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timdavila

419 karma · joined June 9, 2015

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timdavila··on Ask HN: What are you working on and why is it cool?
I'm working on a personal organization app - basically integrating a to do list, habit tracker, and notes app into one. I think it's cool because it's useful to me and a "scratch your own itch" app.

If you're curious it's at https://www.nominal.net

timdavila··on New in Chrome 70
I noticed that too. I'm not sure of the benefit of PWA on desktop, but I built a progressive web app, mainly because I need very few native features (currently only using push notifications) and I'm only one person so I don't have time/interest in writing native code when I can write for the web and be done.

I use it daily on my Android and it works well for my needs. I get caching and push notifications, my app is right on my home screen so just one click away. All this is very cheap (writing a service worker) compared to trying to figure out Cordova or Electron.

timdavila··on Ask HN: Found a way to teach Web Development to dummies. Should I write a book?
That's a great skill and it's very cool that you want to give back, but you didn't teach your friend by giving him a stack of articles you wrote, right?

Why not consider becoming a tutor or teacher of some sort?

timdavila··on Twitter is being investigated over data collection in its link-shortening system
Most journalists don't understand how the web works.
timdavila··on Show HN: RoastMe – Feedback markeplace from users and experts for your product
Cool idea, kind of like ProductHunt meets Quora? I think in order for people to spend money you will need some well known experts, but I like the free offering and I put in a submission of my own. Congrats on the launch!
timdavila··on Ask HN: Ex-FAANG developers, where are you now and why?
>It's not hard to acquire that much money.

As a privileged developer, this is an extremely untrue and privileged statement. Developers like myself who don't live in SF are lucky to receive any signing bonus, and would be lucky to earn half of that as a yearly salary. Outside the US it's not possible. You are part of a very small and very fortunate group.

Source: https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2018/#salary

timdavila··on Delete Your Account Now: A Conversation with Jaron Lanier
Way less. Isn't 2% conversion a good rate in this industry?
timdavila··on Tell HN: Forwarded Facebook emails automatically login as recipient
I've never understood why any company emails magic log-in links in anything except a password reset (which should immediately prompt for a new password and send the user a notice that their password has been changed)
timdavila··on Shutting Down Google+ for Consumers
While it sounds shallow I have to agree. I think your product name is part of the UI and should be as friendly and memorable as possible.
timdavila··on Ask HN: What's your catch-all note taker?
I built my own solution for this after using many different apps and not quite being satisfied with any of them. My ideal editor is markdown based with preview as you type, available everywhere (so sublime wouldn't work), plain text storage that's easy to export, and simple linking between notes. It's at https://www.nominal.net if you're interested.
timdavila··on Ask HN: What's your catch-all note taker?
Very cool, congrats on building it. Do you have any affiliation with the old catch.com team?

I used Catch Notes for a bit several years ago before they were bought out. In case you weren't aware: https://www.cnet.com/how-to/export-your-data-from-catch-note...

timdavila··on GoogleMeetRoulette: Joining random meetings
It looks like they fixed the brute forcing PIN issue. When I set up a new meeting, the phone in PIN is 9 digits long (compared to the 4 mentioned in the article)

However it seems the recurring meeting number+pin doesn't change. I feel this is a better UI, and only a minor risk with an easy workaround - update the meeting - which you would probably do anyway to remove the attendee who is no longer included

timdavila··on Show HN: Trolley lets you take payments from your static site
I think it's a nice idea that would lead to very little revenue for the creator. You're making it easier to get the content free than to pay for it - is that the intention?
timdavila··on Ask HN: What are some successful 1 person sites that have a very plain design?
I don't know about "successful" but my solo weekend project is pretty plain only because I'm not much of a designer: https://www.nominal.net
timdavila··on Ask HN: Why did your startup fail and what did you learn?
How do you feel about solo entrepreneur products that are solely for individuals? e.g. Pinboard, Tarsnap

Idea being purposefully stay small - keep costs down, so you don't need as many customers to succeed. My gut feeling is there is a sweet spot (likely below $20/year) where it's more of an "impulse buy" rather than a purchase that needs consideration.

timdavila··on Show HN: My new SaaS side-project, after years of open source
I use them as well. You can avoid this issue entirely by creating a "click" domain. All you have to do is set a CNAME and then your links go to your own domain instead of go.sparkpostmail1.com
timdavila··on Facebook has asked U.S. banks to share financial information about customers
Exactly.

Just like they repeatedly say "we don't sell your data!" they will come up with their own meanings of words and phrases to try to pacify people.

timdavila··on Liquid water 'lake' revealed on Mars
We could have both if the defensive budget was cut by a percent or two
timdavila··on Vue Native
>we never managed to produce a single, great native cross platform toolkit

Why can't the web+JS be that platform?

timdavila··on Senate votes to reinstate net neutrality
So your solution is what, not vote?

Everyone in America faces this dilemma, it's the problem with our two party system.

timdavila··on Ask HN: Are .io domains still considered good for (web based) startups?
As others have said, .com is king.

But since it's very difficult to obtain a good name in .com these days, a good alternative is .app which was just released so there's plenty of good names at reasonable prices.

timdavila··on Why the Intellectual Dark Web Exists
I read the article, but still confused as to what/where the IDW is.
timdavila··on Introducing .app, a more secure home for apps on the web
No. The TLD ".app" is on the HSTS preload list shipped with the browser, so the browser will only accept connections over SSL. It's up to you as the domain registrant to make sure your site supports it.
timdavila··on Introducing .app, a more secure home for apps on the web
Google owns and operates the TLD.

Many registrars will sell .app names, but they pay a portion of every sale to Google.

timdavila··on DNS Performance compared: CloudFlare 1.1.1.1 x Google 8.8.8.8 x Quad9 x OpenDNS
What is the benefit to Google/CloudFlare of providing free DNS resolution? Why do they offer it?
timdavila··on Internal Facebook posts of employees discussing leaked memo
Success is simply achieving a goal.

Donald Trump, Facebook, and Mark Zuckerberg are highly successful. But success does not mean good or moral, often it's exactly the opposite traits that lead to success.

timdavila··on Snap is laying off 100 employees mostly in advertising and sales
Anecdata, but in my group people are using Snap less and less. Meanwhile I see more and more Instagram stories each week.

It's sad for the employees affected, but this could be a wake up call to Snap. I like the premise of Snapchat, that messages are ephemeral, but it seems like Snap the company doesn't realize that people don't use their app for sponsored stories. It's primarily a messaging tool for friends.

timdavila··on Why We May Soon Be Living in Alexa’s World
It has IR? I don't have a smart TV.
timdavila··on Why We May Soon Be Living in Alexa’s World
I imagine by the time voice assistants reach human intelligence we will be able to ask Alexa to clean the floors and put the food away :)
timdavila··on Why We May Soon Be Living in Alexa’s World
Yeah, that was a pretty creepy story with no resolution. My baby monitor is the only device that wails at me at night :)
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