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hazmattronon Full Trailer For Facebook Movie ‘The Social Network’ Hits The Web

I feel like this is becoming standard in lots of places, or at least vogue. I worked in a chem lab at the University of Washington that had indoor windows expressly for notes and presentations, and the science library at my school has rooms with glass walls and markers for group studying.

hazmattronon How the Old Spice Videos Are Being Made

My only exposure to the Old Spice campaign so far has been through HN, despite generally considering myself a relatively internet-aware individual. Interesting.

hazmattronon On writing: Why entrepreneurs should write

Almost anything paragraph size can be squeezed down to 140 characters.

While I agree with the article at large, I disagree with this. There is definitely value in writing things between 140 characters and essay-length, if only to jot down complete ideas without grooming them into a lengthy piece of essay quality.

hazmattronon Great programming quotes

You make an excellent point about the application-level learning, I actually noticed myself that I was spending a vast amount of time just configuring my OS and apps -- time which I could have spent actually producing things. This was my primary justification for buying my Mac, though I still think I learned a lot using Linux that I wouldn't have otherwise ...patience and perseverance, among other things.

hazmattronon Great programming quotes

Linux is only free if your time has no value

True, but in my experience it's a worthy investment of valuable time. I spent three years using Linux distros, and though I use OSX now, I'm much more comfortable with general system administration than I would have been otherwise.

hazmattronon The Pencil iPad Stand

I feel like you'd have to buy really nice pencils and rubber bands to match the general aesthetic of the iPad.

hazmattronon Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

I want to design and launch a improbably large space-mirror. If it were properly focused on earth (curvature adapting to distance from the planet), and given light-speed delay, we could direct a telescope upon it and see the state of earth 6.52x years ago, where the mirror is x parsecs away from earth.

Roadblock: probably not a scientifically viable proposition, given space debris and lack of ability to build something that large/durable. Solution: write a sci-fi short story with this as a plot element, and call it good.

hazmattronon What every developer needs to know about “public” data and privacy

He makes an interesting point though about intuitive, human expectations for data retention. In interactions with humans, we can expect passing comments to eventually pass, but a computer could retain even the most trivial of information indeterminately.

hazmattronon Ask HN: Feedback on Listeria, my new app

I'd like to see some sort of demo, maybe a video a la http://teuxdeux.com/? It would be nice to know what I'm really signing up for before I sign up.

hazmattronon Woot To Be Acquired By Amazon

To me, part of the appeal of Woot! is its nonchalance and small, independent aesthetic. I hope it doesn't lose this in the process of becoming an Amazon company.

hazmattronon Android gaining on Apple, says report

It's the Windows OS effect, this time in the smartphone market. Except that Android is free, so it could potentially gain an even vaster userbase.

hazmattronon Fast-tracking: Alternatives to college

As a current college student in CS, I can see how this approach could be valid. A lot of what is taught in classes I could definitely learn on my own initiative, BUT

- at least in my department, diversity is emphasized. Without being required to take classes in the more obscure arenas of computer science, I may never learn methods of thought that will come in handy eventually.

- a huge part of college is the "experience", being in an environment of people who are not all learning the same things. This brings in perspectives from different disciplines, which will help in working with a variety of situations and with a variety of people down the line. And flexibility is everything, especially in CS.

- making connections is important. I'm meeting and studying with many people who I could easily see working with later in life (people in CS, and other fields as well).

I think, while a strictly vocational training program could address these things to a certain degree, a college education does so much more appropriately.

...or at least I hope so. College is EXPENSIVE.

hazmattronon Show HN: mail2brain, email attachment timesaver

Potential application: a user with a camera phone that doesn't have support for barcode reader applications (not Android, iOS, etc) but can send an email with a photo attachment could analyze a barcode with this service. But here the lack of immediacy might be an issue...

hazmattronon Stack Overflow Fatigue

I find that Google is a great way to access the information on Stack Overflow, even as a participating member of the community. When I'm looking for an answer to a question, often a Google search will return the Stack Overflow post most relevant - helpful when there are many similar posts on a given topic.

hazmattronon Ask HN: If someone else is "doing it", is that a reason not to compete?

Expanding on this, the fact that they've done it before is actually an advantage to you: now you know exactly what you can do to make it better. Improvement can always be made.

hazmattronon Ask HN: I'm 20 and I need advice.

I'm not yet 20, so obviously I'm reading this thread more for taking advice than giving it. I think about this kind of thing a lot - success (wealth + happiness) in the tech industry. Right now I'm one year through undergraduate in CS, and working at a computer repair store almost full time to pay for it. By next summer, I'm hoping that classes and side projects will make my skills marketable enough to get an internship at a big tech company, and then I'll move on to explore the smaller side of the field. See where I fit in, keep learning, and find something I enjoy. Unless the economy plummets again, I think pretty much any respectable job in CS should pay well enough. That's my plan from here, and my two cents on the issue (US currency).