felipe

I don't think you can get a visa as a self-employed. Small start-ups hiring H1-Bs are very unlikely because it is a long and expensive process, unless you have a background that is truly unique and valuable. Think about the research you have developed at UC Berkeley, maybe you can find a start-up that matches your research and wants to invest in a visa sponsorship.

I think it's easier for a big company to hire H1-Bs because they already have an infrastructure to handle that (lawyers, immigration experts, etc...). I myself immigrated to the US through that path. Maybe you can work for a big company and do something on the side?

As far as I know, the government issues visas any time of the year. There is a yearly cap, so maybe they already reached the cap for 2010? I don't know, but it's easy to look that up (go to USCIS web site).

And, ironically, that's exactly what the American people did with the patriot act and 8 years of Bush.

Funny how no one used to complain when it was the rich countries who dictated the rules of the game (via the IMF).

> The only real solution to your problem is to move to a free country.

Ask any of your black friends if they think they live in a free country. Ask latinos in Arizona. Ask gay couples who want to get married.

I lived in Mountain View (California -- where Google is located) and I had to call the police twice because I heard gun shots over the creek behind my apt complex. In China I go to the ATM at 2am and it's totally safe.

Really, you complain about China because a Bud is 45 kuai?!?! Of course anything foreign is more expensive than the west. You realize you are in the other side of the world, right?

About the CCP making a mint off the US: Keep in mind that is the US that's selling treasuries.

People can enjoy clean water and clean air in the US because all the crap we consume is outsourced to China.

First, let me say that I really like your design.

Having said that, when I read "badass developer and designer" and then when I see your design, the first thing that comes to my mind is: "He/she must be really expensive". People here most likely are bootstrappers just like you.

By no means I'm saying your services should be cheaper. My point is that you should offer some kind of service or product that is more targeted to HN readers.

Twitter cannot afford to be just profitable. The amount of money already invested on Twitter requires it to be out-of-the-charts wildly profitable. That's the key issue.

The author is comparing a disruptive innovator (Netscape) with incremental features (Yelp and Twitter). Netscape truly changed the world by making the Internet accessible to millions of new users, while Yelp created a Bay Area and NY centric yellow-pages -- useful, but hardly innovative.

I found Lingt very similar (in concept) to Anki, which has an iPhone client. I do not have an iPhone, so I can't tell how good it is, but Anki (desktop) is fantastic. I am currently learning Mandarin, and Anki is my primary resource for vocabulary memorization.

I find it amusing that the IMF and economists for decades pushed emerging countries to "pay the interest on their debt, or else..." in order to keep rich countries growing, but now that the tables are turned they want the emerging countries to "stop growing"... ????

I would vote you up ten times if I could.

I believe the class struggle that you are suggesting is not so clear-cut here in China. Most Chinese I know work in the city and have their parents in the country-side. So, the "middle-class" that we normally talk about is the sons and daughters, and the "peasants" are their parents. They are not going to revolt among each other.

Their situation improved hugely from what it was 20 or 30 years ago. They went through hell during all these decades, so they built up such resilience that I don't think that they will revolt simply because they cannot get a job right now.

Also, the Cultural Revolution is still fresh on people's memory (even though no one talks about it). That was a "class-struggle" revolution (supposedly), and I don't think they would want to get back to that time, even if the gap between rich and poor keeps widening.

I really wish you could take a look at the link I posted before calling it simply "pirated electronics"

Excellent article. The author does a great job highlighting the parallels between the Psytar and the rebellious early stages of Apple.

I find this Shanzhai phenomenon fascinating. These are the true hackers of today.

http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=284

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanzhai

Eckart Wintzen is my hero since I worked at his company, Origin, back in the 90s. He actually implemented that concept at Origin: We had to track and estimate the footprint of each project, and then the amount was reinvested in environmental projects.

Recently I have created a methodology inspired by that experience at Origin: http://www.scribd.com/doc/5507536/Sustainable-Software-Engin...

More info about Eckart Wintzen (who passed away recently): http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.11/es_wintzen_pr.html

I agree with mr_eel. Your message is good but it would have been much more effective if you have used a less condescending tone.

Good web developers DO VALUE the importance of marketing and sales. I think we have a lot to learn from you, but with this kind of post you are helping to alienate developers.

Please don't take me wrong, that's just my humble opinion on the matter.

Right, but how can one decide whether or not a connection is worth before actually meeting the person? Unless he has a crystal ball, he could be losing investment opportunities with this kind of attitude.

And it is not his money. He is being paid (well paid) to scout new deals. He is not wasting his time, he is just doing his job.

Aaron Patzer the "Steve Jobs of our generation" -- Are you serious??????

It seems to me that a VC would want to increase the number of connections one could possibly make, and not limit it...

Reality checks are best provided by customers, or potential customers.

Very well said. Besides, I don't see how someone can prove or disprove anything by attending a 3-day conference.

It seems to me that their product would cannibalize their own consulting business -- Which is a perfectly understandable reason to not pursue an opportunity. But I don't buy the "failure in 3 days" excuse, especially when they had some evidence that clients could be interested in such product.

They want to teach people about web browsers, as long as they convert to Chrome. Note the Analytics UTM params on the Chrome link in the "What Browser" page.

Yeah, very ".org" and altruistic...

I think the issue is the focus on efficiency rather than effectiveness. GTD is great on the efficiency part (i. e.: tracking and execution), but not on the effectiveness part (i. e.: what should I be doing right now, what are my passions, what is my mission in this world).

To do lists are important even when you need to relax. For example, I love to do trip check-lists so I minimize my stress DURING the trip. And, even if you want to turn-off, you need to plan for that. Just turning off GTD (or whatever other tool) is not the way to go IMO.

I highly recommend First Things First by Dr. Covey. It outlines a process to find out what's really important to you, and then how to execute them. I think a combination of FTF and GTD is ideal.

Side note (but interesting): I noticed that people here barely know who Google is (not the techies, but common Internet users). I noticed that several times. One example: Other day I had to talk to the apt manager, and her English is bad (and my Chinese is worse than her's English!). So she uses a translation web site on her office to communicate with me. She goes to a Chinese portal, does a few clicks and so on... To my surprise, I noticed the translation service she uses is actually Google, but it was inside an iframe on this Chinese portal. I pointed to Google's logo right there on the screen, and she actually didn't know what that was!! For her (and I bet for a lot of people) this translation service is actually provided by the Chinese portal, and not Google.

There are other instances that I noticed too (this was not an isolated case), but in summary, I think Google has a loooong way to go here in China.

I second that! I am an overweight guy, not your typical "Bay Area Fundamentalist Cyclist". I started biking to lose some weight, but mostly because I am truly concerned about the environment and I thought that would help.

The "looked down" is not even so much the issue. I actually got yelled at several times, intimidated, and actually ran over by other cyclists who thing they are Lance Armstrong or something. Close to the place where I lived (in Mountain View) there was a creek, and I was tired to hear other cyclists yelling "get off the way". And, you know, I am not really a slow rider and I really make sure to keep the left side clear. When I got ran over was some guy who had plenty of space to pass me by, but didn't want to wait to get back to the track and actually PUSHED me with his hands. I am dead serious.

Then I moved to China... Bicycles are TRULY ubiquitous here, and everyone uses it, from all ages and societal classes.

If the US wants to get serious about alternative forms of transportation, these elitists must need to change their attitude.

I think "quiz" type of questions are pretty ineffective at filtering out candidates. You do filter out the bad candidates, but great ones could also be left behind. Who knows, the person could be an brilliant developer who got nervous during the interview and had a blank. Or the phone call is breaking up. Or the person is in a non-ideal location. Etc... I would not filter out a potential hire just because the person couldn't remember the SQL syntax on the spot...

For me, a senior developer is someone who is able to work in a TEAM, be dependable (i.e.: The guy who you can call at the 3am with an urgent matter), mentor others and be able to contribute and implement new processes and practices. The technical stuff is important but should not be the main filter IMO.

It also seems to me that you want to apply a certain logic or algorithm to the process. Personally I prefer to call up and just have a conversation with the person (trying to find out the aspects I listed above). Unless I am Google and I am getting a gazillion applications, that's different...

From my experience:

It is expensive. I was paying $1.2k per month on my COBRA.

It is not the same amount it costs while you were employed. It is the cost the company would otherwise pay for the benefit. What companies deduct from your paycheck is not the full amount, which under COBRA you will be responsible for. In addition, the company pays the benefits with pre-tax dollars (so they actually have an incentive to provide the most expensive insurance), while you now will be paying COBRA with after-tax dollars (hopefully from your savings). And remember there is no steady income coming in anymore.

Private individual insurance is very restrictive. It is not the same kind of coverage one would expect with a group insurance through the employer.

As a former Nokia software engineer, I can tell you the difference is that Nokia has a bigger focus on hardware at the expense of software and usability. Basically, Nokia produces software the same way it produces hardware, using an internal methodology that follows a waterfall approach. For example, Agile practices are simply not taken seriously because most managers believe they won't fit in the grand scheme of things.

Also, differently than Apple, Nokia releases a huge number of models every year, worldwide. Apple has the wisdom (and the balls) to focus all its energies on very few products per year.

I also have a 5800, which is a huge improvement over previous Nokia phones. However, it's so far behind the iPhone that I don't even know how to begin describing it.