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anthonycerra

519 karma · joined November 14, 2010

Builder and micro investor in Chicago. Bourbon and espresso enthusiast. Say hi! email: my initials at my full name.com
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anthonycerra··on GPT-4o vs. Claude 3.5 Sonnet for coding
This is so great, thanks!
anthonycerra··on GPT-4o vs. Claude 3.5 Sonnet for coding
I'm still learning about all the different tools and hadn't heard of Cursor. Thanks for sharing!
anthonycerra··on GPT-4o vs. Claude 3.5 Sonnet for coding
I've had premium subs with both and switched to Claude 3.5 Sonnet. I'm blown away by what it can do. Example for context:

I'm a software dabbler so I can do basic stuff with frameworks like Django, but I'm definitely not a developer by any stretch. My use case is to build mvps cheap and quickly to test out ideas.

Claude spit out a Django project that integrated Twilio for SMS functionality. What's _really_ amazing is that it also walked me through how to set up ngrok and Twilio so that I could use my computer as a temporary server. Again, I'm a dabbler so devops is completely over my head.

In maybe 2 hours I had a functioning prototype that I could interact with via SMS. I can't comment on the quality of the code or how viable this approach is for building in production, but to bring an idea to life so quickly with limited skills is really exciting.

anthonycerra··on Show HN: SpacedTime – Remember the important things in your life
> I haven't seen any of these tools doing anything that anki doesn't — why not contribute to it instead?

For the same reason that your area likely has more than 1 pizza restaurant. Other people want to take a stab at their own vision of a thing and that's awesome. Personally, I find Anki to be pretty uninviting to the general public.

Fluent-Forever.com is an example of an application of spaced time learning applied specifically to languages and their app is pretty great.

We may disagree philosophically, and that's ok, but I tend not to buy into the perspective that if X already exists and Y is like X then Y should not exist.

anthonycerra··on Ask HN: Is it worth continuing my computer science degree?
There's a price at which it's worth it and a price at which it's not. $10k? Sure. $200k? Nope. Now it's a matter of finding that inflection point.

Do you have any scholarships? What percentage of the degree are you paying for and how much of that is being financed?

Might you be able to walk into the president's office and negotiate your tuition? Not the bursar. Speak to a decision maker with vision. If you're as good as you say you are and can prove, with pay stubs, that companies also find you that valuable as a sophomore, you're an asset to your university.

You're the success story they're dying to tell prospects. And you might be willing to make introductions to those companies just in time for the campus career fair. And what about when you become an alumnus? If you're this promising as a sophomore, where will you be in 10 years that they can continue to reap the benefits from? College is a business, too. Sell them on you.

You're concerned that you could better spend the time in university improving your skill in iOS development. How can you leverage those gigs in your curriculum to count toward credits?

As for the courses you're not interested in, don't make the assumption that you are aware of all the things you will ever need to know to be successful in life. But again, there's a price at which that exposure makes sense, and a price at which it doesn't.

anthonycerra··on Despite excellent credit, it's still possible to be turned down for a mortgage
Can't one argue that income from rental properties is more predictable than the income from full-time employment? In the former, there are binding contracts between the landlord and tenant that guarantee the landlord income (similar to the relationship between a homeowner and a bank, which seems hypocritical on the bank's part). In the case of full-time employment the employee is not guaranteed to have a job as an employer can fire someone at any time for any reason.
anthonycerra··on Ask HN: Those making $1,000+/month on side projects - what did you make?
Very clever 4 in a row game! Makes me want a 5c.
anthonycerra··on It’s time for Silicon Valley to ask: Is it worth it?
I think it's similar to people in the military who are given a gun and told to shoot someone they've never met. There are many people who believe what they're doing is for the good of their country and trust the people giving the orders.
anthonycerra··on How Groove's Email Copy Makes Their Posts Go Viral
You planned that using logic, but people's emotions don't react to logic. It's an emotion after all. I thought it was obtrusive as well and didn't realize how far into the article I was. The only thought I had was "this is in my way and there's more to read."

All that being said, just do a split test :) Maybe people like me are in the minority and you get more upvotes for having it displayed that way.

anthonycerra··on Soylent: Manufacturing Update
I do the same for breakfast, but I feel more comfortable doing so because most of those foods are regulated. I don't believe protein powder is, which is a little scary considering how often it's consumed. If Soylent is to be treated as a supplement (lack of regulation) that is consumed exclusively, it's even more unnerving.

PS - Are you Louis? We had a quick email convo last year. If you need help implementing some of the marketing aspects of EatThisMuch, let me know.

anthonycerra··on Soylent: Manufacturing Update
If Soylent got popular enough, it would pretty much make my service obsolete.

Don't count yourself out just yet. Some people will always prefer to eat real food.

anthonycerra··on I want to learn how to design websites. Where do I begin?
There was a great post on HN by someone who was in your same shoes. She used Codecademy to get started.

http://www.tiffany-young.com/website_progress.html

anthonycerra··on I want to learn how to design websites. Where do I begin?
This is spam.

I've noticed you promoting this site in multiple threads and have continued to bite my tongue because I admired the hustle, but I think this crosses the line.

OP asked about learning to design websites, which suggests s/he is in the very early stages of discovery. The last thing OP needs is people telling him/her to spend money on something loosely tangential to the request.

You could have mentioned a couple great resources that would actually be of value to OP and then gently mentioned "but if your end goal is just to run a web business, you can skip ahead and check out my site".

Love the hustle, but please be more mindful of spam.

anthonycerra··on Ask HN: Starter School - $33,000. Worth it?
The advice given in other responses here is spot on - there are many avenues to learn development. But that's only part of the education that this program is offering. This looks like a CS + MBA program at a fraction of the cost. And the teachers aren't just spouting off theory - they've built businesses.

So should you do it? If you have 100k in the bank and you want to start a business, then go for it. You can afford to pay your living expenses, learn at an accelerated rate from a highly qualified group of teachers, and build a business with awesome mentors. Your teachers will be people like Jason Fried (37Signals) and Troy Henikoff (TechStars Chicago). This is not for someone looking to become just a developer. They have cheaper programs for design and development.

Don't have extra money lying around? Buy a list of business phone numbers from a reputable company (Dunn and Bradstreet come to mind) in an industry you're interested in and start making cold calls. The list will cost a couple hundred bucks. Pay for a LinkedIn premium account and prospect there as well. If you can't reach out to potential customers, you're going to have a hard time starting a business.

Read about sales and marketing and subscribe to every info marketer out there to learn what they do. How do they write copy, how do they market, what's their funnel like? You don't have to buy from any of them - just observe what they do. Add them to a label in gmail called "marketing", autoarchive every message that comes in, and review the emails once a week. Here's a list to get you started: Pat Flynn from SmartPassiveIncome, Derek Halpern from Social Triggers, Joanna from CopyHackers, Ramit Sethi from IWTYTBR, Dane Maxwell at the Foundation, Trent from BrightIdeas. Of course, don't forget Pat McKenzie and Rob Walling. Sign up to Mixergy for incredible master classes and interviews.

If you have the money and want guidance from an amazing group of talented individuals, that program is excellent. If not, there are other ways to do it.

anthonycerra··on Google And Apple May Bring Us A Console War We Didn't See Coming
I disagree. MS didn't explain the value prop well and weren't courageous enough to take a stand. If they wanted to get rid of discs, they should've done so. Discs and downloadable content are two completely different paradigms. It's no doubt that MS wants to go the Steam route, but by mixing the "rules" for downloadable content with physical discs, they made a huge error.

Gamers didn't see the XB1 as a move towards disc-less consoles. They saw it as additional rules to their current disc-based paradigm.

Removing HDDs and optical drives from laptops was a bold and risky move by Apple, but it worked. MS had the chance to show leadership in consoles, but chose to play both sides instead.

anthonycerra··on Mark Zuckerberg addresses PRISM
In college, after we'd submit a programming assignment, our code was run through a program to test for plagiarism of another student's code. Can we run the same analysis on these announcements?
anthonycerra··on Mark Zuckerberg addresses PRISM
I still find it suspicious that the previous White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, left the White House to work at Facebook.

I realize that statement implies that no one from government can go into the private sector without it suddenly becoming a conspiracy theory, but in this particular case the link is especially concerning.

anthonycerra··on Treehouse gets $7M to bring learn-to-code programs to high schools
Bring a class to impoverished neighborhoods of Chicago where they just closed 50 public schools and the media will have a field day with your story.

So many wins here: 1. Win for the community 2. Win for the kids who participate 3. Win for Treehouse in the marketing department. 4. Win for society as a whole to have more critical thinkers in the world

But if you sell this company to DeVry or similar (because that's who's in trouble here, not 4 year universities), I'm going to be sorely disappointed.

anthonycerra··on How many 10K hours do you have left?
This is a cool brain hack in that it uses math to convince you that you're not too old to become a master at something.

One issue I have with the 10,000 hour rule in general is this: there are approximately 2,088 hours in a work-year not counting overtime. To achieve mastery in your profession would then take less than 5 years. Most professions don't consider someone an expert 5 years into their careers. So does that mean a) you're not really improving that much in those 5 years b) there are more conditions to the 10,000 hour rule c) the 10,000 hour rule is flawed or d) the evaluation of one's expertise is flawed?

Another issue I have with the 10,000 hour rule is the idea of competence and sufficient experience. At what level of experience (in this case, hours) are you competent enough to achieve your goal? If programming, at what level can you create something that solves a given problem. If business, at what level can you successfully run a startup, etc.

So if the target changes to "enough experience to achieve a specific goal" then I'd argue one has much more time available to him/her than what this math suggests.

anthonycerra··on GroupMe: Split the Bill
Just a data point from one person's experiences:

I feel like check splitting is always a bigger problem for the restaurant/server than it is for the people paying. All the customers need to do is pull out a credit card. It's the server that actually has to split the bill and you can always see the discomfort on his/her face when you ask them to split it AFTER they give you the check. Just let them know before ordering that you'll be needing separate checks.

The example on the site seems like a better use case, but the marketing copy "split the bill" immediately makes me think of a restaurant or bar tab which I don't regard as a problem.

anthonycerra··on No One Is More Excited For Google Glass Than Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Interesting marketing term for what is traditionally known as a "customer".
anthonycerra··on OpenTable Acquires FoodSpotting for $10 Million
It can be if those photos get you to make a reservation at one of the restaurants in OpenTable's network.

Chances are you won't knowingly spam your friends to tell them to use OpenTable. Maybe you had a great experience with it and you post it once on Facebook. You're not going to continue posting how amazing your experience with OpenTable was. You MIGHT think some/most/all of the dishes you eat at restaurants are amazing. You MIGHT post those dishes on Facebook. If those dishes are tied to restaurants that OpenTable serves, they just landed on an amazing advertising model.

anthonycerra··on Ask HN: What did you buy accidentally that added so much value to your life?
The base model Kindle with ads.

I take the train every day and using an iPad 2 to read is really inconvenient and invites theft. The Kindle fits in my coat pocket, is a delight to read with (sitting or standing), and no one wants to jump you for an e-reader.

anthonycerra··on Apple SSDs and the fusion drive ripoff
Shape may not be directly related to performance, but I'd guess it's similar to the argument for the iPhone not having a removable battery (i.e. the housings and connectors required would restrict the size of the battery itself thus resulting in shorter battery life.) I'm not saying it's the same case here, but knowing Apple's preference towards a compact and efficient use of space, I wouldn't rule it out.

Definitely agree with you on your marketing point. If it can be proven incorrect then it's not ok (nor is it legal). I think they use the word "revolutionary" in place of the old go-to "best". Everyone can say they're the best because it can't be proven wrong. It's subjective. Take, for example, a smartphone screen. Objective observations can be made about the screen size, but personal preference makes "best" subjective.

anthonycerra··on Apple SSDs and the fusion drive ripoff
"Claiming something to be revolutionary while it's not" - This is simple marketing. A business needs to say something to differentiate itself from its competitors.

"modifying standard connectors to remove your choices" - I'd argue they did it for performance issues, not some conspiracy to get you to buy their adapters. Modifying things to suit a different purpose is engineering.

"charging you more for that is evil." - You charge what your customers will pay, not what it costs you to produce. It's a business, not a charity.

Take emotion out of it and just look at the facts.

anthonycerra··on Google’s Self-Driving Cars Are Going to Change Everything
I've also thought about how self-driving cars will affect crime. If police don't have to enforce moving violations does that give them more time to patrol areas with higher crime OR do those departments shrink because of the lack of revenue from said moving violations?
anthonycerra··on Ask HN: How to start iOS development ?
If you already know some JavaScript, Titanium (http://www.appcelerator.com/) seems pretty interesting. It compiles down to the native language of iPhone and/or Android. I haven't used it extensively, though, and am curious what others think about it.
anthonycerra··on Announcing Hipmunk's $15M Series B Funding
Why don't YOU tell us :) I'd love to hear about it. Bizdev/Marketing is still really undervalued in startup land.
anthonycerra··on Young web dev asking what language to learn?
I'm still a student myself and won't pretend to know which is best, but I can share the resources I've been using.

There are two great interactive courses on Udacity.com that will be helpful if you choose Python. The first course teaches you how to build a basic search engine while learning the Python language. Sergey Brin even makes an appearance. The second course is on how to create a web app using Python taught by a co-founder of Reddit (Steve Huffman). Both are totally free and incredibly high quality.

Codecademy.com will teach you Javascript for free. The Javascript tutorial is really great, but the jQuery tutorial has mixed reviews.

Finally, the de facto place to learn Ruby on Rails is railstutorial.org. The content is freely available as HTML, but the PDFs and screencasts are well worth the money.

Good luck!

anthonycerra··on Sortfolio auction only has 24 hours left with 0 Bids
I'd guess that 37signals does at least 60 million a year in revenue from their main products (100,000 paying customers [1] times at least $50/mo avg). Sortfolio is such a tiny fraction of that, but still requires occasional attention (time + money). I'd shut it down, too.

[1] http://entrepreneursunpluggd.com/blog/jason-fried-scaling-st...

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