BenS

Hooray! Now I can be more vocal about new features :) .... twitter integration?

I recently switched, and didn't find it took more than a week to adjust. OSX is great and the laptop I bought is undoubtedly a beautiful machine. I've found servicable replacements for all of my favorite software, and have come to love a few mac only applications. One caveat:

Most people I know agree that hardware reliability is poor. Anecdotally, everyone I spoke with when deciding strongly recommended getting apple care. More objectively, friends I know who work in the IT support groups at large tech companies, said that they see roughly 3-4 times the number of hardware related problems compared to thinkpads (which run about half the price).

Many people tell glowing stories about the great service and support they receive. When my new macbook pro shipped with a defective optical drive, I WAS impressed with how friendly support folks were, but I was NOT unimpressed that the fix took 9 business days even when at an AppleStore and after paying for apple care. Note: getting a new machine with upgraded RAM was an estimated 15 day turnaround including shipping the machine back to the factory.

I think Google knows the success of Chrome depends on the plugin community. The open support of AdBlock is a signal that Google will prioritize user interests over everything else.

Seems like a smart move to me -- getting Chrome out is strategically important -- browser diversification mitigates bigger risks, such as MS pushing a default ad blocker through ie; and helps them raise the bar on all browsers (esp. js rendering) to make their web apps run better.

Maybe you could call it postpinkslip.com It's a bit shorter and (IMO) sounds better. It's also available.

The data was not especially useful without a baseline distribution across income levels. While the headline was accurate, the author's assertion that this confirms that the iphone is not just for the wealthy sounds like a leap in logic.

Ah, thanks for all the great suggestions. I'm quite excited about omnigraffle :)

...so you want to invest in businesses that will deliver good ROI in a short time. Makes sense.

This doesn't strike me as a common failure path for startups, hence not super helpful advice. Being awesome is always a prerequisite. But, being first does offer huge advantages. First movers often have a surprising amount of of staying power and really raise the bar on subsequent offerings.

I think that a simple nested list view would be more useful to browse departments. The tree is nice too, but not very practical at the current speed.

In addition to what others say, it also violates the terms of most ad networks. Inciting users to click will get you quickly booted from many ad networks.

I think kijiji is on its way to getting a foothold in the free classifieds market.

In response to your question , I think it's hard because the value of craigslist is in the breadth of it's listings and readers, not in any technical feature. I think a competitor will likely have to take advantage of an already captive audience. I thought facebook marketplace had a great shot, but it didn't seem like they focused on it much.

The only argument I buy here is Jessica's. I agree that corporate vc could limit exit options.

However, I think Fred's general arguments against corporate vc don't fully apply to Google. First, Google probably does have the talent in-house to identify and nurture young businesses. Google has a perspective on what kind of web businesses can create long-term value that few VC's can match. That business insight is paired with a huge amount of technical expertise and infrastructure that would be invaluable for a young startup.

As for the argument about corporations having misaligned incentives, that almost certainly depends on how the investment entity is structured. Fred is right that a single exit is not a recurring revenue stream, but I assume that like any VC, Google would want to show regular long-term returns. VC is an industry where performance is already spotty. I believe that Google has as good a chance as any firm to deliver better than market returns.

Overall, I think it's premature to make a blanket statement without understanding how the investment arm at Google is structured or staffed. I personally would be excited to get Goog investment.

This looks quite similar to Google Notebook. Is there a reason to use luminotes instead?

lesson learned: i'll try to be a bit more descriptive in future submissions.

I wasn't really looking to conduct a survey, I was just hoping to get a few opinions. True, hacker news is not about religion, nor is it a good way to conduct statistically signifcant surveys, but it's still nice to hear what people think.

I could think of lots of explanations for the shortage of religious sites...and I was looking for some opinions. A few possibilities include (A) there is no shortage of sites, i'm just ignorant, or (B) there are a relatively small number of religious hackers, or (C) there isn't really a pressing 'need' that has been identified, or something I didn't think of at all.

I hope that this wasn't construed as being a judging question - I was just curious.

I hear the example of youtube thrown out a lot, but I don't think it's a good comparison. YouTube had an incredibly useful function beyond sharing copyrighted material. It was also miles ahead of competing services (e.g. google video) in usability.

Apologies for my ignorance, but is there a link to the extended distinction between startup and new business? I don't quite see how the two are all that distinct, or why the distinction is useful?

I think the goal is to create a new source of renewable energy. I think the right oil company could be part of the process...all that said, 'if you solve it' is a pretty big if :)

You're right, The competition is definitely stiff - aside from craig, there's ls9, amyris, sapphire and a dozen other solid companies. On the upside, the market is very big, and the problem is certainly worth solving.

I'm trying to make micro-organisms that make fuel and drugs.