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153 karma · joined December 22, 2011

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_k··on Margins on website development are shrinking
The fun high-impact stuff rarely drives the customer's bottom line.
_k··on A Hacker News For Ideas
Sort of like https://www.innocentive.com ?
_k··on Show HN: I built a self-hosted Basecamp alternative. Try the demo
Feedback :

- An overall calendar would be good. - Software updates would be good, including what you're about to update and what type of php version the updates need. - Is it possible to change the text in the html ? I'm thinking about using another language because I live in Europe. - Not sure I understand the concept of using the timer. When I click on something else, the timer stops, and when I go back, it starts again, and eventually I end up with a list of numbers. Also, the timer stops at 99 minutes, is that right (didn't check it) ? The site's not loading right now. Is the customer able to see the timer ? If so, give us the ability to remove it. - Not sure you should stay on Codecanyon for this if you plan on giving support. - Make sure you offer good support, even if it comes at a price. - It's not really loading very well right now but that's probably because of HN. I now see 2 screens underneath each other. I will have to come back and give it another try. - Make How To videos.

_k··on 0 second visits according to Google Analytics
I don't think it's false. I have a site with one page, one video. Time on site really is zero seconds. However, playing the video may trigger an event that allows Google to measure some of the visits.
_k··on Manchester City Council
Government websites need to start with the user. What's the point of showing all the information if it's not relevant ? What's the point of showing me permits that only apply to residents, if they don't apply to a business owner ? What's the point of showing me tax information if I'm a tourist ? They shouldn't make you look at all that. They should make it easy. 3 buttons to start with : resident, tourist, business. Add 3 photo to make it attractive and a few language choices.
_k··on UK Government passes “Instagram Act”
So Google UK is now allowed to use everyone's photographs (not just thumbnails) and use those photographs to sell ads next to it. How is that right ?

It only applies to orphan works but you can easily and in an anonymous way strip out the metadata.

And companies like Google could take it one step further. All they have to do is start a LLC in the UK for the Google image search part of its business, go to Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, ... take all the photos, strip the metadata, say it was someone else who must have done it, make a lot of money.

_k··on I Knew a Programmer Who Went Completely Insane
There're lots of people who feel like you do.
_k··on Google Paid This Man $100 Million
Regarding epen allocation. What if only 2 engineers are needed and 100 are interested ?
_k··on Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC
Been hearing it when it was trading at prices less than $ 1. Not sure what to think. What if it gets hacked ? What if the creator has a backdoor ?
_k··on How much gold is there in the world?
You're right, some of it gets lost, but where I live there's a company that recycles all kinds of electronic equipment, circuit boards, mobile phones, .... The company's name is Umicore, they recover the gold at a cost that's cheaper than mining companies can. I can't find a source to back up that claim ( I saw a video ) but they get other precious metals out of it as well, which reduces the cost. Some website even sell Umicore gold bars. Although, I wouldn't recommend that you buy those bars, the price per gram is way too much, imo.
_k··on Are We Suffering From Mobile App Burnout?
That doesn't sound fair. But it doesn't surprise me. Most of it is a waste of my time. I find my apps in the browser from people or companies talking about them. Then I go to the app store and do a search for it.
_k··on Are We Suffering From Mobile App Burnout?
I think you're right. A lot of companies are making an app to show the contents of their website. That just doesn't make sense. The app I use for that is the browser.
_k··on Are We Suffering From Mobile App Burnout?
I think it could work but you need 2 things: niche content and an audience adding value. I'm not interested in what the NY Times has to say about sports so why would I pay for it, I'm not even remotely interested in 99 % of all of their content.

I can't tell you how many times I don't even bother reading articles. All I read is the comments on Hacker News. Not reading the articles saves me time. Reading the comments doesn't save me time but at least I'm getting a lot of value out of it.

I looked at GigaOm Pro the other day. Some of the content looks interesting and might be worth paying for. Not all of it, but even so, none of those research reports have responses / comments. The audience isn't adding value. Maybe all the value is in the research reports but I just find that hard to believe.

_k··on Are We Suffering From Mobile App Burnout?
I'm from Europe. I'm not sure what's behind the paywall because I think I see all the content. I never seem to go back to the site. What makes it great content to you ?
_k··on Amazon Profits Fall 45 Percent, Still the Most Amazing Company in the World
Amazon is a category killer just like Wal-Mart is and if their PE ratio is 14.38, then Amazon's P/E ratio should be in that area as well. In order to avoid being placed in that category, you have to do some disruptive things. It's similar to what most web based companies do, they try to shoot for the stars and keep that momentum going. I think that explains the high P/E.
_k··on Amazon Profits Fall 45 Percent, Still the Most Amazing Company in the World
If I'm not mistaken, they do have 5 billion in cash and cash equivalents. ( I don't know where that came from, equity or net income in the previous years ? ) So they can keep this going for 18 more years. And then they can start selling their offices.
_k··on A Short Rant About Working Remotely
It's not always about being productive. If problems start to surface and you're not there talking to those you need to talk to or you're not there to see it for yourself and you do half of all your work by email, then chances are high you're putting everyone's job at risk.
_k··on It’s a bad time to be a hacker in the United States
Exactly what I was thinking.
_k··on Tesla produces 400 model S each week
I'm gonna push back a little bit by raising a few questions:

Jerome Guillen is talking about incremental improvements because when they launched, the car wasn't good enough. Being able to update the software is great but is it really a strength ? It's not, unless your car has Google Car type of innovation in it !

Imagine how exciting it would be to get updates for the Nokia phones we bought in the 90s ? It's not exciting at all. The Model S is a year 2000 design, still on the market 10 years later. I know I'm not being nice when I say that but when did that ever help someone invent the future ?

Now look at the Model X. They are catching up and that's good. But the concept was revealed in February 2012 and it won't be ready before early 2014. I don't know what I will be thinking in 2014 but I do know an incremental software update won't make me go wow. What we really need is not another walkman. We need an iPod. We don't need an iPod, we need an iPhone. We don't need another PC, we need an iPad. Are those falcon doors impressive ? They are a gimmick, designed to attract attention. Those doors are a problem and I bet they are giving Elon's team headaches!

I did see those backview mirrors in the Model X. My first thought was MEH... But if what Elon is really doing is secretly building camera's inside the car, then I'm gonna be like NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT !! Imagine everyone driving around with those camera's recording everything !! Imagine Tim Cook signing a deal with Elon in order to get the map data. Up she goes !! But as far as I know, that's not the case.

The article mentions 20,000 Model S cars a year. The first prototype was revealed in I think September 2009 and the first one was delivered in June 2012. Henry Ford was making 1 Model T a day in 1908. He electrified his factory with Tesla's invention. Fast forward 2 years and he was building over 100,000 cars a year. That's 5 times more than Elon. It's not about how fast you can do your software updates. It's about creating demand and how fast you can build those cars !

I do like the solar power play. It disrupts everyone's business model. But a major concern has to be the fuel cell threat. Lots of car manufacturers are placing their bets on it. Is it because Elon has the market locked up with his patents ? Should he be working on fuel cells as well ? Are the fuel cell problems too big to overcome or is that market locked up with patents ?

_k··on Meet a Shenzhen Maker: Mr. Chen
It's not that unusual. Lots of companies start out the way this guy did. This happens all over the world, not just in China. In order to scale things up, you either rely on manual labor or automated machinery. And you can outsource both.
_k··on How My Startup Got Robbed
I worked with a company where there were 2 founders and one of them told the other guy he would like to retire so he got bought out. He was still working for the company while the other guy went on vacation. 2 weeks later he came back, not a single one of all the orders was finished and he had introduced his new company to all customers.

In the months leading up to all this, the "evil" partner had bought an exact copy of all the machinery and software.

It was illegal what that guy had done and he was at risk of doing some time in jail. They eventually settled for a price that was way too low because the victim was tired of it, he couldn't stop thinking about it, he couldn't sleep, he wanted it to stop.

Here's the kicker. The evil partner had done it 2 times before and his latest victim knew about it when they founded the company, but figured it wouldn't happen again because the evil guy was close to retirement.

Lesson learned ? I don't know. Trust your gut ?

_k··on Elon Musk’s Mission to Mars
I've seen companies enter into a partnership with a Chinese company to manufacture niche products. A few years in, the partnership is stopped and the Chinese company copies everything, shows up on trade shows, etc. There's nothing you can do about it. Patents don't matter in China. Customers buy the products in China.
_k··on How to do a great product promo video for less than $200
Commercial use is ok if you're a pro user or "You are a small-scale independent production company, non-profit, or artist, in which case you may use the Vimeo Service to showcase or promote your own creative works."
_k··on Facebook has 1 billion monthly active users
I used to have an account on FB but I closed it and it's unlikely I'm going back. I did create a company page. I'm on Twitter and I'm giving G+ another go for the third time. iCloud looks interesting and could be a major threat to FB because I set up a bunch of pages for family just so they could see their grandchildren. They're on FB for no other reason so iCloud definitely has some potential there. I'm also more engaged with the Twitter ads than I ever was with the ads on FB, those ads never interested me. I fully expect FB to copy Twitter's ad model.
_k··on Manufacturer Tells Customers to Print Replacement Parts with 3D Printers
I don't see a lot of companies doing this in the near future. Most of the products out there are made in different materials and most companies consider their CAD drawings to be their IP. You might as well partner up with a Chinese company and let them copy your product.

I have 2 questions: What's the cost to print one of those components ? And if every component can be 3D printed, how do you make money ?

_k··on Why I got Fired from Facebook (a $100 Million dollar lesson)
The more the value offered, the more likely politics wins.
_k··on What You Need to Know about SEO
My impression is local plumbers don't care about SEO. They don't care about scale. They care about making money. They don't need SEO for it, they need to offer a good service. Links with a no follow attribute do have some value, it won't do anything for PageRank but it's social proof. I haven't done the test but others did; it pushes someone higher in the search rankings. Hundreds of no follow links were needed. I'm not sure that's always the case. Let's hope not because my local plumber is never going to get that. Nor does he care. That being said, I think Google has its own internal Klout system.

"With startups and side projects, isn't the end result of this sort of thing that people have to create blogs/guides/content that is outside their core focus?"

You're right. But it has to somehow relate to what your start up is doing, otherwise it won't get you a lot of traffic, nor will it do a lot to push you higher in the search rankings.

Edit: spelling The -> They

_k··on The average Greek is working a full 40% longer than the average German
We're led to believe the solution to this economic crisis is either getting deeper in debt or more austerity measures (higher taxes, less subsidies) We're led to believe it's either A or B. It's neither A or B for most countries. The truth of the matter is that it's a political problem. We have to reduce the size of the government.
_k··on SEOmoz raises 18 million from Ignition and Foundry
Any keyword suggestion tools you would recommend before a site gets a lot of traffic? (other than Google's Keyword Tool)
_k··on How I attacked myself using Google and I ramped up a $1000 bandwidth bill
He's getting 100+ requests per second.

You could rate limit the IPs. The question is how many IPs is Feedfetcher using ?

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