jon_dahl

54 ms·

481.
Ruby, art, and LSD: The most important video of 2008(rethink.unspace.ca)
1 points by jon_dahl 18y ago|0 comments
482.
by jon_dahl 18y ago
Wait: invisibility cloaks are real? Where have I been?
483.
by jon_dahl 18y ago
Yep - but that could arguably be a good thing. Fewer daytraders, more long-term investors, less volatility.
484.
by jon_dahl 18y ago
Are you looking to own your own home, or make money investing in real estate? If you're talking the former, and you can afford it (20% down-payment, non-ARM, comfortable monthly payment), then I'd probably do it personally. If you're doing
485.
by jon_dahl 18y ago
My thoughts: http://blog.9assets.com/post/51250904/the-sleep-test-lessons... I recommend that you don't panic and ride it out. But if you can't, then permanently decrease your risk exposure (not just for this downturn).
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by jon_dahl 18y ago
How to protect against inflation: 1. Don't stick (too much) cash under a mattress. Avoid long-term bonds (which get killed by inflation). 2. Gold is a great inflation hedge, but is a terrible long-term investment. Other commodities are simi
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by jon_dahl 18y ago
Inflation-protected bonds (like TIPS or I-Bonds) are a much better inflation hedge than foreign currencies. Real estate and stocks also make great inflation hedges over the long term, though maybe not the short term.
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by jon_dahl 18y ago
I agree, but lay off the name-calling.
489.
by jon_dahl 18y ago
I agree. "Evil" is silly language to use here. Unfortunately, "evil" is often used to describe Apple's biggest competitor, so we developers are used to misusing that term. Let's take a step back and speak more clearly: what Apple is doing i
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by jon_dahl 18y ago
I wouldn't go as far as what you're saying, but having only been an Apple user for 4 years (and a wannabe iPhone developer for 6 months), this was an eye-opening experience to me. I assumed that Microsoft was "evil" and Apple was "good". Bu
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by jon_dahl 18y ago
I don't think this is an overreaction. The NDA means that an iPhone developer can't legally blog about developing iPhone apps. That's a bit wild, isn't it?
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by jon_dahl 18y ago
I say "Go for it" too. Find a lawyer before promising anything, even if it is a close friend who doesn't mind doing things informally. I don't know of startup attorneys in the Bay Area, but plenty of people here should. (If you don't get an
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by jon_dahl 18y ago
And http://fanchatter.com :)
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by jon_dahl 18y ago
Agreed. As it stands, all it takes for Hacker News to become Reddit is for the hackers to be outvoted by the Reddit crowd. The wildcard factor is PG, who will probably step in more aggressively if and when he thinks quality has slipped too
495.
Is your Rails application safe?(railspikes.com)
56 points by jon_dahl 18y ago|33 comments
496.
by jon_dahl 18y ago
I've definitely seen a gradual shift in the last 600 days. If the shift continues gradually, then yes, this site may be Reddit-lite in 600 days. If the shift accelerates, it could happen sooner than that.
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by jon_dahl 18y ago
| This is not exactly rational behavior. Exactly what behavioral finance has found. IMO, investing well is less about making the right picks (buy x now, sell y now) and more about saving yourself from yourself. After the market has been dow
498.
by jon_dahl 18y ago
Yep. This is too bad, because he makes a few good points amidst the train wreck comments like this.
499.
Ask HN: Email website announcements - expected or spam?
1 points by jon_dahl 18y ago|2 comments
500.
by jon_dahl 18y ago
Luck and instinct are important, but there's definitely skill, knowledge, and experience as well. Fail three times and you'll have a much better understanding of what it takes to make a startup work.
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by jon_dahl 18y ago
This is way too variable to estimate. Hours for the sale of a company: typically 20-2000 maybe? For my current angel funding round, we've probably incurred somewhere around 30-50 hours of legal time. Is there a more specific question you're
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by jon_dahl 18y ago
I'm one of the folks behind Zencoder. It's been a side project up until now, but we're about to take it full-time this fall, complete with a new version. Ping me if you have any questions - see my profile for info - or I'll post Zencoder an
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by jon_dahl 18y ago
I'm not mechanical_fish, but Harvest just felt right to me. It was easy to use; gave easy, flexible reports (important when I'm billing clients for my hours and my employees' hours); easy, private access for employees; reminder emails that
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by jon_dahl 18y ago
To his Ruby 1.8 vs. 1.9 question: the difference isn't huge, and I don't think we'll see a split. You get fibers (coroutines); new hash syntax, like User.create(name: "David", address: "123 Fake St."), Enumerators, and lots of little change
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by jon_dahl 18y ago
I've often wondered what blogging strategy is best for building readership and credibility. Publish: 1. Several times a day, like some of the "top" bloggers do. (This is not for me.) 2. One/day, like Seth does. Generally, Seth's articles ar
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by jon_dahl 18y ago
I think this is probably pre-profit pay. If your startup is cash-flow positive, then by all means, pay yourself a market rate!
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by jon_dahl 18y ago
Why not startup => company => provides services and products => exit?
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by jon_dahl 18y ago
You find it annoying that other people prefer a certain technology?
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by jon_dahl 18y ago
If you're in the area, there are some great exhibits at the German History Museum in Berlin, including exact (scaled down) replicas of medieval cities, with information about different areas of town. Very different than walking around town,
510.
by jon_dahl 18y ago
Sounds to me like "Real programmers don't use a high-level language" or "Real programmers use Assembly". Steve Yegge had the best story in this regard. His old company built mobile software in assembly. The app was huge - like several milli

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