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Wumpon Apple iPad

I just don't understand this dichotomy between battery life and multitasking. It would be perfectly reasonable to offer a choice, wouldn't it? Apple could say: if you want the full 10 hours of battery life, don't multitask. Otherwise, accept the battery life tradeoff and multitask to your heart's content. I can then choose to use the device however I want to. Isn't this how battery life estimates with laptops work?

Why does Apple assume their users are idiots that can't be trusted to make an informed choice?

Wumpon Time to Stop Procrastinating and Make a Career Change

Love this quote:

"I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours." - Jerome K. Jerome

Wumpon Ask YC: [How] do you maintain a daily routine?

I have been struggling with this since I went full-time with my venture a couple of months ago as well. I have always had a chaotic sleep pattern, and the lack of a full-time job has just increased the irregularity.

Here's a thought, though-- is that so bad? I find that I do my best, most creative thinking late at night. It's always been like this for me. Why fight it? I'm trying to embrace the chaos now instead of trying to control it.

Wumpon A Peek Into Netflix Queues

I wonder if one could use the rank of "Milk" as a predictor of the conservativeness/liberalness of a particular area.

Wumpon Ask HN: Great books you read in 2009?

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. by Mark Haddon (http://www.amazon.com/Curious-Incident-Dog-Night-Time/dp/140...) - engaging story written from the point of view of an austistic teenager. One of my favorite characters in any book I've ever read.

Crashing Through by Robert Kurson (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812973682/ref=ox_ya_oh_pro...) - inspiring story of sight restoration to a lifelong blind man. Fascinating exploration on vision, learning, and a lot of other stuff we take for granted.

The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140067477/ref=ox_ya_oh_pro...) - Taoism and Winnie the Pooh. 'nuff said.

Life Entrepreneurs by Christopher Gergen and Gregg Vanourek (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0787988626/ref=ox_ya_oh_pro...) - applying and expanding the principles of entrepreneurship to your life as a whole, not just your business.

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307454622/ref=ox_ya_oh_pro...) - I thought the movie was great, and this book is great too, in a different way. The writing is clean and evocative, the dialogue is provoking and realistic. I'm a fan of Richard Yates after reading this book.

Wumpon This Is Why The Internet (And Twitter) Wins

And in case you're wondering what I'd consider "vital news" -- how about the potential default of a sovereign nation (Dubai) which could trigger a CDS event which could re-trigger the global financial crisis?

I think the point is-- no matter what you consider vital news, the Internet is a better way to get that news faster and more accurately than traditional mainstream media.

Wumpon Apple's Mistake

Some food for thought:

"In the short term, individual citizens and groups will pay. But in the long run, you can see they can't win. The very nature of technology is you can't harness it -- not authoritarian leaders, not anyone," Hom continued. "It's like riding a tiger, and you can't get off."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529090,00.html

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/24/censorship-20-china-blo...

Wumpon Three things about Marco Arment…

I'm addicted to the Give Me Something to Read feed:

http://givemesomethingtoread.com/

This is probably hand-curated...

Wumpon Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson on Business: Make Everything Your Own

I think he's talking about independence and ownership, not isolation. Take that sentence in the context of the sentences before it:

* When you work for others, you are at their mercy. They own your work; they own you. Your creative spirit is squashed... When it is yours, it is yours to lose -- you are more motivated, more creative, more alive.

Wump on Joe Hewitt: On Middle Men

Agree. Advertising networks are middle men. So, Google is one of the biggest, most successful, and most useful middle men in history.

Wump on Joe Hewitt: On Middle Men

If your HTML/JS/CSS stack isn't as platform and browser-agnostic as it can be, ultimately you end up with a platform-specific way of writing apps that competes with native apps
You mean like browser-specific CSS? Or IE6 hacks? Or layout and rendering inconsistencies?
Web apps are the future of mobile applications for the same reasons they're the present of desktop applications. Ease of distribution. Ease of iteration. The freedom to do what you want, how you want it, in a market that's guided by users, not a big company acting as gatekeeper.

Wump on I did it! I quit my day job!

Congratulations! I just made the same leap myeslf.

Wump on Rogue Amoeba abandons iPhone because of App Store approval insanity

The other point here is that Rogue Amoeba's frustration and ultimate response was exacerbated by the process, not just the result. The process was marred by vague, unresponsive communication, insanely long wait times, and inconsistency.
If this whole back and forth between RA and Apple had taken a week instead of almost 4 months, their response probably would have been very different. They probably wouldn't have left the platform. The process is broken, and it makes things worse for both developers and users.

Wump on Rogue Amoeba abandons iPhone because of App Store approval insanity

Um, you can bet there will be a "review process" if you approach Apple and ask them to distribute your OS X application.
The difference is you don't have a choice for iPhone distribution. You have to distribute through Apple.
There may not be many parallels between PC/Mac distribution and iPhone distribution-- but there should be.

Wump on Ask HN: how do you avoid burnout and getting taken advantage of?

to live the good life
What does "the good life" mean to you?
Is it about money? Building useful things? Improving your relationships? Having a family?
Take time to reflect on this question. Let the answers guide you. If what you are doing now doesn't fit your ideal of the good life-- change. And, if that change does not bring you closer to the life you want, change again.
Introspect. Reflect. Adapt. Persist.

Wump on Ask YC: Business books actually worth reading?

Life Entrepreneurs (Christopher Gergen, Gregg Vanourek)-- the title sounds gimmicky, but the content is excellent and gets you thinking about how to create the life you want, not just the business you want.
The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur (Mike Michalowicz) -- solid, practical advice. Goes beyond the usual business-book cliches.