189 karma · joined June 18, 2011
Hopefully you're going to a school with great professors, because, in my mind, that's mostly what you pay for. I'd take full advantage of the knowledge they have. Maybe even try to develop a kind of mentor relationship that could continue outside of school and beyond.
I'd also try and get a firm grasp on what I want to do with my education. The more focused you can be in your studies, the better you can utilize your resources. There's nothing worse than leaving school and realizing that there was someone who could have been an amazing resource for you, but you didn't realize it at the time.
Third, I'd remind myself to have a good time. There truly is no experience quite like going to college. It's true that learning should be the #1 priority, but I've seen so many people breeze through college with their head stuck in a book, and I happen to think that's a shame. You'll never have another opportunity to be surrounded by such a diverse group of people doing really interesting stuff. Take advantage while you can.
It's very difficult to encourage first-time entrepreneurs who fall into the belief that their idea is the most valuable asset to their success. You hear it all the time, "I had this great idea, but then I got online and saw that it was taken." This is no way to think when it comes to business.
In my mind it is absolutely critical to understand that markets are always changing and consumer taste is always changing. To be sure, there ARE some formidable challenges in more established and saturated markets, but nothing is guaranteed. There is always room for innovation and elegant solutions.
You can rest assured that if there is no competition, there will be. You can also rest assured that if competition exists, someone is making money. Why not you too?
The answer is simple. People respond to them. There's a good reason why companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year creating advertisements.
My question is, given the importance of a good pitch video, why aren't more people making them?
As I've stated in my comments, there really isn't any good excuse not to.
If you own an iPhone you have access to better video than we were shooting just a handful of years ago on projects with budgets upwards of $100,000.
I think the issue is that many people don't recognize the importance of putting some effort into their pitch video. They see their video as an afterthought, when in fact, it's quite possibly their most important asset to a successful fundraising campaign.
A bulk of our business in editing was doing pitch videos for ad agencies. When landing a job means you're bringing in millions of dollars to your agency, spending $80,000 on a pitch video seems like chump change.
Granted, many Kickstarters aren't working on that level, but the principles are the same. If spending a few hundred bucks and some time could land you the funding for your dream project, would that be worth it to you?
For editing, you have Avid, Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere heading up the pack. Avid is still the top gun, especially now that Apple redesigned FCP. I haven't used Premiere much, but I've heard good things about it recently.
As for production quality, a good lighting setup will go a LONG way to getting nice footage. Studying basic 3-point lighting will do just fine.
One tool that many amateur filmmakers overlook is the coloring process. It takes some skill to get right, but a good coloring session after you've locked your edit can really add a lot to the quality and tone of your finished video. Many software editing packages come with coloring tools mixed in these days. There are also good stand-alone packages that offer more precise control.
Audio is another prime indicator of production quality. A perfectly shot video with poor audio is just as bad, if not worse, than a poorly shot video. A good shotgun mic or lav mic will help greatly in this respect. Always try to lower or eliminate as much environmental noise as possible and remember to record ambient noise (room silence) to mix in with the finished audio when needed.
I could go on and on, but there are plenty of resources for this stuff freely available. Arguably, the biggest factor to success in a video project is proper planning. You can't fix everything in post.
I came into web development from the film industry. We used to work with a lot of large ad agencies, mostly on national and international broadcast commercial packages.
When I first started in the industry, shooting a commercial meant hiring a large production crew. Shooting 35mm film was still the norm, but over time producers became more open to trying HD video. Despite being cheaper than 35mm, shooting HD was still a large affair with many moving cogs. It wasn't uncommon to have to seek out and find specialized service providers just to have access to the equipment needed, even though we were one of the biggest and well-equipped post houses in Chicago.
The thing is, over a period of just a few years, things within the industry radically shifted. The prosumer market began to catch up. Suddenly we had access to high-def cameras that cost nearly as much to purchase as the former technologies cost to rent just a few years prior.
We started to get requests from agencies to actually shoot ads ourselves to save costs. Our coloring facilities, which used to take up two rooms of our office, shrank to the size of a desktop console. Our offline editors began to be able to add complex graphic work without the aid of our highly skilled online editing team.
It simply amazes me when I walk into a post-production facility these days. What used to be rooms full of bulky equipment and stacks of film is now, quite often, nothing more than a few little desktop computers.
So to return to your question... technology is no longer the barrier to creating high quality videos. The only real barrier is creativity- what you can do with all that potential at your fingertips.
I'm certainly no expert in the field of neuroscience, but in terms of practical and available memory improvement, I've found that practicing mnemonic techniques is very helpful.
If you're unfamiliar with this area of study, I'm basically referring to a set of techniques that aid in memory retention, mostly through creative visualization and pattern creation.
If you can get past the wild claims put forth by guys like Tony Buzan, you'll find a wealth of useful information on how we can learn to remember and recall more information.
I've found the books of Dominic O'Brien to be good resources. There is another book called "Moonwalking With Einstein" that shows how applied study in this area can lead to real results.
I can't really give you any further suggestions without knowing what you plan to develop. If you're having trouble deciding what to learn, I would suggest doing a bit of research into the specific area(s) of development that interest you and get an idea of what everyone else is using.
Don't fuss about it too much though. If given a choice, just choose one that feels good to you and move on with learning it.
The problem with achievement in any endeavor is that people assume it should FEEL easy. They assume that their lack of enthusiasm at any given moment is an indication that something is wrong.
The writer who has writer's block is apt to tell himself he's a fraud.
The guy who's had a fight with his girlfriend might be inclined to question the relationship.
The entrepreneur who's business is on the rocks might wonder if a cubicle job is a better idea.
The beginning programmer who struggles with the concepts might wonder if he's smart enough.
In the face of obstacles, it becomes very easy to question our path. The difference between success and failure in many cases is, i think, the knowledge and wisdom to understand that anything worth doing or having is HARD. It isn't all tea and roses. Sometimes you're going to want to give up and that's ok. That's what SHOULD happen, because if what you're doing is so easy that it never challenges you, then you're likely not doing anything amazing. True motivation is seeing the end game and still having the balls to slog through the miles of crap to get there.
My main constructive criticism would be this:
Don't make people spam their Twitter followers just to view the premium samples.
a) It annoys people that don't use Twitter (yes, we exist) b) It makes me have to have a relationship with you before I've even evaluated your content.
In my mind, it's more effective to allow people to sample your premium content with the least amount of resistance.
Keep the list building separate from the sample content. You can always find something to give away specifically for the list subscribers.
It's true that some new content is premium only, but all of the interviews are free the week they're released, and many of the older podcasts are still free to listen to.
I commend Andrew for finally deciding to monetize the business more. While I certainly agree that he could do a better job on the marketing side (I don't use Twitter, so I dislike having to tweet for the sample content), I think he deserves to get paid.
The funny thing is, I keep reading these articles and finding myself thinking I must be missing something. There doesn't seem to be anything remarkable here.
Aside from the design, which does look pretty good, I'd say there's nothing at all distinguishing about this app.
Guess it just goes to show how far some good PR people can get you.
If you're a developer wanting to make a difference I HIGHLY recommend checking out "The Information Diet: A Case For Conscious Consumption" by Clay Johnson.
I spent many years working in broadcast news and I can say that many of Clay's observations rang true with what I've observed over the years.
None of these things have to do with Rails or Ruby.
Regardless of which language/framework you choose to learn, you'll still find yourself tackling the above concepts in some form.
If you like Ruby and Rails, learn it. There is no "right" choice. What you choose to learn depends on what you want to do with your skills.
Also, taking the above into account, be aware that what language you start with isn't all that important. In the beginning, you'll likely lack the skills to really understand what the differences mean anyhow. The important thing is that you start somewhere and learn.
Don't follow the "flavor of the month" people. There will always be some hot new language or framework to play with.
Pick something that has a knowledgeable and active community for support and you'll do fine with whatever you choose.
One thing that helped me overcome my paralysis was being more specific about what I was hoping to achieve in certain areas of my life. By intentionally limiting my scope, I found it much easier to make the right decisions.
For example, learning to cook is a pretty general goal. You could spend a lot of time learning about baking ratios, classical French technique, molecular gastronomy, etc...
Contrast that goal with a more specific one like learning to cook Chinese food in the Sichuan tradition. By limiting our scope, it becomes far more clear to us what we need to focus on to achieve our desired result.
The realization that we cannot be/do/know everything is a seriously underrated epiphany. In order to excel at one thing we have to cut off other things, which isn't always easy to do.
The really amazing thing about being specific with yourself is that the cloud of ambivalence suddenly becomes far less foggy. Once you understand your intentions and your destination, the question ceases to be "what do I feel like doing today?" and becomes "does this activity get me closer to my goal? Yes or no."
The more specific you become in your goals, the clearer the path becomes to achieving them. An added bonus is that it generally takes less time to get there as well.
While the prize hopefuls were only focused on the outcome, MacCready realized that the process was equally important.
You can observe this in many industries. Find the biggest bottleneck in the process, solve that problem, develop faster, rinse and repeat.
All in all, a very valuable lesson I think.
I'm sure there are more elegant or geeky solutions out there, but this works for me.
I get upset because, from a marketing standpoint, it isn't even that important or advantageous. You're far better off targeting sites directly in your vertical than aiming for exposure on more general sites like HN.
It seems like you're trying to figure out all the variables that go into a high profile post. Quite frankly, I don't see the point in that.
Is it possible for an unknown to get on the first page and get exposure? Of course it is. Does that mean he's "made it on HN"? I don't even know what that means.
In the end, my point is simply this; stop spending so much time worrying about how people make the front page of HN and focus on your project.
This is a forum for discussion, not Valhalla.
I took it one step further though. I knew how weak I was from years of habitual web surfing, so I forced a productive routine on myself by using the open-source app "SelfControl" to actually restrict me from accessing sites I knew were a time sink.
I also knew that I was unlikely to actually start the app at the beginning of the day, so I scripted it in my calendar to start the app an hour before I get up, that way I have no choice but to work. At the end of my workday, the app quits and I can then surf to my heart's desire.
So far, I've found this to be an ideal solution.
Teachers will always be needed and valued (above everything else, someone has to create content for technology to disseminate).
The thing is, not all teachers are created equal. I'm sure we can all recall certain teachers that were obviously not concerned for the betterment of their students. Hell, some are downright hostile. Then, there are those teachers who really do care- the ones you remember for life.
Likewise, technology isn't created equal. There are some downright terrible online learning courses.
The difference between now and a few years ago, is that the education system is finally seeing the value in online technologies to aid in the classroom.
Ideally, you have a synergistic effect. A good teacher aided by a curriculum we can actually track and measure on an individual scale.
The students are happy because they can learn at their own pace (or not- you can't win them all over), and the teachers are freed from having a one-size-fits-all solution to a problem that requires a more nuanced approach.
What about this is negative? Are jobs at risk? Probably. They have been for a while now, but not because of technology. Our public schools are just plain underfunded.
In the end, technology will actually create MORE jobs- as I said, someone has to design and teach the online courses too.
Khan Academy isn't designed to replace teachers, it's designed to aid them in the classroom and free up the time and resources to provide that QUALITY education we all desire so badly for our children.
Your platform looks nice, but I think the business model that drives it will need to be rethought.
One of the issues here is that the problem you're attempting to address has already been solved.
The technology barrier to self-publishing is already low enough. No disrespect to non-technical people, but if you can't figure out how to set up a Tumblr blog, then there are larger issues at hand.
In other words, you can keep lowering the barrier to self-publishing, but eventually you're not left with much of an actual business. I think criticsquid's reply said it well; there's a huge difference between simplicity and lacking in features.
I think one direction you might look into is selling yourself as a discriminating/curated blog platform, much like The Deck did with their curated Ad Network for the creative industry.
At any rate, you need to add some value here. At present, I just can't (personally) see any reason why I'd choose your platform over the other options.
If you want to use this in your learning endeavors, I recommend checking out Anki, an open source flash card tool that uses spaced repetition.
The real argument here seems to be that people are tired of "node hipsters" and "hype".
Get over it.
What's the point in wasting time being angry about what other developers are thinking or doing? If they're wrong, they'll figure it out eventually.
It's the online equivalent of bitching about everyone that wears skinny jeans and shemagh scarves.
Then, just to set things straight, people have to come along and write reasonable posts (like this one) in response.
Keep the anger to yourself, so the rest of us can get on with it and use whatever tools are right for our job.