bobbygoodlatte

Hacker News: is closed source is a walled garden requires a "Y Combinator" account to communicate

Most people don't use software because of the driving philosophy behind it — they use it because it solves a problem of theirs.

If a tool is the best one for the job, you should use it. And if Slack has a substantially better UI for communication, maybe developers of IRC clients should try to build a better UI rather than complain about adoption of Slack.

IoT is a buzzword. Buzzwords eventually die off because they're nebulous. What was "Web 2.0"? Did it die? Are we in Web 3.0 now? Does it matter one way or the other?

There will be many successful connected device startups. Many others will be started & funded for the wrong reason: because IoT is "hot" right now.

IoT is a particularly maddening buzzword because the name is mis-leading. There's not a separate internet for things, but rather these are just "things connected to the internet". Not as catchy, which I suppose is the point.

As an aside: I worry I may be turning into Andy Rooney :)

Yep. Also this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambler%27s_ruin

Assuming one agrees that debt is the problem and we're on the brink of a crash, how would you protect your assets?

How is this not gambling / illegal?

"No one should keep their coins in any wallet except their own"

That's just not going to fly if Bitcoin becomes mainstream. There's too much dogmatism around this in the Bitcoin community. Sometimes a hosted wallet is the right solution for a particular user.

Talks being presented by one person is key. Large panels almost always lack narrative. Single person, or well rehearsed dual-speaker presentations usually have key takeaways that make the talk memorable.

SXSW is particularly bad when it comes to panel discussions. Typically one organizer has a few half-baked talking points while the other participants haven't prepared whatsoever.

Or they can just use Coinbase Vault :) https://coinbase.com/vault

Well, Orville Wright didn't have a pilot's license :)

This is hilarious. Well done!

Very cool. One idea you might play with is the idea of debt. In other words: allow me to view the content for free a couple times, while racking up an "IOU".

Perhaps after the debt accumulates I'm forced to pay my freeloader's bill to continue seeing content.

Second: Go to where the users are. You should have Coinbase support.

Looking forward to watching where you take this :)

A hard fork would be just as devastating as a 51% attack. The author is way over-reacting here. In fact, it looks like GHash is down to 45% and dropping — BitFury just left, and Petamine is considering leaving too: http://www.coindesk.com/bitfury-pulls-power-ghash-community-...

This also means that design is playing a proportionally larger role in startups.

A lot of the engineering work needed to build the next Instagram/WhatsApp/etc has become commoditized. Design is what's left.

Trends and fads move on, but great design is timeless. Great design solves a problem completely.

The Eames Lounge Chair was designed in 1956. At no point since then has it looked dated. And it never will. It's timeless (and comfortable as well). http://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/lounge-seating/...

Its difficult to make timeless work with software because the capabilities and mediums change so rapidly. But we'll get there eventually.

Silicon Valley is an awful name for a state. That's why we all object :)

This is great advice for finding a decorator — someone who slaps a coat of paint on a wireframe or draws a pretty logo.

Startups should hire a Product Designer. A generalist who can execute on product vision, interactions, and aesthetics. Someone who can hold the whole picture in their head and help mould it into something great.

Amen. The entire idea of having one person wireframe a layout and someone else "design" it is broken.

Designers aren't decorators. Give them a problem to solve instead of boxes to color in.

I too am a fan of rapid prototyping, but the example app here is incredibly simple. More complex apps require more time to refine & prototype.

That said, this sort of flat prototype should be do-able in a few days for even the largest of apps.

So, I'm in agreement with OP — except on the timeframe :)

If you're offended by the buttons, why not try a simple line of text w/ a hyperlink after the article?

"If you found this interesting, I'd love it if you would spread the word [on Twitter]"

The title of this piece really sums up my frustration. You're trying to come up with a label for a group of diverse people? Why? So you can judge, belittle, and intimidate them without feeling guilty?

Why not judge newcomers as individuals? They're people first. Some of them are assholes. Others are awesome people who are positive for the community. Same as any group.

Rents are going up. It sucks, and something should be done about it. The city should permit more construction. The Ellis act should be repealed.

One thing I'm pretty certain won't make rents go down: labeling a group of people and pressuring them to leave.

While I don't think Bitcoin is a "weapon intended to damage central banking", I'm not sure why the author has such an affinity towards central banks.

He claims Bitcoin might destroy social safety nets — but how are central banks protecting those institutions? The cash that quantitative easing produces goes right into the hands of banks / investors. Rich people get richer when QE inflates the stock market to new highs. Working class people get poorer, and will feel the subsequent crash harder.

If anything, Bitcoin is better for working class people. It means the money they earn retains value, regardless of whether they invest it in the market.

Then you're spending 90% of your time communicating. I'm sure Stan Lee spends far more time communicating his ideas to other people than he does developing them.

Anyone know which two are the 2013 companies?

The mobile equivalents of these are worse.

No, I'm not going to install your app — I just want to see the content hiding behind this stupid ad. Even if I did install your app, I'd have to re-navigate to that content within your app.

It's also useful as a store of value. If you live in a country with an un-sound currency, Bitcoin is a compelling product.

Right now there's a good chance we're in a bubble. But that doesn't remove the fundamental value behind Bitcoin.

A bookmarklet would be cool.

Visit the page, click the bookmarklet. Most profitable terms on the page highlight in green. Darker green means more profitable.

If some keywords are net-negative, highlight them in red.

I'll concede on semantics. It's smarter to speculate on the currency itself than invest in mining hardware. To be fair, there's disagreement over the difference between investment and speculation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculation

I disagree that Bitcoin's value is nebulous, or beanie-baby-esque. I believe Bitcoin can become valuable in 3 distinct ways:

1. Store of value

A universal store of value not controlled by governments. This isn't merely a hedge against USD inflation—it's a global means of protection against currency devaluation. Bitcoin is attractive to anyone living in a country with an unsound monetary base. This is already happening.

2. International money remittance

Existing players in international money remittance charge exploitive fees. Western Union often charges more than 10%. Bitcoin offers a viable low-fee alternative. Bitcoin remittance services like http://buttercoin.com are now starting to come online.

3. Programmable money

The true value of money as a protocol is difficult to predict today. I believe this could be absolutely massive. At minimum, this means native cash for the Web. Merchants have an incentive to adopt it — they bypass Visa/MC/Amex's 3%+ transaction fees. But the ease-of-use isn't there yet. The margin on many consumer goods is very slim — an additional 3% profit could be huge for many online retailers.

At Bitcoin's extreme, we could see self-sustaining profit-seeking algorithms. Corporations that don't employ people — algorithms providing services and collecting profits. We've never been able to wire up software so directly with the flow of money. I think that could lead to exciting things.

Dismiss Bitcoin as get-rich-quick speculation if you want. But I think you'll find most Bitcoin fans aren't just in it for the money. They realize Bitcoin can be massively disruptive to the financial industry — an industry begging for disruption. I think that's worth investing in.

OP didn't make a loss on Bitcoin. He made a loss on Butterfly Labs.

Consumer mining these days is only profitable for narrow windows — you need to take delivery of one of the first miners in a new ASIC generation to have a chance.

It's much smarter to invest in Bitcoin directly.

One of the more ridiculous considerations to open-sourcing the code is patent liability.

It's nearly impossible to develop complex software that doesn't infringe upon dozens of nonsense software patents. The gov't and its contractors would be a huge target.

One dysfunctional bureaucracy scared of the policies of another dysfunctional bureaucracy.

It's odd that the carry applies to each deal individually. In contrast, VC's take a carry on the aggregate return of all of their investments.

If a VC does twenty $10MM investments, and sees a $100MM return on two of them, they break even. No carry would be charged to LP's (although management fees would apply).

Meanwhile an "LP" auto-backing an AngelList syndicator pays a carry on every winner, but still loses 100% for every loser.

That's a big deal in angel investing — generally you're counting on very few winners to cover the costs of your losers. Shaving 15-20% off every winner can very possibly turn your overall returns negative.

Finally, the syndicator has a mis-aligned incentive to broker as many deals as possible. It's now possible to net a profit via carry, even if your losers would have outweighed your winners investing alone.

Tim has fantastic taste in startups. His investment in any startup is a strong signal. But AngelList's terms are pretty iffy for syndicate backers. If the carry was applied to his deals' collective return, I'd be the first in line.