MIT_Hacker

Woah. How did this drop from #2? There are articles above this on HN that have less points and were submitted at an earlier time...

I remember making a python script in high school that did this same thing. If only FilePicker had existed then!

Starbucks will still be accepting credit cards, cash, and now even Pay with Square tabs!

I think part of the benefit comes from discovery in the Square directory. Also, Pay with Square is a revolutionary idea which is now accepted at Starbucks

Link to an article that explains it as well: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/...

I never used the old Digg, did it have a similar look and feel?

I really liked this post for a couple of reasons.

First is that I know I sometimes lose sight of the end goal of a project when I start coding for weeks on end. I'll get sucked into a bug or a feature that I think is necessary and my vision for the future of the product becomes clouded.

I also relate this to the design of a product. Without taking a day to step back and try to examine your product from a different perspective, I don't think you'll ever be able to properly analyze and iterate on anything you create.

This all stems from my feelings that every engineer should also furiously work to be a good designer as well.

And does it use the native accounts on the phone? DB, FB, etc? Or do you pull up a new authorization dialog?

I love this! I can't wait to integrate this into one of my apps. Does it also have access to the native camera application?

ybombinator'd?

This is great, I really love the integration with my Dropbox folder!

I guess it's the way I think of starting conversations when I'm nervous. On the note of my name, that's how I introduced myself to Jak Dorsey the first time I met him and he loved it!

It's actually loading dynamically from tumblr. I should probably implement some caching onto the site

Is this real life? Yes, yes it is.

That's an amazing insight. I've always loved going backpacking because of that same feeling. It's a complete disconnect from the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life. The times when I've been completely free like that are when I've come up with my best ideas!

Ask a homeless guy how to fix it! Turns out most handpumps are reversible :)

I'll put him through the design loop @Square :P

By far my favorite comment so far. Thanks for that chmike!

Well he never really asked for money and I didn't give him a chance to refuse it :)

Yeah, it sounds like I was out of the loop with these reversible hand pumps. Things you learn from homeless people!

I didn't know about this! This is was my first-ever hand-pump

It was the valve on the pump. Made for mountain bikes rather than my street bike and it was the first time I had to use it.

It's probably not a true story, but a good one. And he said it quite confidently!

He said he stopped being a bike messenger because the fax machine and policy changes around legal documents requiring original signatures

About the wording, I actually had a friend in the Navy who reached out and told me to change the verb. I wouldn't have posted it if I didn't think it was a strange experience to have!

I've been biking through the Tenderloin for the last couple of weeks since I started at Square. I've always been really scared as I bike through and have had a decent number of people yell at me. This was quite the opposite of that :)

I think I got it back up? Scaled instantly on heroku :)

You know, I thought about this throughout the entire encounter. I wasn't sure if I could believe any of his stories. He seemed so genuine and so excited throughout the conversation that I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

In terms of how much money I gave him, I decided that $100 was probably the minimum amount that could actually help him pursue the idea and as a college intern, I'm not sure I could have spared much more!

This was actually the first thing that occurred to me as we got talking. I then realized it wouldn't really work since he probably doesn't have an active bank account to receive the money.

I'd love the day when there are beggars using Square. It would mean that our designs are simple enough for a homeless person to use!

This experience really made me step back and think about humanizing design.

It also got me thinking about stereotypes and the way I classify people as I walk down the street.

This is exactly what I was thinking. I was angry for myself that for the first 30 seconds of the conversation I could feel adrenaline pumping and my heart racing.

In regards to your second point, I worried that I saw that same aspect in myself :)