m0nty

71 ms·

631.
by m0nty 19y ago
Bill Bryson points out (can't remember which book) that pricing something just below a round figure (eg 0.99 or 4.99) would force shop assistants to ring up the purchase in most cases where they'd be given a dollar or a five dollar bill, ra
632.
by m0nty 19y ago
""rockstar" - past its sell by date?" Yup. The only people I've worked with who thought they were rock stars were, in fact, prima donnas: temperamental, difficult to work with, unlikely to help. I'd hire programmers in the same way I vote f
633.
by m0nty 19y ago
I think I know what you mean, being a Perl programmer and Mac user myself :)
634.
by m0nty 19y ago
You probably stepped on the toes of someone who likes Perl and Windows. Particularly, you mentioned Mac OS which some people have an inexplicable antithesis towards. You're playing with fire, my friend ;) Downmods are the least of your worr
635.
by m0nty 19y ago
"Other activities that deplete willpower include resisting food or drink, suppressing emotional responses, restraining aggressive or sexual impulses, taking exams and trying to impress someone." Can't for the life of me think why you'd want
636.
by m0nty 19y ago
"It's not really an idea, if you don't have an idea for a feasible way to implement it" OK, so you agree with me that the execution is the important thing? Excellent ;) GPS, wearable computers, wi-fi, lightweight VR goggles, etc, make this
637.
by m0nty 19y ago
I was going to start a new search engine, but Yahoo had already done that. I was going to create a new webmail service, but Hotmail was so good. Then I thought of producing a kind of souped-up forum system, but that one had been done to dea
638.
by m0nty 19y ago
"This is what it is, and not all mac fans are like this - but many are. Whatever Apple puts on the market they will buy." Same for Windows, Linux, etc. It used to amaze me the level of devotion to Acorn computers during the 90s, when they w
639.
by m0nty 19y ago
"Omega-3 is good for you and might make you smarter." There might be other, scientific studies but see: http://www.badscience.net/?cat=66&paged=2 "Drink a lot of water: after all, your brain is mostly water." I used to think this was
640.
by m0nty 19y ago
"In fact, that will help more than hard cash." Totally agree with that. If I ever decide to take my ambitions any further, I can come up with a fair amount of money myself. But the advice and insight that could come from other players in th
641.
by m0nty 19y ago
He mentions that the fallacies don't stand up to analysis (which is what you'd expect) but I'd encourage you to resist the head-nod temptation when looking through the list of contents, which we're encouraged to accept as "zen koan-like". F
642.
by m0nty 19y ago
Like I said, generally I agree with the article, and it makes some good points. But the button-pusher for me (and the point I'm trying to make) is that labeling the technically adept as "socially awkward" is about as acceptable as saying th
643.
by m0nty 19y ago
"Further, many business students are aggressive and gregarious, many programmers are socially awkward..." I can generally agree with the article, but the old, old stereotypes aren't really helping, are they? I see very few "socially awkward
644.
by m0nty 19y ago
"A drop down menu that ignores corporate jargon, came to terms with the fact there may actually be a flaw in THEIR system, and inquired about my emotional state." I think support forms should have an Eliza program built-in: "I have a proble
645.
by m0nty 19y ago
But they are already, both Google and Apple. Companies are like politicians: don't support them because you like them, but because they can help you. When they stop helping you, support someone else.
646.
by m0nty 19y ago
No. That's one of the all-time big no-nos in recruitment. You're stuck with the recruiter, even if they hinder the process. Also, dumb as it may seem (most recruiters don't have a clue about technology) many companies have good reasons to u
647.
by m0nty 19y ago
Personally, I'd go the mefi route and charge $5. That seems to work there, and (since this site is primarily about YC's aims and its potential founders) I'm sure serious entrepreneurs wouldn't think even once about paying. Look at it this
648.
by m0nty 19y ago
I was struck by this comment: "We work for X. We're better than you." Forget lions and zoos; that's the real difference between people who make good employees and those who don't. I know people I was at school with who wanted to work (for e
649.
by m0nty 19y ago
You are French and I claim my $5. ;)
650.
by m0nty 19y ago
Ooh! I got quoted :) Fuzzy feeling ...
651.
by m0nty 19y ago
None of those are unique to a recession: you should be frugal, you should look at your ideas again, etc. Top reason to start a company during a recession: your competitors will go bust.
652.
by m0nty 19y ago
I'd suggest that $3,000 wouldn't pay for a great deal of development of any kind (except you could theoretically get three-and-a-bit Digg clones I guess ;) so maybe you should look at hacker-friendly prizes instead. XKCD goodies, 100,000 re
653.
by m0nty 19y ago
+1. Poverty is only agreeable to those who don't have to live with it.
654.
by m0nty 19y ago
I think the ability to put things together from someone else's code is a good thing. Of course, I'm just getting old, lazy and cynical. But there's limited virtue, IMO, in creating something from scratch if Duplo-style development achieves
655.
by m0nty 19y ago
"This feels like FUD to me." It had that feel to it. And of course, it's impossible for a company to release GPL code and hit the big-time. Teh GPL will kill your business! [Edit: and the name of his site implies a less-than-helpful relatio
656.
by m0nty 19y ago
Better to try and "move" your product rather than yourself. The exchange rate means it will be easier to sell overseas while the local value of your money (ie, to buy groceries and pay your rent) will be largely unaffected. Not that London
657.
by m0nty 19y ago
Link it in to sat-nav systems and it could be very interesting. Also, to counter xirium's (perfectly reasonable) point about companies being reluctant to share information: if you sell it to one parking company, then customers will know whi
658.
by m0nty 19y ago
I didn't realise this was a pg quote until I Googled it: "If you want to win in a software business, just take on the hardest problem you can find, use the most powerful language you can get, and wait for your competitors' pointy-haired bos
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by m0nty 19y ago
I never said you didn't :)
660.
by m0nty 19y ago
So you have to make an argument instead of saying "meh, I disagree." That's a good thing. Seriously, get rid of the downmod button altogether.

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