heldtogether

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Why use ed if you have cat?

It sounds very much like you're a whistleblower of some crime, which gives you protection against the sort of retaliation you're describing. See http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower for more information about legal protection.

Now, you're not immune to workforce politics so there may still be reasons why you'd be fired but I definitely wouldn't accept it without finding out a lot more about your situation and potentially escalating the complaint.

I still cite this article when discussing A/B testing with clients. They often want to bypass the testing process because "it's an obvious change".

"There's no point in making trivial adjustments, ... on a site this big and this complex, it is impossible to predict how even the smallest changes might affect the bottom line. Fixing the wonky images, for instance, might actually hurt Plenty of Fish. Right now, users are compelled to click on people's profiles in order to get to the next screen and view proper headshots."

This isn't to say that everything must be A/B tested, but it's very easy to overlook the fact you can negatively affect the site by making an apparently positive change.

I was once refused a consumer credit application for a kitchen appliance because I'd forgotten to sign the back of my credit card. I had a passport and a photo driving license on me at the time but because there wasn't a signature they "couldn't be sure" it was me so they refused to process the application.

I signed it in front of them (which matched my passport signature BTW) but was politely declined as they'd seen the card unsigned.

Another example of security policy getting in the way of actual security.

This website is not affiliated with the real http://phonebloks.com/ project. The creator, Dave Hakkens, isn't asking for any money.

Having something rammed down your neck like you're a 10 year old never really helps. Being a victim helps people remember the basic things. Have a couple of people walking around placing stickers on laptops that are unattended. When the owner returns they'll see a sticker saying something along the lines of "your laptop has been stolen", and they'll quickly feel foolish for dropping their guard.

It's not a bad idea, but there are so many things that need considering. For example, you can't have more than 500 investors before you're required to declare your accounts. For a company that's in a growth period rather than a 'making shed loads of money that looks good to your average joe on the street' period, declaring your accounts isn't necessarily a good idea.

Secondly when you have shareholders you have to be seen to be doing things to increase value for your shareholders, and not necessarily for the long term. Raising money doesn't always coincide with making profit, so the companies would be exposing themselves to potentially hindering lawsuits (which would probably be dismissed but are definitely distracting).

I'll consider it for when the time comes :)

As I said I was aiming for candid. But you're entitled to your opinion and I appreciate the feedback.

Could I ask in what made you think it was semi-unprofessional? I'll admit it was a very candid video, but I can't see how you'd get to unprofessional.

An iPhone companion is in the pipeline. Nice to hear your thoughts on how to make it more likely for people to actually use the app, which I think is probably one of the biggest barriers to success with this sort of thing.

There is a huge amount that banks could do to make things easier for their customers but progress seems very slow. I have a friend who works for high street banks and it sounds absolutely horrendous! Better to be safe than sorry for them though I guess.

Fair comment, but I've been programming for 10 years (although I know that's not what your point is getting at). Your fears are fairly moot though, the app isn't networked (yet) and is fully self contained meaning that no one has access to your data except for you.

If I get to a stage where there are enough people demanding networking then I imagine my age won't be much of a concern any more.

I've thought about it. The question is, should it bulk import everything from your bank account every time you open the app, and you just add labels etc to it/match it up with existing transactions, or should it be separate somehow? Curious to hear what people actually want, rather than what's available now.

thanks for the advice :)

Ah I see! Good idea, I'll make a quick change :)

I've been lurking on HN for quite a while, but first post. Can I add a URL and text?

It's just a weekend project to start with, the first version of the app took a weekend, another weekend tweaking bits, and then a weekend to shoot and edit the video.

Would you want automatic importing from your bank account or from a table of data?