Hacker News Reader

joshberton Troubled Startup Color Loses Cofounder Peter Pham

I can't possibly be the only one that read your text in a pitch perfect Paul Graham voice, can I?

joshberton Ask HN: In one sentence, what is your life purpose?

To serve.

joshberton Nothing Is Like You Think It Will Be

A few people told me I should blog and after a few days thinking about it, I'm following that advice. Blogging is really fun and providing value to HN in this way is the least I could do after getting such sound advice from the brilliant people that make the rounds of this board.

This is one of my very first articles, guys and I hope that you find it enjoyable :)

joshberton If you want to build something great, it shouldn't matter where you live.

Paul, even though you're more experienced than most of us when it comes to building and maintaining entrepreneurial ecosystems, I do feel that the community part of this equation can be accomplished regardless of geographic issues.

For me, the great thing about the web is that it is geographically agnostic. This allows for building great businesses and communities without the need of geographical proximity. Meeting other like-minded individuals physically is great, sure, but the inability to do so shouldn't be an obstacle that hinders working with them and accomplishing great things together imho.

joshberton If you want to build something great, it shouldn't matter where you live.

While it is true that the money comes from Silicon Valley, the entrepreneurs will all be based in Mexico as far as I know.

joshberton Github for designers

I would love to see something like this. I'm a part of Forrst, but this isn't exactly what they do.

Something more open and mass-appealing than Designsvn would be terrific.

joshberton Code School now open to the public

I was invited to be a part of the beta and can confirm that the quality of the RBP videos is top-notch.

joshberton Subject: Airbnb

Was I the only one that kind of smiled when reading the emails from PG to Fred pitching these guys? I loved that!

joshberton Airbnb

If you watch Fred's interview with Chris Dixon, you can see the honest regret of not having invested in AirBnB. My sincerest congratulations to the guys over at AirBnb for all of their success. It is truly a remarkable startup.

joshberton 37Signals' "Rework" in action

I like Rework the best.

joshberton Khan of Khan Academy at TED (video)

He has stated in numerous occasions that his children use Khan Academy's videos.

I really admire Sal for what he's doing with global education. He is a big inspiration for anyone looking to change the world. Specially hackers.

joshberton Epic Games shows jaw-dropping graphics for next-generation consoles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSXyztq_0uM

Better version. I could appreciate it more.

joshberton Ask HN: What are the best books on startups?

I respectfully disagree. I find Gladwell's books to be somewhat unsubstantial.

Instead I would recommend that you read Steve Blank's "4 Steps To The Epiphany." Also, I picked up "Do More Faster" recently on recommendation from a previous thread, which I found fascinating. There's some great advice within both books.

joshberton Review my 4-hour project: a site where you can send secret mentions in Twitter

Talk about interesting.

There's a small typo on the tweets that go out though. It should be 'someone sent you a #secretmention'

Great job, specially considering the time that it took you to make it. Cheers.

joshberton What the hell happened to Gizmodo.com?

Gawker. Gawker happened.

joshberton SendGrid Responds to Amazon's Simple Email Service

You raise a great point. I'd really appreciate a little more input on the inboxing side of the deal though. We could say that SendGrid has that going for it, so I'm wondering if there's something we can do about that.

joshberton How they used to sell computers: Oldest computer ads:

I love MS, Gates and even like Ballmer. Having said that, get a load of this gem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGvHNNOLnCk

Amazing how commercials like this were helpful in the creation of such an empire. Oh, how the times change.

joshberton Ask HN: I want to learn to program (in Ruby). How can I get to "doing", easily?

You have to check this place out. It has been incredibly useful for a lot of people, myself included:

http://railsforzombies.org/

Good luck!

joshberton Review my startup: Tastebuds - dating for last.fm users

This is incredible. I put my username in and was immediately prompted with nearly 10 females from around.

I may be getting ahead of myself here, but if I marry one of these girls, I shall invite you to our wedding which will have both our last.fm personal radio stations as music.

joshberton Tell HN: Even Windows 7 is a horror show

I beg to differ. Windows 7 is among the best pieces of software I've ever used, and it's certainly the best OS I've ever had. I signed up for the beta when it first came out and got it as soon as it was out full.

Yes - you have to take a little while to install it and configure it, but after that everything is a breeze.

joshberton Ask HN: 2011 Predictions

Myspace? Sure. Digg? Maybe. Do you care to elaborate on Flickr though?

joshberton Ask HN: What are you fellow geeks using for blogging?

Good old Posterous. I have 2 blogs in there and I love it.

joshberton Offer HN: Front-End Web Development.

I just sent you an email with my design. Thank you very much for making such a generous offer to our community. I'll be sure to pay it forward :)

joshberton Offer HN: Front-End Web Development.

I really need help converting a Photoshop design to HTML/CSS. May I contact you with my design and know your thoughts? Thanks in advance by the way!

joshberton Ask HN: Any desperate things you did just to keep your startup alive?

Mexico City. Forgot to be a little more specific, my bad :)

joshberton Ask HN: Any desperate things you did just to keep your startup alive?

If you ever decide to come to Mexico and need a safe place to stay give me a buzz as well. I'll hook you up.

joshberton 'The Simpsons' Explains Its Provocative Banksy Opening

As a very old fan of The Simpsons (including the newer seasons) I couldn't be more pleased. The recent Zuckerberg cameo was brilliant as well:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/video/item/mark-zuckerberg-on-t...

joshberton Ask HN: Best movie about work/business?

Yeah, it was an interesting film. Specially insightful if you weren't around the scene when the bubble burst, but want to know how things were like from an insider's perspective.

joshberton Mexican Senate Unanimously Votes To Remove Mexico From ACTA Negotations

What are you talking about, drivingmenuts? We're Internet addicts!

Also, I think this was a good decision from the Senate. The country has made some serious strides towards true Freedom of Speech during the last decade.

joshberton Show HN: Streak.ly tracks what you do daily and I'd love feedback on the concept

I'm really enjoying the app the whole 5 minutes I've been using it. I'll use it for a week and see what kind of results I get.

For the record, I do realize that results will vary according to the type of person that uses the application. I'm a serial procrastinator, so maybe it'll be worth something for your Customer Development process.