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prpon

581 karma · joined June 11, 2008

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prpon··on Tom Preston-Werner Uses This
I envy that macbook pro configuration :) Do you guys know of any MailPlane alternatives to manage multiple gmail accounts?
prpon··on TechCrunch BCC Fail Reveal Emails of Everyone Who Applied to Disrupt Hackathon
They’re also “removing” anyone who has replied all

It's TC's event and they can do whatever they want. If TC sends a reply all, it's an honest mistake. If you do it, you get removed from the list. Because they can.

prpon··on An open letter to Mike Arrington: Please stop investing in startups
TechCrunch had never been an impartial reporter of startup or tech news. Their coverage of startups even before Mike Arrington started investing is based on how connected the startup is with VCs/angels. The users don't necessarily see all startups in that space covered equally. For TC, it works well since it guarantees access to other news stories before anyone else.
prpon··on Startups Are Hard
Chad, Couldn't have said any better about startups being hard. I wish you and Paul success. You have so many things that are going right for you. Access to great mentors, being part of YC, being in the valley and having a supporting family. You just need that missing piece for which people would really pay. As a nobody, you have not much to lose. We will be here to cheer you on when you find that missing link.
prpon··on Show HN: Review our Landing Page
Here are my initial impressions. Take it with a grain of salt.

1. The tag 'cardless, effortless rewards' needs some work. I am not exactly sure what that means.

2. On step 1, I would add something about 'how secure your cards are on our site'. I would be very skeptical about entering all my credit card information into your site.

3. On step 3, 'Earn free rewards'. Are those rewards on top of rewards/miles/points I already get from my credit cards? Is it for cards that don't have any rewards?

Hope that helps.

prpon··on Why I, Jeff Bezos, Keep Spending Billions On Amazon R&D
That letter is so geeky, I doubt if 90% of amazon investors would get the things he was explaining. As a geek though, I love it.
prpon··on Google acquires TalkBin (YC W11)
It's a great idea. A complaining customer can probably get hold of a manager quicker this way than by causing ruckus and looking like an idiot.

Lots of interesting possibilities like integrating testimonials to a tv screen or social media sites.

prpon··on Why Johnny can’t build a decent user interface
How about iterating based on what the users are actually doing on the UI (or website?). PG said in one of his articles if you don't know how to design, keep it really simple. That's probably a starting point. As a developer learning to design I find myself thinking in terms of data rather than user experience.
prpon··on If average salaries are 80-100k why does everyone keep getting 40-60k offers?
I would honestly say you are being short changed if you get 55K. Back in the day (some 10+ years ago), I got 55K with 2 years experience in the midwest.

Today, I hear from friends who still live out there that not much has changed, but I would be looking at 70K in salary with 2 years experience.

If you can, hold out for better opportunities and please, please, please, don't sell yourself short. A 15K would not make a difference to these companies. It will make a difference to you. I went to silicon valley from mid-west with a 30K jump in salary back in the day. I shared an apartment in the bay area and living costs didn't matter that much. The money did.

prpon··on My first six months of programming: from man-rodent to partyman
Welcome wblackall to HN. Inspiring journey. I hope you keep up with it and go far with your efforts. Inspires me to look at all the things that we coders are not familiar with and approach it with the same enthusiasm as you do.
prpon··on Protip for salary seekers: H1-B filings are public
Better yet, if your company employs H1-B visa holders, they are required by law to put up the job advertisement along with salary offered in a public area of the office.

This requirement is to give opportunity to existing employees for the new position.

In a small company of about 400 people, where I worked, the job advertisements were posted in the kitchen area and it wasn't very hard to deduce what the salary of the newly joining member of your team is.

prpon··on Ask HN: Review my Startup - http://Cardnap.com
Am I understanding 'Balance Checker' functionality right? Currently, it shows me the same results as finding discounted gift cards.
prpon··on If you're applying this cycle: How to Apply to Y Combinator
I have a question regarding 1 minute video presentation required in the application. Is it required that both the founders be on the video presentation? I read in one of the comments by either Harj or PG that 'we look for chemistry between the founders in videos'.
prpon··on Why Silicon Valley Immigrant Entrepreneurs Are Returning Home
I don't want to hijack this thread or the merits in your comment. I've been in the US 15 years now and in the same stage as you without a green card. (on EAD) When I got my EAD 2 years back, I quit my full time gig and went contracting to save up some money. A month back, I quit my contract gig to do my own startup. In spite of the fact that immigration sucks in US, you have to pursue your dream too. It all depends on how badly you want it.
prpon··on Inside the Y Combinator office
Justin, I totally agree that what you did with Justin.tv was novel and didn't exist before. However, how would you have answered Why doesn't it already exist?
prpon··on Inside the Y Combinator office
It is a great question. However, I look at some of the YC funded companies(including justin.tv) and I wonder what the answer would be?

Off the top of my mind, I can think of hipmunk,1000memories etc and would like to know how the founders would answer.

It is a much more piercing question than What are users forced to do today when your product does not exist.

prpon··on Poll: If I asked, would you send me your "Saved Stories"?
If I might add a data point, When I am busy, I primarily use the upvote button to read later. It's my instapaper. I upvote the article based on the content when I am not too busy.
prpon··on Man with ALS writes patch for Gnome using morse code (with touching story)
When you are dying, All rationality goes out the window. Working on open source project is the last thing they worry about.

Let me ask you something. Whom do you respect?

prpon··on Man with ALS writes patch for Gnome using morse code (with touching story)
Dude, you probably haven't seen anyone close by suffer from a debilitating disease and pass away in the recent times. It is painful for everyone involved and it takes tremendous amount of dedication to work on something like gnome. He could have said who gives a shit.

No one dying from a disease ever thinks that 'Oh, next week is gonna be my last, let me enjoy it'. Every day is a struggle trying to find something that might help you live better or longer. Working on an OS project is the last thing you would think of if you don't believe it passionately.

prpon··on Show HN: HackerBooks.com
Daniel, The ctrl-click feature is really cool. I hear you about feature creep. I am struggling with similar issues with what I am working on. I keep reminding myself Every piece of software I paid for recently is dead simple to use
prpon··on Show HN: HackerBooks.com
Daniel, I really like your site and the curated list. However, I find the categories in HackerBooks.com much more easier to navigate than questions on the right side bar of hn-books.

Both of the sites still need to address the question, 'how do I present the categories without requiring too much navigation'. I know it's not sexy any more but how about tag-cloud per major category?

prpon··on Poll: Which S/N improvements do you think would most improve HN?
My HN account says that I have been around 983 days. Probably much longer before I signed up for an account. I do think the quality of comments has gone down. More people commenting without putting much thought into it.

I am against putting Karma restrictions to upvote or post Ask HN. It insulates us from attracting newer and possibly better members.

prpon··on Are you working for github yet?
Go build your own thing, showcase your work and they would come after you. Working for github or any successful startup would be great but not the only thing in town. It probably is not the case with github but most startups teach you what not to do more than what to do.
prpon··on IBM's "Watson" finally ready for prime-time Jeopardy
NYTimes had 'Play against IBM Watson' interactive feature few months back.

Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/06/16/magazine/watso...

prpon··on How one man tracked down Anonymous—and paid a heavy price
A great read. It's amazing how Aaron Barr completely believed his hunches even when his programmer said that the data doesn't backup his analysis. He is a business man trying to get paid big bucks from FBI for his hunches.
prpon··on How Much Money I Made From Side Projects In 2010
Matt, What caused the signups and new orders to go up compared to an year ago? Other than AdWords, are there any strategies that worked well for you?
prpon··on Don’t ask *why* you were rejected
Wrong argument. If improving a few specific things will give the greatest benefit, please give feedback. There's no point randomly letting the other person wander with self doubt and hope for improvement in every area.
prpon··on Show HN: my new project, an anti-snub dating site
This desperation, be it for money, for companionship, or for any other strong desire, is ripe ground for snake oil. And the snake oil is that much stronger if it works -sometimes-... like hoping you win the Power Ball to solve your debt problems and seeing that there are average people like you who are winning it.

One of the best quotes I've seen in a while.

prpon··on I'm a pregnant hacker. Please review my side project.
Thanks for the advise. I too think that partnership with a designer is a great thing. Things keep changing and you need more design help when you are iterating through ideas.
prpon··on I'm a pregnant hacker. Please review my side project.
How does the partnership work in this case? % of revenues? % of the project/venture? What if the designer gets too busy with other projects?

Sorry, I am being curious because most of us hackers are in the same boat when it comes to design.

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