eli_s

My list would include Entrepreneurship, Tech Web, Tech Other

I only had a vague idea of what I was looking for.

a couple of gems:

'I was talking, nodding absent-mindedly to myself, engaged in a pretend conversation with my pants'

and

'Nothing had prepared me for a meeting. Therefore I decided on the smartest possible thing to do - ignore it like that lump on my balls.'

In fact they will probably never come even close to competing on price. Hardware is a tricky game and most is sold at below production cost e.g. consoles and also I imagine the iPod. This loss is recouped through software licensing or in Apple's case the app store. This probably wont be an option for these guys since they are building on an open platform.

Good luck to them.

As a side note - there's at least a billion dollars to be made by the first company that develops a fingerprint/smudge free screen - every used iphone i've seen looks gross

Also 1080p on a screen that small is v.nice. The high DPI should make for a nice ebook reader.

From one of Sachin's comment 'Users would want to use your product and therefore they would switch to Chrome. Other browser would lose market share and either implement whatever makes Chrome better for you, or do even better.'

Rebuttal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4MwTvtyrUQ

nuff said

Yes. Happens all the time. My Toshiba Techra A6 made in '06 will not have win7 drivers released for it - therefore no win7 for me. Life goes on.

This is especially true given that browser upgrades are free

Also - is there a good reason for why ie6 cannot be simply sandboxed into a ie9 tab? This would solve all of the 'corporation are unwilling to upgrade' arguments.

Or maybe a 'portable' version with all the dependencies bundled into one distro so that ie6 could be launched without installation?

There's a good reason people build UIs that mimic desktop applications - it's because a user should be able to sit down at an unfamiliar application and know instantly what each widget does - you don't get that when each app reinvents UI elements to create interesting stuff hehe

Obviously no one is comparing JQueryUI with ExtJS - that would be apples to oranges.

JQueryUI is light and designed for enhancing web pages

ExtJS is a ~600kb framework designed for web applications.

Both are designed for different use cases.

A UI framework is only as good as the widgets it ships with and looks to me like JQueryUI is a bit light on in this regard. Certainly a good framework for adding a few simple UI elements like accordions etc. Not as useful for projects requiring more complex elements like grids, treeviews, layout managers etc.

There have been some issues regarding licensing with some OS purists feeling that Ext 'tricked' its early adopters. Personally I couldn't care less. I treat it as a commercial product for which i'm more than happy to pay $300.

keeping this advice in mind can help alleviate entrepreneur paralysis; instead of wasting time trying to discover the next big thing, just pick an industry which you have some interest in and improve existing tools in some way (through automation, usability improvements, pricing etc.)

Outstanding HTML -> PDF rendering with automatic TOC, page numbering, splitting tables across pages. Excellent CSS and SVG support.

Pricing is reasonable too.

There are about 5 Professional Development days per year and these are conducted before the end of the school year. Which is a terrible time to do it since we're all in holiday mode anyway.

We have 13 Weeks paid leave per year. 2 weeks for every 10 weeks worked, and then 6.5 weeks break over Christmas.

On top of that we have 10 days of paid sick leave each year. I can take sick leave by simply emailing that morning and letting them know that I'm not coming in. Sick leave accumulates and is paid out when you leave the employer. The beauty of this is that there is absolutely no stigma associated with taking time off work. If you're feeling over worked then take a 'mental health' day. No one will ever question you for it or demand to see medical certificates etc.

On top of this of course we also have "long service leave", which I assume every country has. It equates to 11 weeks paid leave after working for 10 years. So basically every 10 years a teacher can look forward to around 20 weeks paid leave (if the leave is taken between Christmas and term 1 break).

And at $78,000/year the pay isn't bad either :)

Basically it's the perfect job for someone who is also working on a startup.

Would help me to build a better product :)

The customer that originally wanted printed advertising was my dad :) He'd been struggling with keeping his printed advertising in line with his website for some time.

The product I'm building was originally aimed more at bricks-and-mortar store owners who wanted an website (most of these guys don't need ecommerce) - the ecommerce part of it came much later.

Most bricks and mortar stores rely on some type of printed advertising - it forms an important part of all physical retailing - just look at all the large retailers - Officeworks, K-Mart etc - they all have printed catalogues being generated on a 4-8 week cycle. These types of catalogues were out of reach for small business owners - they either have to pay $500-$1000 for each one to be designed or they have to try to create their own marketing materials using Word or Photoshop.

I certainly see what you mean about ecommerce being difficult to break through - there are just so many options out there.

My gut feeling is that local bricks and mortar merchants in South Australia, where i'm from will respond to a site builder + catalogue designer more strongly than purely online retailers. Thats why I've also registered www.localsa.com.au to promote this product under that brand. This approach will of course require a more traditional sales approach ie knocking on doors and cold calling.

So my approach will be two pronged - ecommerce merchants targeted through the generic wizifi brand and local merchants tageted through the localsa brand.

Will be interesting to see which works better.

I know it's probably naive to think this way but I only need 125 customers to match my current salary. Maybe I'm being optimistic, but that number doesn't seem too unatainable - especially since what i'm really selling is hosting with the site builder and catalogue software as value added.

The idea of targeting a niche is a good one - now to find a bunch of under-serviced people ;)

Are you getting slow download of the video? It's hosted on amazon s3 so should be ok.

I guess some people don't like being wrong hehe

If you want to improve you understanding of this human rights issue then read: http://civilliberty.about.com/od/equalrights/f/Health-Care-H...

"international human rights law is unambiguous on the matter: Universal health care is a right, and the government must step in and provide it if the private sector fails to do so. If there are such things as human rights, under the international framework, then health care is definitely among them."

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, proclaimed that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of oneself and one’s family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care.”

In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed a ‘Second Bill of Rights’ for Americans, declaring ‘freedom from want’ to be one of four essential liberties necessary for human security. Roosevelt’s definition of freedom included “the right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health.” http://www.nhchc.org/Advocacy/RighttoHealthinAmerica.pdf

This is also a good read: http://civilliberty.about.com/od/equalrights/f/Health-Care-H...

Note that there is no mention of adequate care only for those that can afford it.

I assume from this statement that you are either a) healthy and/or b) fully capable of paying for all you and your families medical needs - both now and in the future.

"I'm unaware of any right that involves making other people take care of me by producing medicines, providing services, food, housing me, and tending to my disabilities."

Australian doctors are highly paid. Their salaries are paid by every Australian tax payer whether healthy or sick. By sharing the burden all of society benefits.

You would be much more inclined to agree that healthcare is a basic human right if you were both sick and unable to afford treatment.

The standard of living in Australia is as good or better than in the US. My medical costs are $0. Regardless of whether I am visiting the doctor for a flu shot or having life saving heart surgery.

Better systems are possible.

The American system is broken and corrupt.

Broken because it denies healthcare to millions who need it or financially bankrupts others. Healthcare is a basic human right - what exactly is the problem with having everyone pay a healthcare levy so that universal care can be provided? I live in Australia and my medicare contribution is ~$300 per YEAR. I have NEVER paid for a single doctor, or hospital visit in my life - the concept is utterly foreign to me.

Corrupt because from what I understand big pharma has lawmakers either in their pockets or by the balls - not sure which.

I hate the 'why should I pay for other people's health cover' line - it's something you only ever hear healthy people say.