HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

Edinburger

250 karma · joined January 15, 2009

Email hn.edinburger AT googlemail.com
submissionscomments
Edinburger··on The Lost Tribes of RadioShack
On a related note, if you love(d) RadioShack, be sure to check out Akihabara ('Electric Town') in Tokyo if you ever get a chance. http://www.kirainet.com/english/radio-center/. I have never seen so many electronic components on sale in one place. It was even possible to find "vintage" ICs.
Edinburger··on When did you last use one of these?
I saw a documentary about the UK Police a year or so ago and was interested to see them challenging suspicious-looking people who were using public telephones. Their theory was that most suspicious-looking people have mobile phones these days so if they are using a payphone they are often actively up to no good!
Edinburger··on Ask HN: Leaving a company I recently joined?
One short stay shouldn't have any negative impact in future. Most people understand sometimes things don't work out or you get an offer you can't refuse (in a good way). If you had, say, three short stays in a row, future employers might get nervous.

I would go where you think you'll be happiest where 'happiness' is a linear equation comprising money, interesting work, nice colleagues and whatever else matters to you.

A word of caution: make sure nobody at your current company finds out you're talking to the new company until you have an offer on the table.

Good luck.

Edinburger··on Building a world-class team: six mistakes I made early in my career
> these are exactly the types of people you don't want to hire

Depends on your budget and appetite for risk. If you have the budget and want to reduce your risk, IMHO there's no better indicator of future performance than past performance.

Edinburger··on [dead]
Specifically, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_destruction
Edinburger··on Still can't decide on a Payment System. Please HELP
Can you elaborate on the PayPal isuses? Have you looked at PayPal Authorization & Capture? I am launching an equipment rental site and planning to use PayPal Authorization & Capture to help me take deposits.
Edinburger··on Ask HN: Review my app: Search expired/available short domain names
Very nice. I would like to be able to see more results at once.
Edinburger··on UK's Teletext will go off air tomorrow, forever
I don't know how I will tell my father. He hasn't upgraded to the internet yet!
Edinburger··on UK plan to create Pirate Finder General: power to appoint militias, create laws
Very sad. When I read the headline I thought they might be going after _real_ pirates like the ones off the coast of Somalia. Seems like that would be a more worthwhile use of taxpayer's money.
Edinburger··on The 84% who don't click on ads
It would be good if he illustrated his point with an example of an ad optimized for the 84%. Brand awareness? Advertising online to bring people in-store rather than simply driving clicks? What are good examples?
Edinburger··on Ask HN: How have you dealt with corruption?
I didn't read it that way, I read it that because he set things up in the way he did, "Effectively, no one could now pay a bribe."
Edinburger··on Ask HN: How have you dealt with corruption?
I worked for a small company in Europe selling software into much larger companies. I am pleased to say that over four years, there were only a couple of times when I think we lost a sale because of corrupt tactics by a competitor and even then, I can't be sure. Certainly, we sold a fair amount of software and didn't have to bribe anyone. These were small deal sizes though, less than ~$50k and I think corruption probably gets more prevalent with larger deals. Certainly I have seen much more questionable behavior in other businesses such as consulting and outsourcing which is why I wouldn't want to spend my days selling those kinds of services.
Edinburger··on Facebook 'memorialises' profiles
I am torn on this. For some folks, this will be a wonderful persistent reminder of the deceased and a place to leave memorial messages. For other folks, it could become an awkward persistent reminder that just makes it hard to grieve and move on.
Edinburger··on Ask HN: What are your best resume tips?
I like to see a strong, concise introduction/objectives section which (a) isn't full of buzzwords or B.S. and (b) helps me get a feel for the candidate and what makes them tick.
Edinburger··on Ask HN: What are your best resume tips?
Yes, project budgets, number of people led, revenue figures are also useful if you can disclose them.
Edinburger··on Could the UK drive on the right?
I think the benefits are low but greater than zero. For example, us Brits would be able to buy left-hand drive cars instead of paying more for right-hand drive cars as we do today.
Edinburger··on [dead]
Maybe it's a startup business although if it's a 'rate my startup' post they probably should have said so.
Edinburger··on Ask HN: what do you look for in a resume?
é ;-)
Edinburger··on A new house number ...
I'm glad I am not your mailman.
Edinburger··on Ask HN: What are you sitting on/in?
Wooden "Captain's Chair" from an "antiques" place but really just junk from a bar. I sanded it to get rid of the nasty laquer and it looks decent now. Unfortunately it is absolutely uncomfortable and completely unsuitable for sitting here for any length of time. So, I am also looking for a new chair...I like the look of the Aeron's but would like to find a lower-priced alternative. Please tell us what you find!
Edinburger··on If Craigslist cost $1
I think the point is it would become much less worthwhile to spam the site, at least with 'simple' spam. Stolen credit card numbers are easily available but using them just to spam Craigslist is probably a poor return on investment. Ironically, more complex scams could become more worthwhile if users start to show a higher level of trust in ads because they've been paid for.
Edinburger··on How Google Taught Me to Cache and Cash-In
Another idea: populate ('warm') the cache automatically after server restarts to get up to speed quickly.
Edinburger··on Ask HN: What do you want/need from a bug tracking system?
I want an integrated solution where I can manage bugs, feature requests and the prioritized backlog (containing both bugs and feature requests). Bonus points if it can manage incidents as well and help me to create bugs or feature requests from them. Oh, and I don't want to have to wait around for whole page reloads so nice slick AJAX for changing statuses et cetera would be greatly appreciated.
Edinburger··on [dead]
The headline is inaccurate. The article it links to is called "Stunningly Awful Demos: Five Things Not To Do in a Demo"
Edinburger··on Life Recorders May Be This Century’s Wrist Watch
Rather than just collecting data as a reference, I really like the idea of analysing what I've been doing (often wasting time!) and taking the chance to live my life better in future.
Edinburger··on Free info on market size, demand etc.
That's definitely a good idea when the company operates only in the market you are interested in. However, it doesn't work when the company has multiple revenue streams and doesn't break them out in their published accounts. In that case, if the company runs separate sites for each revenue stream, you can use Alexa (or similar) to get an idea of the traffic percentage to that sub-site and use it as a crude proxy for revenue.
Edinburger··on Why Do Cars Have Fuel Doors on Different Sides?
I don't like to take the fuel hose over to the other side of my car because I don't want the dirty hose to touch the paintwork.
Edinburger··on MP3 sound quality: Good enough
Good point. I haven't listened to high bitrate MP3s through something like an iPod but with a high-end outboard DAC. With a setup like that I believe it could become hard/impossible to tell the difference.
Edinburger··on MP3 sound quality: Good enough
What are you listening on? I expect that most people could tell the difference if they listened on a reasonable quality separate CD player, amp and speakers and compared that with an MP3 player plugged into the same amp and speakers. Unfortunately I don't have an experiment I can cite but having tried it myself, I can say the difference is substantial.
Edinburger··on Ask HN: Where do you find clients?
A common strategy is to engage a salesperson who has worked for similar companies, get them to use their book of contacts to sell your services. If you advertise for the salesperson, you should be able to find someone who will work on a freelance/commission-only basis.
Page 1 of 3Next →