a headache and become anxious and jittery. If you take too much Kratom, it crosses over and hits the mu-opiate receptors which makes you happy in a very primal way and can also serve for creative stimulation, if so desired.It's 100% not illegal in the USA, not drug testable, and cheap. I import it from Indonesia and sell it at http://www.getkratom.com. Please don't order from me today because I'm out of stock but I expect a fresh shipment from Indonesia next week. Email me if you have any more questions about kratom or want me to tell you when I'm in stock and you can have the news.yc discount.
|
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine?
| 8 | 11 |
2007-08-08 22:32:05 UTC
|
40,658 | 40,651 |
blored
|
What artificial stimulants do you use?
|
ericc
|
Steroids, nothing but pure unadulterated 'roid.
|
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine?
| 6 | 11 |
2007-08-08 22:36:24 UTC
|
40,659 | 40,604 |
blored
|
Eric Schmidt Defines Web 3.0
|
mqt
|
Does anyone else think that he's starting to look like Bill Gates, literally.
| null | 0 | 2 |
2007-08-08 22:36:59 UTC
|
40,660 | 40,651 |
henryw
|
What artificial stimulants do you use?
|
ericc
|
Power naps and sleep that's longer than 6 hours.
|
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine?
| 5 | 11 |
2007-08-08 22:39:12 UTC
|
40,661 | 40,585 |
dazzawazza
|
How would you approach this problem?
|
cellis
|
I've worked with the facegen library in a past life to create faces of various races and ages. They use a statistical model to create faces. There is also a Russian company whose name escapes me atm that also use a statistical model to generate faces. You could approach them to license their data.
|
One of my extremely ambitious friends that is rather naive about software dev (but nonetheless wants to make tech money), asked me a question that tortures me to this day: can you build me [an application] that predicts what someones face will look like at 20...60,etc? And maybe its because I haven't had any AI classes yet, or just because I am not looking at this the right way...but it was very interesting to me. Wondering if anyone had an opinion?
| 4 | 3 |
2007-08-08 22:39:51 UTC
|
40,663 | 40,651 |
randallsquared
|
What artificial stimulants do you use?
|
ericc
|
I used to be a caffeine junkie. Weirdly, however, after hitting a rough patch this year and deciding that I couldn't afford 4 2L bottles a day any more, I found that I was no less productive without it, and I'm far less anxious. I have an occasional caffeinated soft drink or green tea, still, but the non-stop highly-caffeinated Randall days are no more.
|
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine?
| 2 | 11 |
2007-08-08 22:47:59 UTC
|
40,666 | 40,616 |
blored
|
Raising Money, Some Data and Tactical Advice, Letters to Graduating YC Companies, Letter 2
|
adamsmith
|
Adam, why is it bad to raise more than 10x your last round.
| null | 0 | 19 |
2007-08-08 22:55:06 UTC
|
40,667 | 40,651 |
german
|
What artificial stimulants do you use?
|
ericc
|
Redbull ;)
|
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine?
| 23 | 11 |
2007-08-08 22:55:35 UTC
|
40,668 | 40,615 |
myoung8
|
Tandem Entrepreneurs -- seed investors
|
vegashacker
|
Without saying it on their website, Tandem is just another incubator. I would be skeptical of this type of setup. A friend of mine has dealt with a similar company in Mountain View that shall remain nameless. At first things were going well, then they wanted to outsource the development to India, then they wanted to take 50% of the company. Needless to say he didn't sign with them.Not all incubators are bad (YC, obviously, isn't), but the bottom line is don't get caught up when numbers with a bunch of zeros on the end get tossed around. Think hard about their value proposition. If they even mention outsourcing the development, just walk away.
| null | 1 | 18 |
2007-08-08 22:56:23 UTC
|
40,671 | 40,655 |
myoung8
|
Seeking partner for game development
|
dcbrandao
|
dude, please change the color scheme on your site, i got a headache trying to read it. white on black doesn't work. try #F6F6F6 on #333 if you must have a dark background.good luck with finding a partner. have you heard of kongregate? might want to check them out if you haven't...
| null | 2 | 4 |
2007-08-08 23:00:29 UTC
|
40,673 | 40,651 |
aswanson
|
What artificial stimulants do you use?
|
ericc
|
Music.
|
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine?
| 22 | 11 |
2007-08-08 23:00:46 UTC
|
40,674 | 40,005 |
blored
|
The Fuzzwich Cartoon Maker (yc summer 07)
|
dhouston
|
Cool name, Fuzzwich. Where is it from? I'll buy a beer for the guy who invented it, if I ever meet him I like it so much. FUZZWICH.
| null | 8 | 29 |
2007-08-08 23:01:40 UTC
|
40,675 | 40,651 |
horatio05
|
What artificial stimulants do you use?
|
ericc
|
In Argentina they drink Matte, a substance which consists of what looks like leaves and twigs dug up from the Pampas. I believe they also eat tremendous quantities of beef... though that may not help with staying awake.
|
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine?
| 16 | 11 |
2007-08-08 23:02:48 UTC
|
40,676 | 40,651 |
mnemonicsloth
|
What artificial stimulants do you use?
|
ericc
|
Amphetamines.Good enough for Erdos, Good enough for me. Of course, stark terror of politically-motivated violence works even better (cf. career of Leonhard Euler).
|
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine?
| 3 | 11 |
2007-08-08 23:02:51 UTC
|
40,677 | 40,651 |
alex_c
|
What artificial stimulants do you use?
|
ericc
|
Water. Lots and lots of water. Also has the advantage that it forces me to get up and move regularly - what goes in must come out.Other than that, good music can get me "in the zone".I've only ever really drank coffee out of boredom, or socially... ("want to go for a coffee break?" "sure, it means avoiding work for half an hour!")
|
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine?
| 1 | 11 |
2007-08-08 23:06:43 UTC
|
40,678 | 40,651 |
nurall
|
What artificial stimulants do you use?
|
ericc
|
I am surprised nobody is talking abt good 'ol weed!! Don't you reach the peak of creativity under the influence?
|
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine?
| 19 | 11 |
2007-08-08 23:06:50 UTC
|
40,682 | 40,651 |
brianmckenzie
|
What artificial stimulants do you use?
|
ericc
|
Coffee, but just one really big cup when I wake up. I'm a few-months-on, few-months-off smoker, but hopefully will give it up entirely. Although many disagree, I think that coding on a nice three-beer buzz is a blast. That's as far as I'm personally willing to go, but I've worked at places where the IT department was better stocked than the Mexican mafia.
|
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine?
| 12 | 11 |
2007-08-08 23:12:20 UTC
|
40,683 | 40,651 |
jsjenkins168
|
What artificial stimulants do you use?
|
ericc
|
It may sound stupid, but eat plenty of fish. Omega-3 fatty acids (in fish) have been shown to boost mood and concentration, among other things. I can attest to that.But fish is expensive so just buy the pills at Walmart..
|
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine?
| 7 | 11 |
2007-08-08 23:17:36 UTC
|
40,686 | 40,651 |
bjclark
|
What artificial stimulants do you use?
|
ericc
|
I'm on a strict regimen of EPO and Hemoglobin blood transfusions, but that's for cycling, not coding.
|
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine?
| 15 | 11 |
2007-08-08 23:50:41 UTC
|
40,689 | 40,651 |
weber
|
What artificial stimulants do you use?
|
ericc
|
In Brazil we drink "Matte" as well but for me its more for the taste (and for the heating effect on the winter) than for the effect.On my cubicle we share a 2L Coca Cola at 4 pm. It helps a lot in raising moral.
|
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine?
| 17 | 11 |
2007-08-09 00:12:37 UTC
|
40,693 | 40,651 |
weber
|
What artificial stimulants do you use?
|
ericc
|
Kratom guy: it's really funny the way you guys have to sell your stuff. Another site sells "Kratom Incense Capsules"....When I open your site and see that bunch of green stuff for sale, it just looks like weed has another name now.
|
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine?
| 9 | 11 |
2007-08-09 00:18:27 UTC
|
40,695 | 40,208 |
frankus
|
Startup Visas..?
|
bluishgreen
|
Can you give more details on getting a visa to start a startup in Canada?I have a potential co-founder just across the border in Vancouver, but I was under the impression that you need a whole heap of money to get in as an entrepreneur. Or would you go in under the skilled worker program (er, programme)?
|
I started a discussion here about how to get into proper visa status to start companies in the US. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3531After much research I have concluded that the situation in the US is too grim.For eg. It takes upto 8 years for certain nationals to get a residential visa. And in that time you are not supposed to change the big company job you are holding. If you do, the clock starts again. If you want a better idea follow this link: http://immigrationvoice.org/index.php?option=com_content&...Anyway, the point of this post is that I wanted to point out that Canada is so much more welcoming. You get a residential visa without even having to hold a job in 1.5 years, and the process is deterministic. And once in Canada you can immediately incorporate. 3 years of staying in Canada will earn you a Canadian passport again by a deterministic process. Apart from nice health care, with the Canadian passport you can enter and exit US without having to apply for a visa.(This is important for me, since many of my friends are here.)This recent post here about Vancouver is very encouraging. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40054Silicon valley is the best as pg has pointed out in many of his essays. But it is hard for aliens to maintain visa status in the US. I might not be seeing potential problems with Canada. If you understand things better, please leave a comment here.Thanks,
bluishgreen.
| 3 | 21 |
2007-08-09 00:24:47 UTC
|
40,697 | 39,611 |
knewjax
|
Nah Seriously! Who designs the YC startups websites? Loving it.
|
rokhayakebe
|
If your are not a designer stay simple. Everyone can respect minimalism. Especially in a beta product. Some of the best designers in the world are known for their use of "white space". Dont kill a good product with overdone bad design.
|
Really guys, how do you come up with such designs?
| 3 | 26 |
2007-08-09 00:37:17 UTC
|
40,698 | 40,615 |
vlad
|
Tandem Entrepreneurs -- seed investors
|
vegashacker
|
Everything they said was nice until I went to their application and read this:"Tandem backs existing and potential founders who combine strong technical abilities with a keen understanding of their users and a deep passion and energy for building services for fast-growing business or consumer communities."What the hell is that?
| null | 6 | 18 |
2007-08-09 00:38:35 UTC
|
40,700 | 40,690 |
rms
|
Your issues with...
|
kyro
|
1. Not really, but it's endlessly entertaining and sometimes even useful. I haven't made any meaningful new connections though recently I got accidentally friended by a private equity guy who gave me a little advice for my companies.
The only issue I've seen come up repeatedly is when relationship breakups hit the mini-feed with the little broken heart icon. The real-timeness of this is a bit much for some people.2. I tried Joost a while ago and there wasn't much that seemed worth watching. Usually I browse http://www.videosift.com which is a digg like site for online video. It's mostly limited to short clips and a few longer videos that no one reports to Google for deletion. Joox.net is also outright amazing but you need to install a plugin (seamless install in Firefox)3. As the community gets bigger news has to start appealing to the lowest common denominator. see http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40284
|
So, I have several ideas that have been brewing in my cerebral hemispheres for a while now. However, I am trying to develop them into more complete and though out ones. In doing so, I have been asking people a whole slew of questions trying to pry out issues and problems they've been facing with existing services, so that I may capitalize on such issues and use them in developing my ideas. I thought I'd do the same here, seeing as you guys are a helpful, critical, and insightful bunch.And here we go. What are your issues with...1. Facebook - more speficially, do you feel that the connections you make are meaningful. Does it help you create stronger ties with existing friends? Any issues with it's tendency to expose everything out in the open? etc.2. Internet TV - Why don't you watch it? Does it focus on the wrong content? What would make you watch it? etc.3. Getting your online news - Let's face it, Digg now is crap. I know many people will agree with that. It's crapiness isn't exclusive to Digg alone, but has spread to similar services. What do you hate about it, what would you fix? I also believe that news.yc is a great source of info. What do you like about it? Anything you'd add/change?I have more questions, but this seems like a bit much already.Thanks to all who contribute.
| 2 | 9 |
2007-08-09 00:45:04 UTC
|
40,703 | 40,585 |
ivankirigin
|
How would you approach this problem?
|
cellis
|
Yes, you can predict it. A number of game engines have face aging techniques. Those are fairly advanced. Generally, the bone structure does not change, but the cartilage expands (ears and faces never stop growing) and skin sags. Deterioration of skin with liver spots, increased transparency, etc. are fairly well known.This doesn't sound like a very compelling business, but it could be fun.
|
One of my extremely ambitious friends that is rather naive about software dev (but nonetheless wants to make tech money), asked me a question that tortures me to this day: can you build me [an application] that predicts what someones face will look like at 20...60,etc? And maybe its because I haven't had any AI classes yet, or just because I am not looking at this the right way...but it was very interesting to me. Wondering if anyone had an opinion?
| 3 | 3 |
2007-08-09 00:49:16 UTC
|
40,704 | 40,702 |
vlad
|
The Best Venture Capital Advice I've Ever Seen
|
vlad
|
Examples:- The top goal of talking to VCs is getting to a quick no.- Demos are not a requirement - the potential investors can visualize the product. - Don't go to investors too early. You only get a few chances at that first impression. - Raising money is a numbers game - Will visited over 60 VCs; Cisco, Intuit 50+, etc.
| null | 0 | 4 |
2007-08-09 00:50:48 UTC
|
40,706 | 40,690 |
vlad
|
Your issues with...
|
kyro
|
I don't think you're asking the right questions.- What motivates you?- Can you do something that will help you in multiple ways (fun? learning? curiosity? creativity? potential for money to continue doing this forever?) and also will help the world as well?- What would you be working on right now regardless of chances of getting funding if you didn't need to work for someone else?- What would you like to learn about that you think will help you in the future (e.g. web apps, not COBOL) regardless of whether you succeed or not?Then just create small projects and ask people to use them.
|
So, I have several ideas that have been brewing in my cerebral hemispheres for a while now. However, I am trying to develop them into more complete and though out ones. In doing so, I have been asking people a whole slew of questions trying to pry out issues and problems they've been facing with existing services, so that I may capitalize on such issues and use them in developing my ideas. I thought I'd do the same here, seeing as you guys are a helpful, critical, and insightful bunch.And here we go. What are your issues with...1. Facebook - more speficially, do you feel that the connections you make are meaningful. Does it help you create stronger ties with existing friends? Any issues with it's tendency to expose everything out in the open? etc.2. Internet TV - Why don't you watch it? Does it focus on the wrong content? What would make you watch it? etc.3. Getting your online news - Let's face it, Digg now is crap. I know many people will agree with that. It's crapiness isn't exclusive to Digg alone, but has spread to similar services. What do you hate about it, what would you fix? I also believe that news.yc is a great source of info. What do you like about it? Anything you'd add/change?I have more questions, but this seems like a bit much already.Thanks to all who contribute.
| 13 | 9 |
2007-08-09 00:56:39 UTC
|
40,708 | 40,690 |
paulgb
|
Your issues with...
|
kyro
|
1. Facebook - No, I don't feel the connections I make are meaningful. It is useful to talk to people I otherwise wouldn't, but I rarely do that either. The group and event organization are the most useful features to me, because they are really the only features that couldn't be replaced with email or IM.2. Internet TV - My first thought was, "there is such a thing?" Most of the stations (eg. NBC) block non-US IPs from watching their online programming, so I guess am missing out on that. I almost never watch TV, but there are a few shows I do enjoy, and I would much rather watch them on my own time than when they air. And I would gladly pay a small amount of money to do away with the ads, even if it meant the video file could only be watched once.3. News.YC is great, partly because it is small.
|
So, I have several ideas that have been brewing in my cerebral hemispheres for a while now. However, I am trying to develop them into more complete and though out ones. In doing so, I have been asking people a whole slew of questions trying to pry out issues and problems they've been facing with existing services, so that I may capitalize on such issues and use them in developing my ideas. I thought I'd do the same here, seeing as you guys are a helpful, critical, and insightful bunch.And here we go. What are your issues with...1. Facebook - more speficially, do you feel that the connections you make are meaningful. Does it help you create stronger ties with existing friends? Any issues with it's tendency to expose everything out in the open? etc.2. Internet TV - Why don't you watch it? Does it focus on the wrong content? What would make you watch it? etc.3. Getting your online news - Let's face it, Digg now is crap. I know many people will agree with that. It's crapiness isn't exclusive to Digg alone, but has spread to similar services. What do you hate about it, what would you fix? I also believe that news.yc is a great source of info. What do you like about it? Anything you'd add/change?I have more questions, but this seems like a bit much already.Thanks to all who contribute.
| 5 | 9 |
2007-08-09 01:00:07 UTC
|
40,709 | 40,651 |
vlad
|
What artificial stimulants do you use?
|
ericc
|
Artificial light.
|
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine?
| 13 | 11 |
2007-08-09 01:03:01 UTC
|
40,710 | 40,690 |
ph0rque
|
Your issues with...
|
kyro
|
1. Facebook lets me keep in touch with friends that I would otherwise never think about or remember. Right now, this is my only "serious" use for it.2. I guess internet spoiled by letting me be an active participant (i.e. reading and commenting on news). I actually find TV to be boring if not done as a social activity: going out with friends to see a movie, for example.3. Reddit, news.YC, and smaller niche sites (Center for Responsible Nanotechnology) do it for me.
|
So, I have several ideas that have been brewing in my cerebral hemispheres for a while now. However, I am trying to develop them into more complete and though out ones. In doing so, I have been asking people a whole slew of questions trying to pry out issues and problems they've been facing with existing services, so that I may capitalize on such issues and use them in developing my ideas. I thought I'd do the same here, seeing as you guys are a helpful, critical, and insightful bunch.And here we go. What are your issues with...1. Facebook - more speficially, do you feel that the connections you make are meaningful. Does it help you create stronger ties with existing friends? Any issues with it's tendency to expose everything out in the open? etc.2. Internet TV - Why don't you watch it? Does it focus on the wrong content? What would make you watch it? etc.3. Getting your online news - Let's face it, Digg now is crap. I know many people will agree with that. It's crapiness isn't exclusive to Digg alone, but has spread to similar services. What do you hate about it, what would you fix? I also believe that news.yc is a great source of info. What do you like about it? Anything you'd add/change?I have more questions, but this seems like a bit much already.Thanks to all who contribute.
| 14 | 9 |
2007-08-09 01:07:00 UTC
|
40,712 | 40,651 |
jmzachary
|
What artificial stimulants do you use?
|
ericc
|
PCP when coding Python and schrooms when hacking LISP.What kind of question is that and what kind of answers are you expecting?(p.s. Wine is neither artificial nor a stimulant.)
|
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine?
| 0 | 11 |
2007-08-09 01:10:45 UTC
|
40,717 | 40,690 |
jraines
|
Your issues with...
|
kyro
|
1. My issue with facebook is that I feel bad rejecting requests to add friends, invitations to events, and applications I don't want. And yes, I know this is lame. I am actually thinking of nixing my account and just going back to blogging as my online outlet/identity/whatever. And no, I don't think the connections have been that valuable. To me, IM was/is a better social networking tool. Wow, I just sounded like an old fart to myself, at 24. I guess if you use facebook with intention, it's a good tool, but as a "destination" it's just become full of noise.2. Nope. I might start watching videos of DIY stuff, but that's about it. I just cut off my cable I don't want to just replace it with online spectation.3. A half-dozen RSS feeds in Google Reader, all blogs as opposed to general news. I scan digg, slashdot, and reddit but rarely click through any links anymore (thank god reddit wasn't around in '04 or I would've been just like the people spamming it up with political outrage now). Not much I'd change about news.yc, in fact I'm kind of obsessed by the simplicity of its UI, and have enjoyed the quality. I hope the specificity of the topic will limit the dilution seen at the general news sites.
|
So, I have several ideas that have been brewing in my cerebral hemispheres for a while now. However, I am trying to develop them into more complete and though out ones. In doing so, I have been asking people a whole slew of questions trying to pry out issues and problems they've been facing with existing services, so that I may capitalize on such issues and use them in developing my ideas. I thought I'd do the same here, seeing as you guys are a helpful, critical, and insightful bunch.And here we go. What are your issues with...1. Facebook - more speficially, do you feel that the connections you make are meaningful. Does it help you create stronger ties with existing friends? Any issues with it's tendency to expose everything out in the open? etc.2. Internet TV - Why don't you watch it? Does it focus on the wrong content? What would make you watch it? etc.3. Getting your online news - Let's face it, Digg now is crap. I know many people will agree with that. It's crapiness isn't exclusive to Digg alone, but has spread to similar services. What do you hate about it, what would you fix? I also believe that news.yc is a great source of info. What do you like about it? Anything you'd add/change?I have more questions, but this seems like a bit much already.Thanks to all who contribute.
| 4 | 9 |
2007-08-09 01:27:14 UTC
|
40,718 | 40,585 |
staunch
|
How would you approach this problem?
|
cellis
|
Just require pictures of the person and their parents, then morph them together more and more to show aging. It would be far from exact, but plenty good enough for a popular Facebook app. You can send me my royalties c/o news.yc.
|
One of my extremely ambitious friends that is rather naive about software dev (but nonetheless wants to make tech money), asked me a question that tortures me to this day: can you build me [an application] that predicts what someones face will look like at 20...60,etc? And maybe its because I haven't had any AI classes yet, or just because I am not looking at this the right way...but it was very interesting to me. Wondering if anyone had an opinion?
| 0 | 3 |
2007-08-09 01:29:51 UTC
|
40,719 | 40,256 |
weber
|
This basically blows the Google calculator away
|
rms
|
if you become a millionaire with this calculator i will cut my wrists :)
| null | 9 | 21 |
2007-08-09 01:39:04 UTC
|
40,720 | 40,690 |
brianmckenzie
|
Your issues with...
|
kyro
|
1. Facebook is pretty solid, and I think its openness is one of its major strengths. It does strengthen my existing friendships, and I've made some new friends on there as well. With the new apps coming out, it seems like the sky is the limit. The only thing I dislike about it is the design - it is very usable, which is priority #1, but otherwise so-so. I especially hate the offset-header thing they do, it makes me feel as if something is missing/broken. Many of the apps are counterintuitive or obnoxious. I hope people aren't getting mad at me for ignoring their zombie invitations.2. There is a lot of weakness here, which seems odd considering the obviousness of the solution: I should be able to watch any TV show from any network I want, whenever I want. I should be able to pay 50 cents to get rid of the ads or something, or just run the ads outside of the shows entirely. In addition, when I go to a network site the landing page should be a video player playing whatever is being broadcast in my time zone at that moment. 1) Put TV on the internet. How hard can that be? 2) Make it random-access. 3) Have all the shows on there, past and present.3. Online news is even weaker than online TV, if that's possible. I'd rather bathe in motor oil than read the comments on Digg or Newsvine. There does seem to be a correlation between how long a news site has been around and how badly it sucks. Could a million bored secretaries flaming randomly eventually reproduce the works of Shakespeare? I don't know, but they're giving it their best shot.I'm going to say something heretical here: social news is a lousy idea unless a narrow focus is maintained, like news.yc. I read news looking for insights that I as an average American cannot reach on my own. The commentary of millions of other average Americans adds NOTHING - in fact, it's a negative value proposition. The solution, if you agree with me that news should provide insight, is exceptional reporting, top-notch writing, and a variety of ideological viewpoints. You aren't going to get that stuff from the internet masses.That being said, I do like very focused social news sites like news.yc. Then again, you guys aren't a bunch of 'average Americans'.
|
So, I have several ideas that have been brewing in my cerebral hemispheres for a while now. However, I am trying to develop them into more complete and though out ones. In doing so, I have been asking people a whole slew of questions trying to pry out issues and problems they've been facing with existing services, so that I may capitalize on such issues and use them in developing my ideas. I thought I'd do the same here, seeing as you guys are a helpful, critical, and insightful bunch.And here we go. What are your issues with...1. Facebook - more speficially, do you feel that the connections you make are meaningful. Does it help you create stronger ties with existing friends? Any issues with it's tendency to expose everything out in the open? etc.2. Internet TV - Why don't you watch it? Does it focus on the wrong content? What would make you watch it? etc.3. Getting your online news - Let's face it, Digg now is crap. I know many people will agree with that. It's crapiness isn't exclusive to Digg alone, but has spread to similar services. What do you hate about it, what would you fix? I also believe that news.yc is a great source of info. What do you like about it? Anything you'd add/change?I have more questions, but this seems like a bit much already.Thanks to all who contribute.
| 3 | 9 |
2007-08-09 01:39:11 UTC
|
40,724 | 40,585 |
whacked_new
|
How would you approach this problem?
|
cellis
|
It just hit me that you could also look into face averaging, and make a fantasy application that would "beautify me." Then you could use faces of other races, eye colors, hairstyles etc. It wouldn't involve as much morph algorithm development as merging of layers and transparencies after finding key points. Then you could pitch it to, I dunno, plastic surgeons, hair stylists, or contact lens makers.I have the impression that a person nearing 30 is less likely to want to know how they would look old, than how they would look pretty, artificially or not.
|
One of my extremely ambitious friends that is rather naive about software dev (but nonetheless wants to make tech money), asked me a question that tortures me to this day: can you build me [an application] that predicts what someones face will look like at 20...60,etc? And maybe its because I haven't had any AI classes yet, or just because I am not looking at this the right way...but it was very interesting to me. Wondering if anyone had an opinion?
| 2 | 3 |
2007-08-09 01:55:06 UTC
|
40,726 | 40,651 |
omouse
|
What artificial stimulants do you use?
|
ericc
|
You don't need any god damn thing for creative stimulation. If you can't get yourself creative, drugs, booze, whatever isn't going to help.
|
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine?
| 11 | 11 |
2007-08-09 01:59:52 UTC
|
40,729 | 40,690 |
morselsrule
|
Your issues with...
|
kyro
|
1) Facebook is useful to me in order to a) always have up to date contact information b) have a central place where I can browse photos and c) have a quick introduction to new people that I friend, and see what they are into d) and keep tabs on what all my weak connections are up to. I don't have any major issues with Facebook.2) I'm selective about what I watch, so I don't browse YouTube. I watch the Daily Show and selected PBS documentaries online. Occaisionally I rent a movie from Amazon Unbox, but the selection is terrible. I use NetFlix to watch old The Wire and West Wing episodes. I wish I could watch those shows online, but they are not available.3) I wish there was a small niche news site for thoughtful political commentary and policy analysis (as opposed to the endless ranting on reddit). New.ycombinator and programming.reddit.com are great for my programming, business, and startup news.
|
So, I have several ideas that have been brewing in my cerebral hemispheres for a while now. However, I am trying to develop them into more complete and though out ones. In doing so, I have been asking people a whole slew of questions trying to pry out issues and problems they've been facing with existing services, so that I may capitalize on such issues and use them in developing my ideas. I thought I'd do the same here, seeing as you guys are a helpful, critical, and insightful bunch.And here we go. What are your issues with...1. Facebook - more speficially, do you feel that the connections you make are meaningful. Does it help you create stronger ties with existing friends? Any issues with it's tendency to expose everything out in the open? etc.2. Internet TV - Why don't you watch it? Does it focus on the wrong content? What would make you watch it? etc.3. Getting your online news - Let's face it, Digg now is crap. I know many people will agree with that. It's crapiness isn't exclusive to Digg alone, but has spread to similar services. What do you hate about it, what would you fix? I also believe that news.yc is a great source of info. What do you like about it? Anything you'd add/change?I have more questions, but this seems like a bit much already.Thanks to all who contribute.
| 8 | 9 |
2007-08-09 02:22:17 UTC
|
40,736 | 40,690 |
henning
|
Your issues with...
|
kyro
|
I'm trying to come to grips with the fact that interesting new stuff on the Internet doesn't come around every 5 minutes.Every 3 months, yeah, but after 10 years of browsing the Internet for several hours a day, I think I've seen most of the interesting stuff. "Dude, I beat the Internet, the boss at the end was hard as hell."
|
So, I have several ideas that have been brewing in my cerebral hemispheres for a while now. However, I am trying to develop them into more complete and though out ones. In doing so, I have been asking people a whole slew of questions trying to pry out issues and problems they've been facing with existing services, so that I may capitalize on such issues and use them in developing my ideas. I thought I'd do the same here, seeing as you guys are a helpful, critical, and insightful bunch.And here we go. What are your issues with...1. Facebook - more speficially, do you feel that the connections you make are meaningful. Does it help you create stronger ties with existing friends? Any issues with it's tendency to expose everything out in the open? etc.2. Internet TV - Why don't you watch it? Does it focus on the wrong content? What would make you watch it? etc.3. Getting your online news - Let's face it, Digg now is crap. I know many people will agree with that. It's crapiness isn't exclusive to Digg alone, but has spread to similar services. What do you hate about it, what would you fix? I also believe that news.yc is a great source of info. What do you like about it? Anything you'd add/change?I have more questions, but this seems like a bit much already.Thanks to all who contribute.
| 12 | 9 |
2007-08-09 02:53:32 UTC
|
40,737 | 40,690 |
whacked_new
|
Your issues with...
|
kyro
|
I remember you kyro. Have you gotten started on something? I think many of your questions would answer themselves one way or another after you start designing. But I'll take a stab. I'll skip 2 because I don't watch so much TV, reason being that in most cases, reading is the fastest way of absorbing information.1. of course they are meaningful, because I know the people. The ties they create are digital. For those that bond with their friends online, FB facilitates it. For those that don't there's no difference (I'm in this group). I don't expose much of myself nor edit my profile much because I don't think it's worth the effort.3. This problem I'm particularly interested in.
The idea that services like these attract the LCD is a result of their design and not of operation. I think it is possible to circumvent this problem, but you must change the design concept.I recently attended the Wikimania conference and they talked about the absurd complexity of the rules now applied to Wikipedia. The oldies were talking about "back in the day" just like the old diggers. Spawning a new Wikipedia-like system isn't going to work; Citizendium is not the answer. You can spawn a new digg and it would still face the same problems. You can talk about spawning a new news.yc for non-startup content, and assuming it gets popular, it would still run into quality control problems. Plus, pg has a sizeable following, but there is only one of him: unless he clones himself for the new site, or creates a different system, his divested energy will result in one being less active than the other.A community news site that handles 10K users isn't going to handle 1M users similarly just by scaling the system or by implementing friends and leaders. There's that rule of 150 written in the Tipping Point book that says any group exceeding about 150 members will become difficult to manage(I shouldn't cite Gladwell but it's not an unfounded idea). A site of thousands of active members will, of course, run into management problems, but with a 10:90 active:lurker ratio, it works ok when your site has up to perhaps 20k users before you see any substantial, visible change in focus. Since not every user is active at the same time of day, you can increase the size of the virtual community, perhaps to something like 300 core members before the content changes dramatically.I don't know digg's numbers, but taking wikipedia as an example, with thousands of active editors, of course you will run into problems! And they think it's a result of lack of consensus over what is acceptible behavior or something.Seems pretty obvious to me, and I welcome challengers. When I said this at the conference nobody seemed to buy it though.
|
So, I have several ideas that have been brewing in my cerebral hemispheres for a while now. However, I am trying to develop them into more complete and though out ones. In doing so, I have been asking people a whole slew of questions trying to pry out issues and problems they've been facing with existing services, so that I may capitalize on such issues and use them in developing my ideas. I thought I'd do the same here, seeing as you guys are a helpful, critical, and insightful bunch.And here we go. What are your issues with...1. Facebook - more speficially, do you feel that the connections you make are meaningful. Does it help you create stronger ties with existing friends? Any issues with it's tendency to expose everything out in the open? etc.2. Internet TV - Why don't you watch it? Does it focus on the wrong content? What would make you watch it? etc.3. Getting your online news - Let's face it, Digg now is crap. I know many people will agree with that. It's crapiness isn't exclusive to Digg alone, but has spread to similar services. What do you hate about it, what would you fix? I also believe that news.yc is a great source of info. What do you like about it? Anything you'd add/change?I have more questions, but this seems like a bit much already.Thanks to all who contribute.
| 1 | 9 |
2007-08-09 02:55:35 UTC
|
40,739 | 40,715 |
palish
|
Widescreen monitor for development
|
SimJapan2005
|
My Inspiron E1705's 1920x1200 screen. I'll be moving to a MacBook eventually, though.
|
What's for you the best widescreen monitor for development use?
| 0 | 1 |
2007-08-09 03:08:03 UTC
|
40,741 | 40,655 |
palish
|
Seeking partner for game development
|
dcbrandao
|
That's a genius way to make a pitch to hire someone, and a great twist on Tetris, but it takes a long time to get to the whole pitch. :)
| null | 1 | 4 |
2007-08-09 03:25:50 UTC
|
40,744 | 40,740 |
palish
|
Stop it. Stop it right now.
|
nickb
|
The title is the most important part of anything that needs a title.
| null | 2 | 3 |
2007-08-09 03:27:19 UTC
|
40,746 | 40,690 |
daniel-cussen
|
Your issues with...
|
kyro
|
1. When I first logged on to facebook, it asked me something about my email contacts. I just said ok. Next thing I know all these random high school classmates who I have no interest in ever seeing ever again become my "friends". All I want is to have an easy way to cut them out of my life without pissing them off. I'm talking about a way of getting rid of "friends" without insulting them...perhaps they could stop seeing the updates to your profile. However, I don't mind the loss of privacy as much as having these spammy "friends" clogging my profile and showing up all over the interface...2. I do watch. I watch Internet TV but not regular TV, mostly because it means I can watch any chapter of futurama I want whenever I want. I see two banner ads that probably slow me down 1 second 10% of the time---this is infinitely preferable to trudging through eight minutes of ads for every twenty-two of content. I watch stuff at tv-links.co.uk. Of course, I wish I didn't watch Internet TV at all because I think watching TV is bad in principle.3. news.yc is just fine.
|
So, I have several ideas that have been brewing in my cerebral hemispheres for a while now. However, I am trying to develop them into more complete and though out ones. In doing so, I have been asking people a whole slew of questions trying to pry out issues and problems they've been facing with existing services, so that I may capitalize on such issues and use them in developing my ideas. I thought I'd do the same here, seeing as you guys are a helpful, critical, and insightful bunch.And here we go. What are your issues with...1. Facebook - more speficially, do you feel that the connections you make are meaningful. Does it help you create stronger ties with existing friends? Any issues with it's tendency to expose everything out in the open? etc.2. Internet TV - Why don't you watch it? Does it focus on the wrong content? What would make you watch it? etc.3. Getting your online news - Let's face it, Digg now is crap. I know many people will agree with that. It's crapiness isn't exclusive to Digg alone, but has spread to similar services. What do you hate about it, what would you fix? I also believe that news.yc is a great source of info. What do you like about it? Anything you'd add/change?I have more questions, but this seems like a bit much already.Thanks to all who contribute.
| 7 | 9 |
2007-08-09 03:38:50 UTC
|
40,748 | 40,738 |
sherman
|
Ask News.YC: Do you prefer to hack in darkness or in the light?
|
palish
|
In the light, but when it's dark outside. When it's dark inside, the brightness from the monitor gives me a headache.
| null | 2 | 2 |
2007-08-09 03:41:50 UTC
|
40,750 | 40,615 |
DougR
|
Tandem Entrepreneurs -- seed investors
|
vegashacker
|
I'm one of the guys at Tandem and am glad to see the discussion here. As some posts have pointed out, we explain our approach in detail on our site: http://www.tandementrepreneurs.com. To clarify things a bit more...1. We're not a VC. We're all entrepreneurs and love building businesses. We put in our sweat first and foremost and happen to invest sufficient capital as well. We only invest our time and money where we can add value.
2. We offer deep business development and technical skills and an extensive network. We work as the extended team so the startup can stay small but still have the right quality and quantity of talent.3. We love the YC approach of supporting entrepreneurs and drew inspiration from their model. That being said, there are some key differences. Namely, we get actively involved in each business. We invest funds to carry the company for two years to a potential exit or to a high growth trajectory. And, like YC, we leave open the possibility of a small, early acquisition as exit. As we all know, this is a likely outcome these days, even though the VCs don't like them.4. Because of our involvement we can get involved with founders whose plans are still nascent, and sometimes we'll help put founders together on a business. To us the entrepreneurs are more important than the idea itself.5. We typically look for technical founders who have a knack for understanding what their users want and then delivering it quickly. We don't encourage outsourcing development unless it's just for commodity components of the overall service.6. We don't consider anyone a "reject" because a fund passed them by. We'll evaluate each team and business on its own merits and go for it if we like the people, think we can add a lot of value, and believe we can build a valuable business together. Obviously, each group of founders has to decide the same on its side.7. Tandem is brand new, but we have a lot of experience at building startups. We've made two investments thus far and with three principals only plan to do about 6 per year. In many ways, Tandem is a startup itself in that we're breaking the traditional model, having a blast, taking encouragement and support with open arms, and proceeding full steam ahead regardless of what certain "established" parties in venture finance say.8. We are happy to entertain folks that have gone through the YC process as well as those that are entering it. In fact, we're attending the YC demo day next week.Best of luck in building your own startups, and we'd love to hear what you think about Tandem. Feel free to contact us if we can help.
| null | 0 | 18 |
2007-08-09 03:53:06 UTC
|
40,756 | 40,738 |
pg
|
Ask News.YC: Do you prefer to hack in darkness or in the light?
|
palish
|
I used to think darkness, but it turned out that quiet was the active ingredient in darkness.
| null | 0 | 2 |
2007-08-09 04:16:07 UTC
|
40,760 | 40,690 |
nickb
|
Your issues with...
|
kyro
|
Great questions!1) No, I do not find Facebook relationships meaningful. I got sick of FB after I hit about 200 "friends". I ended up getting a ton of notifications & spam and it was all pointless. I'd rather spend an hour with someone over a beer than spend an hour going through messages on FB. So I gave up on it and never really missed it.2) I don't watch TV period. I have no spare time and if I did, I'd spend it reading a book rather than vegetate in front of a TV (of any kind).3)... no comment =)
|
So, I have several ideas that have been brewing in my cerebral hemispheres for a while now. However, I am trying to develop them into more complete and though out ones. In doing so, I have been asking people a whole slew of questions trying to pry out issues and problems they've been facing with existing services, so that I may capitalize on such issues and use them in developing my ideas. I thought I'd do the same here, seeing as you guys are a helpful, critical, and insightful bunch.And here we go. What are your issues with...1. Facebook - more speficially, do you feel that the connections you make are meaningful. Does it help you create stronger ties with existing friends? Any issues with it's tendency to expose everything out in the open? etc.2. Internet TV - Why don't you watch it? Does it focus on the wrong content? What would make you watch it? etc.3. Getting your online news - Let's face it, Digg now is crap. I know many people will agree with that. It's crapiness isn't exclusive to Digg alone, but has spread to similar services. What do you hate about it, what would you fix? I also believe that news.yc is a great source of info. What do you like about it? Anything you'd add/change?I have more questions, but this seems like a bit much already.Thanks to all who contribute.
| 9 | 9 |
2007-08-09 04:19:08 UTC
|
40,764 | 40,472 |
nomoresnow_c
|
Age and the entrepreneur, part 1: Some data
|
terpua
|
How about the premise that younger people are less tied down by "spouse and kids" and mortgage, etc... I think that younger people have an advantage with this regard, but then again, those who are more "tied down" may take more time to analyze a market opportunity because there is more at risk.
| null | 8 | 40 |
2007-08-09 04:35:46 UTC
|
40,765 | 40,690 |
david
|
Your issues with...
|
kyro
|
3. This one bugs me. It seems like smaller reddit type communities work best, but every social news site I've seen has only a few big feeds that the entire community has to use. I think the way to fix reddit/digg is to just open it up so anyone can create their own social news community, invite like-minded people (or not like-minded people, whatever they want), and have a mini-social-news site with stuff that interests everyone.Then we could have social news sites follow kind of that same model that mailing lists and message boards and IRC channels do.reddit has been saying for some time that they were going to allow user-created subreddits, but still haven't done it...
|
So, I have several ideas that have been brewing in my cerebral hemispheres for a while now. However, I am trying to develop them into more complete and though out ones. In doing so, I have been asking people a whole slew of questions trying to pry out issues and problems they've been facing with existing services, so that I may capitalize on such issues and use them in developing my ideas. I thought I'd do the same here, seeing as you guys are a helpful, critical, and insightful bunch.And here we go. What are your issues with...1. Facebook - more speficially, do you feel that the connections you make are meaningful. Does it help you create stronger ties with existing friends? Any issues with it's tendency to expose everything out in the open? etc.2. Internet TV - Why don't you watch it? Does it focus on the wrong content? What would make you watch it? etc.3. Getting your online news - Let's face it, Digg now is crap. I know many people will agree with that. It's crapiness isn't exclusive to Digg alone, but has spread to similar services. What do you hate about it, what would you fix? I also believe that news.yc is a great source of info. What do you like about it? Anything you'd add/change?I have more questions, but this seems like a bit much already.Thanks to all who contribute.
| 6 | 9 |
2007-08-09 04:36:16 UTC
|
40,772 | 40,768 |
pg
|
VH to YC Founders: Ping us if you want additional help with your term sheets
|
nivi
|
I wish the most promising startups got snatched up on demo day. In fact investors are so slow that even the most eager generally take around a week to put together a term sheet. My hope is that as t approaches infinity, demo day will approach an auction. But t is still pretty far from infinity.
| null | 0 | 26 |
2007-08-09 04:46:35 UTC
|
40,773 | 40,584 |
ecuzzillo
|
Zenter founders and YC grads share their Google acquisition story (audio interview)
|
scrollinondubs
|
One nitpick: They talked about the "zone-out" button, which students are supposed to press when they've zoned out of a presentation. There are two show-stopper problems with that. One, having zoned out reasonably much in my undergrad career, I can tell you that zoning out is not something that hits a threshold, and then you realize "I've zoned out." That is, unless you're consciously zoning out, in which case you consciously aren't interested in the material, in which case you would never press the button, since you don't want the professor to get mad. Two, that assumes that everybody has a laptop (generally, only 20-50% do), AND, even less plausibly, that they're all looking at the professor's presentation with their browsers. (probably 1% of all undergrads would ever do that)
| null | 0 | 36 |
2007-08-09 05:05:40 UTC
|
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