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philipithomas

11 karma · joined April 5, 2012

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philipithomas··on Save 50% on all oreilly's ebooks and videos (today only)
I have access to Safari Books through my university, so this hasn't yet been a problem, but it's a fair point.

However, when I'm searching for something precise, a google search / help documentation usually suffices. When I'm reading a book, it's generally in search of more deep understanding or just the process of learning in general - i.e. more long-form learning. For the latter I would still prefer printed.

philipithomas··on Save 50% on all oreilly's ebooks and videos (today only)
I love o'reilly publications, but I remain a fan of printed books. Specifically in technical texts, I like being able to scan and leaf through physical pages. If they had a special on printed books today, I would buy a couple; alas, with this special, my wallet remains closed.
philipithomas··on When Will This Low-Innovation Internet Era End?
Are they just running Google search on there?
philipithomas··on When Will This Low-Innovation Internet Era End?
The algorithm is quite fascinating (from what we can infer). Using things like a markov chain to model results in Google shows a big jump from human-compiled results in early search engines - it's a new application of theoretical knowledge that has greatly enhanced society, and frankly shows a degree of automation that could be a basis machine intelligence.
philipithomas··on Facebook’s 1st-Quarter Profit Falls 12%
Rather than revenue diversification, I was thinking more about product diversification. With core products like GMail, search, Plus (hah), and Google Apps, if any one of those takes a catastrophic plummet in traffic, their revenue wouldn't crash completely. In their early days, if a competitor took over search, they would have no remaining products that continued to generate revenue.
philipithomas··on Facebook’s 1st-Quarter Profit Falls 12%
However, I am interested in seeing how their business diversifies over time - Google has both stability and revenue from expanding beyond search. Additional features such as SSO and analytics are increasing the value of Facebook beyond just friend-to-friend interactions, and I am curious about how their business plan will support long-term stability.
philipithomas··on Google Spends Record Amount on Lobbying
I think you can see it if you are referred via social media, so . . . tweet it and click the link, or search for the title on twitter and click the link.

(I could post a link to my own tweet of the story, but I feel it would come off as more self-serving than altruistic.)

philipithomas··on FBI seizes riseup.net server
"[. . .] search warrant issued by the FBI,”

Doesn't a judge have to issue a warrant?

philipithomas··on Ice
I appreciate how smoothly the article bridges qualitative clarity and quantitative concreteness.
philipithomas··on Business Credit Card for Startup
However: "The Plum Card is designed for businesses with revenue in the 6 to 7-figure range [...]" [1]

So, it probably doesn't apply to most early-stage startups that need a line of credit.

[1] http://www.plumcard.com/whoitsfor/

philipithomas··on EveryMe (YC S11) hits the App Store
Fair enough - I'm trying out the app now and I'll reserve further judgement until I've thoroughly tested it.
philipithomas··on EveryMe (YC S11) hits the App Store
YC wins some and loses some. This seems to late to the market. Even the term 'circles' is already taken. However, I like their logo.
philipithomas··on Did Facebook panic?
With its impending IPO, do not think that any of Facebook's actions are at all swift.
philipithomas··on Mosh: SSH for 2012
Intriguing, but I feel that most of the efficiency problems it tries to overcome can be mostly remedied by key-based SSH access. Can anyone comment on this?
philipithomas··on Driving Inside the Soviets’ Secret Submarine Lair
Can someone explain how the 'hair' monitors humidity?