Hacker News Reader

malcolmmccon Famous tech acquisitions’ cost per user

Ironically, I only make Google money through YouTube when I'm not a registered user, because when I am I have AdBlock on and it's only when I'm in an incognito mode or different browser/profile that the ads get shown.

So yeah, users not necessarily the most relevant metric there. Which, upon reflection, makes YouTube even more of a steal than it looks in the chart.

malcolmmccon Show HN: We built our startup in 100 days

Did you even watch any of the videos? They're like 10 seconds and not edited. If you're not spending more than 10 seconds on your actual activity... I... don't even.

malcolmmccon Show HN: We built our startup in 100 days

Wow, you made a new account just for this?

I think what Give It 100 does is that they take away a lot of the overhead from documenting so that you can focus more on the doing. Like, it lets you be publicly accountable for your progress in a simple and enjoyable way, without needing like... a youtube account?

malcolmmccon University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School

"The [Waterloo] Region's population was 507,096 as of the 2011 census."

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterloo_Region

malcolmmccon What I learned from getting my side project acquired

If you want to make the challenge even more intense, you can try a service like Beeminder that'll charge you if you don't commit every day. It can hook into Github, I believe.

https://www.beeminder.com/gitminder

The founders actually use this themselves, making a mandatory UVI (user-visible improvement) every day, inspired by pg's advice "startups rarely die mid-keystroke... so keep typing!" See here for more on that: http://blog.beeminder.com/rails/

malcolmmccon Time-lock encryption

Gwern posts articles, but not in blog format. If you look on the sidebar for this page, for example, you'll see it was originally published in 2011, and just recently modified.

This is the closest thing to what you're looking for: http://www.gwern.net/Changelog

malcolmmccon Teach 3-6 Yr Olds How To Code With Robotic Turtles

Reminds me of this, in board game form: http://drtechniko.com/2012/04/09/how-to-train-your-robot/

malcolmmccon I'm Building a GitHub for Writers

huh, both work for me.

malcolmmccon I'm Building a GitHub for Writers

See also https://www.scigit.com/

malcolmmccon Show HN: Highlighting Efforts of Creation from Hacker News

This is just how Medium is. Of debatable merit.

malcolmmccon Reddit Insight

My prior on that is extremely low, so my guess is that's like, of the posts that make front-page? Or of the top posts. What this really reflects, therefore, is something more like how up-votey people are.

malcolmmccon Reddit Insight

> "Dogs" occurs more times in titles in r/aww than "cats" or "kittens"

That can be a fact.

> Despite their internet popularity cats are not submitted nearly as many times on this cuddly SubReddit.

Or dogs are rare enough that they're worth naming, because cats are default. Seriously, run whatever calculations you want, but be careful about what conclusions you draw from the numbers.

malcolmmccon Snowden given safepass to Ecuador [pdf]

Huh? He wasn't married before. But yeah, he left his girlfriend to keep her safe. Apparently she knew absolutely nothing until he blew the whistle.

malcolmmccon Show HN: My new homepage

Typed "fav". Hit Tab. Did not complete. Wat.

malcolmmccon The secrets of body language

I typically dance to music that makes me feel cool while walking to job interviews. So far it has worked really well.

malcolmmccon Can a Puppy Sell a CMS?

Worth testing, but in my experience stock photos of people make websites look cheesy and fake. Untrustworthy, even. Like one of those fake sites to gather extra domain traffic.

malcolmmccon Show HN: Rappad - Write better lyrics

  Yeah man, add more syllables
  Then it'll be billable
  Send me an invoice and it'll be fillable
  With more rhymes available
  You'll need to make it scaleable,
  'cause when a saas is failable
  it'll be hard to pitch it
  your users will ditch it
  instead of pitching in to help
  they'll be bitchingin' for help
  sucking all your time away from development
  yup, it's a crime, when you see where it hella went
  I got deliberate rhymes inside the lines
  I'm not illiterate, but words blow my mind
  I'm here killin' it, but I'm not just killin' time
  Because I'm willin' it: this creation is mine.

malcolmmccon Show HN: Rappad - Write better lyrics

Needs internal rhyme. Like http://www.b-rhymes.com/

Something so key for rap is rhyming more than just one syllable.

http://rapgenius.com/posts/1669-The-rapper-s-flow-encycloped...

malcolmmccon Lulu: An App No One Should Accept

The scales still have a way to go. Sure, it's sometimes more acceptable to make sweeping negative generalities about men than women, because we're more tuned in to misogyny than misandry, but the reality remains that women still have serious issues to contend with, including by not limited to: - lack of representation in media (look up the Bechdel test) - street harassment - pay discrepancies - discrimination in hiring processes, etc

And even calling women "sweet" isn't always appreciated. See http://rookiemag.com/2013/04/no-more-nice-girls/

malcolmmccon This Professor only has a PhD degree

I get that this reads funny, but I think it's fairly clear what he means...like, reworded it might say:

"I essentially have a BSc and MSc, through self-studying, but the only degree I got from an academic institution was my PhD."

malcolmmccon Amazon Acquires Social Reading Site Goodreads

I would assume the main reason is to share Kindle books.

malcolmmccon Show HN: A personal Gmail

I'd definitely at least try it out. I don't have a lot of bones to pick with gmail but an awesome UI can often convert me.

malcolmmccon Dear hn, today i resign & risk it all to follow my heart. wish me luck.

I highly recommend Cal Newport's (e)book, So Good They Can't Ignore You, which tackles the issue that passion is not always enough to succeed. I think it would help you make your mark.