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Derrek

228 karma · joined August 22, 2008

http://DerrekYoung.com, derrek {at} DerrekYoung ( dot } com
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Derrek··on Zuckerberg responds to privacy concerns
I bought tickets on Fandango and later found the Fandango App in my FB profile. I never installed it or approved it--it just appeared. To me, that's simply wrong.
Derrek··on New York helps tomorrow's employers
Pretty diverse list of companies

http://nyfi.observer.com/politics/464/startup-incubator-vari...

Derrek··on [dead]
Wow.... I was really hoping to see some independent analysis, not a press release.
Derrek··on MBA vs Startup: Which should I choose?
Yep, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis_paralysis
Derrek··on A terrible tragedy: Dan Haubert of Ticketstumbler (fallentimes) has passed away
After reading all these comments, I wish that I'd known Dan. It sounds like he was a pretty great guy.

My condolences go out his family and friends.

Derrek··on Letting go of the Fairytale and Taking Personal Responsibility
She makes a lot of good points that relate to anyone on the forum who's wants to start a business/startup. "The real deal is that we need to take ownership of ourselves, and take it up a notch when it comes to personal responsibility."
Derrek··on 10 New Points About The New Apple Tablet: To Be Announced in January 2010
Depending on the cost, this might be an attractive alternative to buying a Kindle by using this iTablet with the app, Kindle for iPhone.
Derrek··on Liquid breathing
This liquid breathing stuff was also used in Dan Brown's new book, The Lost Symbol
Derrek··on Put down the compiler until you learn why they’re not buying
Thanks for the tip. I probably should have subscribed a while ago anyway...
Derrek··on From Nothing To Something. How To Get There.
And more specifically, the defense industry. Ugh....
Derrek··on The Real Cause of Obesity: It's not gluttony. It's genetics.
But I'm able to use anecdotes because I'm not a MD/PhD writing an article in a major US publication
Derrek··on Apps.gov is an online storefront for federal agencies.
Wow, this is pretty awesome. I work with various federal agencies and am amazed at how little they share resources, even within the same agency. This seems like a huge step in promoting reuse of resources.
Derrek··on The Real Cause of Obesity: It's not gluttony. It's genetics.
What really irks me about this article is that the author uses anecdotes and vague references to science to strengthen his stance. Not only is this shoddy reporting, but it commits a much worse crime. It commits the crime of giving the obese an easy out, a way to say, "Hey, it's not really my fault so I shouldn't even bother to try to lose weight." No. Wrong.

I've personally seen dozens of people go from being very overweight to being healthy and fit. How'd they do it? Through lots of very dedicated, smart work in their diets and exercise. Now, maybe those experiences were simply aberrations that somehow converged on my life--but I doubt it.

Derrek··on So You Want My Job: Entrepreneur
"First, I wanted the challenge and freedom of running my own show. I like the idea of waking up in the morning and knowing that the success of my company depends directly on the decisions I make. Second, I believe that one of the surest and most responsible paths to financial freedom is through building a successful small business that creates jobs and wealth for a community."

That pretty much sums up my motivation for going down my own path, hopefully soon.

Derrek··on DC App Store
The city actually did something right... awesome
Derrek··on 50 Best Websites of 2009
To the OP: thank you so very much for linking to this list all on one page
Derrek··on After the Deadline: Acquired
"[...] as part of an application to Y-Combinator, Spring 09. Later, I was greeted with a rejection letter. But that was ok! I knew I didn’t need permission to start a business. So on I went."

I think we all can take a good lesson from this example of determination.

Congrats!

Derrek··on “So...what do you do?"
Haha, so true and reminds me of this xkcd post: http://xkcd.com/627/
Derrek··on “So...what do you do?"
I often encounter not-so-technical folks and usually go with "I do computer stuff". The response is usually, "Oh, cool. something else blaa blaa"
Derrek··on NFL Bans Twitter Before, During and After Football Games
"Internet sites may not post detailed information that approximates play-by-play during a game."... "The NFL has strict regulations on who can report what from its games."

When will major organizations realize that these new-fangled web tools actually increase the value of the organization through user/fan involvement? Probably won't happen for a while...

Derrek··on Ask HN: bring on the feedback (especially if you like gear)
When seeing a new site, my first two questions are "What does this do?" and "Why do I care?"

The answer to question #1 was a little unclear to me at first. I read the FAQ but I don't believe that a casual user would take the time for that much investigation. I think the site could improve by explaining on the home page that the site is like metasearch for gear deals of specific types.

Things became a lot more clear to me after I clicked through the catalog and view a specific product. The copy about, "Our friendly robots have seen 19715 gear deals. Follow the CamelBak Better Bottle Hands Free Adapter and we'll alert you when it goes on sale" and "How does it work? We monitor sites that put gear on sale for short periods of time. If you follow this product, we'll tell you the next time it goes on sale. It works and it's awesome." made it perfectly clear to me what's happening on the site. I didn't get that conclusion from the home page. Again, I believe that a casual user will give the site very little time before making a decision to continue within it or continue searching on Google.

The site handles the answer to question #2 pretty well. I like gear. I like deals. I like letting someone else work for my gear deals. Nice.

Also, the logo confuses me a little. At first I thought it was a cow, but now I think that it might be a fat horse. I'm still not sure.

Derrek··on Ask HN: bring on the feedback (especially if you like gear)
Also, if you're going to focus on outdoor gear, you might want to update your copy to something with "outdoor" in it. Maybe "Custom Outdoor Gear Alerts to Your Inbox" or something like that.
Derrek··on How we hash our Javascript for better caching and less breakage on updates
I've had similar success by appending the site version to the query string. src="/foo.js?v=2.1" This has worked for me across all major browsers and required extremely little work for setup and maintenance.
Derrek··on Google, Gmail experiencing downtime worldwide
Just tried. It's back up for me in Washington, DC, USA
Derrek··on Official Gmail Blog: Today's Gmail problems
It's slightly comforting to be reminded that even the "big boys" sometimes have tech problems too
Derrek··on John Siracusa's in-depth review of Snow Leopard on Ars Technica
I'm curious, why use URL shortners on HN? It's not like you're constrained to 140 characters. (I'm not trying to be a jerk, just trying to understand your reasoning.)
Derrek··on Gattaca - Hollywood Gets It Exactly Right
Exactly, if people want this enough, they'll go to another country for the service. And if so many people start going abroad, their influence might spread through Europe. If that continues, a critical mass might be reached where eugenics becomes less taboo and more accepted. There are a lots of "if"s there, but it's possible.
Derrek··on MS Donates to Charity if you upgrade to IE8
I want to hate IE 8, but this promotion is actually pretty cool.

I love this part: "we will double the donation for people upgrading from Windows Internet Explorer 6". That's music to my ears.

Derrek··on More Charts from HN Survey (Income, Age, Work Hours, Work Exp.)
Thanks for doing that.

Maybe also: Income vs Education. Income vs Location (maybe aggregated by country, state or city). And basically every other possible combination :)

Derrek··on O'Reilly's "The Ruby Language" for $9.99 (limited time)
Worked for me too. $6 for a bad ass book. Thanks for posting
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