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markm

306 karma · joined August 31, 2007

Longtime lurker, in healthcare.
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markm··on Request HN: Do you know a good system administrator in the Toronto area?
We're on Amazon EC2, we have 10 instances, and we're having a problems with our Glassfish, OpenMq, and MySQL configuration. Additional info is available if you want to send me an e-mail. We can try to set up a remote call.
markm··on IPad doesn't obey DHCP lease expiration under certain conditions.
Can this be patched through a software update?
markm··on Internet Explorer 8 runs ten times faster with Google Chrome plug-in
Using Moore's law does that mean Google's development is approximately 6 years ahead of MS?

(8 times faster code doubles the speed once, doubles the speed twice, and doubles the speed a third time.)

markm··on The Anatomy of Determination
If determination is so important then are founders who've applied to YC several times given an advantage in future rounds?
markm··on Dropbox's Summer 07 YC Application
Amazing application. Out of curiosity, how much equity did YC take? (6%)?
markm··on JobSpice (YC S09) Makes Resumes Web Friendly, With A Facebook Co-Founder
The consumer business model that you described is a small part of JobSpice's potential. The goldmine comes from getting companies to use JobSpice to recruit new hires. All individuals want to create beautiful resumes but once the resume is created there's no telling where the individual goes with said resume.

JobSpice has the resume meta-data at its finger tips. The logical next step would be to get companies to offer jobs to JobSpice's users.

markm··on Dr. Eric Schmidt Resigns from Apple’s Board of Directors
Daniel Lyons, (aka. Fake Steve) also wrote this article for Newsweek called "Lyons: Why Good Web Sites Should Not Be Free".

Lyons pandered to the Newsweek demographic which for the most part wouldn't be heavy Internet users.

Newsweek Article: http://www.newsweek.com/id/208163 Reddit discussion: http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/942qd/why_old_people_sh... HN discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=722991

Not intending to cut Lyons at the knees, more hoping to add perspective to his body of work.

markm··on The Future of Facebook Usernames
What about the first post for someone selling their username on eBay?
markm··on Ask HN: Please review my new project: almost.at
It looks like a real-time news aggregation service.

Very good, would benefit from a search bar on the homepage and integration of real time comments from social sites such as digg, reddit and even Facebook public profiles.

markm··on What I learned from screwing up my first ebook launch
if you don't mind me asking, how do you enforce the site licenses? Is there a setting in creating a pdf that only allows you to make 100 copies or do you lock the pdf and issues 100 unique copies?

Any answer would be greatly appreciated. :)

markm··on Facebook pays 150 employees ~$50K to keep the site clean
When our apps were running 50K+ visits a day 99% of my time was spent policing our users. And I wasn't even on salary :(
markm··on Facebook wants you to give credit where credit is due
This is going to change the world, sadly, only 9 points in 4 hours.
markm··on JK Rowling Attacks Scribd For Pirated Content
"Also – our CEO is named Trip Adler, not Trip Adkins." big lols.
markm··on Google is Evil, Worse than PayPal: Don't use Google Checkout for your business
Not having the chance to try Google Checkout as a Canadian merchant (it wasn't available to Canadian merchants at the time we made our payment solution decision), I'm reminded of a very early quote from Max Levchin when he discusses one of the first years after Paypal launched.

The quote attributed almost the entire first year of Paypal to fraud. Running and managing 3 CPA campaigns I can now understand why, it seems like everyone with a (stolen) credit card tries to extract the money through online scams.

It should have been clearly visible at the time that choosing Google Checkout would have been a risky decision as a merchant because Google was going to inevitably go through some of the same growing pains. Luckily for us, we dodged that bullet - but by no means is payment integration and fraud detection easy.

markm··on Seven Minute Abs - A/B testing in 7 minutes (rails)
... and here I thought a health related topic got to #2 on Hacker News based on the merit of maintaning a healthy lifestyle in addition to being a successful worker.

FWIW, if anyone has yet to discover the joy of swimming (and the potential impact it will have on your abs), I recommend you try it.

markm··on Poll: Where are you from?
Just got back from Melbourne, (Toronto, ON), loved it and will return, and I just kept thinking 'If there was a start-up culture in Melbourne, I'd move there in 2 seconds!' - and now there are 6 responding to the thread, :)
markm··on Facebook Privacy Bugs w/ New Design
This bug has been around for at least 6 months, ever since just after the last major Facebook Profile redesign that moved profiles towards the 'Boxed' design.

For me, the bug lasted for at least an hour, or at least enough time for me to notice the bug, re-create a few friends lists, and browse a couple profiles. The next day when I logged on things were completely back to normal - AND my old friend lists had been restored.

One of the first things I noticed was that my friends lists had been deleted - and subsequently they no longer applied to photos privacy settings. Unfortunately I don't remember how or why I noticed this, maybe it was part of the exploratory feeling you get when something gets deactivated for a week and you want to make sure everything is OK.

The situatation also applied to my friends whose friends lists I was on. For example, if my friends didn't allow anyone to see tagged photos, I couldn't see their photos. But if my friend had just not allowed their 'Work friends' list to see their photos, and I was a Work friend, I could see their photos because my account no longer appeared under their friends lists entitled 'Work friends' - at least that's what I presume to have happened.

I do not recall if this affected the Networks as well. I don't recall if I was able to see normally private photos from strangers in other regional, high school or University networks. If it did, I probably would have a recollection of it because I did do some experimenting to see how far the bug extended.

Did I find any steamy secrets? Yes, in the form of insights into the nature of the human spirit and desire for privacy. And no, in regards to the underwhelming nature of photos. I should probably hang around in more exciting circles.

markm··on I have to say that after being an app developer on Facebook...
Leave it to Matt to always go against the grain of conventional wisdom.

I definitely agree that Facebook has balls pulling out this redesign but I do not agree that the design is for the better.

My thoughts on the new facebook homepage: http://blog.clutterme.com/2009/03/thoughts-on-new-facebook-h...

    * It's going to stink for apps.
    * Facebook is killing its own page views
On the converse side, the redesign is a definite upper for brands and the visibility of their pages:

Mashable talks about some of the effects that the redesign has had on its Facebook Page, http://mashable.com/2009/03/19/new-facebook-brands/

markm··on Ask HN: Would you pay for a shared office/startup space? What would it need?
We paid $420/mo. for shared office space at the heart of Toronto's tech centre, courtesy the great guys at Lyricfind Inc. We had more than enough amenities wise. In fact all we needed was wireless Internet, 2 desks and 2 chairs and a bathroom.

It was VERY nice to have access to a meeting room and kitchen, and great location. I didn't even think of having a communal printer or fax. I just did all the printing from home. We also used a very 1.0 key system that was fine.

With regards to this turning a profit, the same idea was tried a couple of years ago in Toronto and it was actually making a profit. I believe it was called something like 'Indoor playground' or 'Digital Playground' but I can't find a website or link. The last I heard was that it was closed down due to a problem with the landlord being a dick, not running out of money. The founder also went on to do greater things.

markm··on Social Websites Harm Children's Brains
I see no problem in having a short attention spa.. brb.
markm··on Tell HN: Vote.
I don't think the message should be Just vote, but rather get educated on the issues and cast an informed vote.
markm··on Ask HN: What if I don't have an idea?
If you want to talk about some ideas just send over an e-mail and we can discuss.
markm··on Insane "underwater" startup.
Now that's a maverick.
markm··on Last.fm Adds Lyrics
Big props to Lyricfind here. Lyricfind actually subletted their office space here on Yonge Street in Toronto. 5 promising tech companies now share some pretty sweet office space in Toronto's mini tech section (Yonge/Eglinton).
markm··on Wufoo's Secret to Customer Happiness? Googly Eyes
On a seemingly unrelated note, "Happiness is only real if shared." - Christopher McCandless
markm··on Ask YC: What do you think of my new search engine?
I disagree, I think it has the quirkiness, the edge to actually make people use it. I also don't find it visually invasive.
markm··on Digg Raises $28 Million in Series C Funding
Digg is also valuable for the page views it creates on other sites as well.
markm··on Ask YC: Website Monetization Consultants?
If interested I'd be happy to take a look at your website and make recommendations. You're doing well if your eCPM is anywhere above $1, really well if it's around $3.
markm··on Ask YC: Need a bit of advice, fellow student is screwing me over on this website.
Tell them your fee is $800 ($500 for the work and $300 for hosting). If they don't pay you don't deliver the product.

Edit 1: Or tell them your fee is $500, not including $300 hosting.

markm··on Why Project Management is important to startups (notes from Niel Robertson talk)
I appreciate the kind words Alex.
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