joedev

Why does anyone shop at Best Buy? Ever? I see no appeal to the place and no value-add to spend time there. Obviously, others do though. Curious what it is that Best Buy shoppers like about it.

I see. I can buy that. It's just that you said that people who love summer camp suck at thinking for themselves and I don't see the connection. "If you like summer camp then you suck at thinking for yourself" just sounds like a logical fallacy, that's all.

The belief that contrarianism is required as proof of "thinking for themselves" is a common logical fallacy. It is logical and valid to consider that someone may think for themselves and, after due diligence of doing so, make a decision which happens to coincide with that of many others.

If your friends judge you for dropping Facebook, it's probably time for new friends. Just sayin'

Facebook is a "heinous violation of your freedom and imposition on your private space". Would you care to elaborate?

Which of your freedom(s) is being violated? What of your private space is being imposed upon?

The cost to Google of this effort is far greater than $0.

"Crappy IPOs" is the top point for me. This Act only further encourages unprofitable companies with no real plan-to-profitablity to dress up and hit the public with over-hyped IPO roadshows. It all becomes about hype vs. substance. We've seen it all before and it's rediculous that such activity has now been codified.

Zendesk has this one figured out. Look at the signup form: http://www.zendesk.com/product/pricing

It appears to be only two fields. Only when you start filling out the two fields do you discover it's actually six fields (still not long, but longer than the initially perceived length).

"People who cry “professionalism” are asking for us to represent companies and career over being ourselves. These are not the people we want at our conferences"

Then count me as not welcome at one of your conferences. I attend conferences for my business and career. Every moment I'm at a conference is a moment I'm not with my neighbors, family, and friends back home. I'd rather not waste those moments reliving frat-party days.

Good article. It's funny to me that HN readers simultaneously deride Groupon for shoddy financial reporting in its IPO yet cheer "crowdfunding" and the JOBS act which removes any audited financial reporting requirement.

Which is it: do you want the true scoop before investing in an IPO or do you not? You can't have it both ways.

Great points. I often am dismayed that conferences and user groups seem more like frat parties than a profession attempting to further itself. And we wonder why progress plods.

Interesting that right at the top of rubyonrails.com is this quote:

“Ruby on Rails is a breakthrough in lowering the barriers of entry to programming. Powerful web applications that formerly might have taken weeks or months to develop can be produced in a matter of days.” -Tim O'Reilly, Founder of O'Reilly Media

Can't believe I just wasted a few minutes reading that article. I went to find out how to save over $100k and learned nothing other than what I already knew: older versions of IE cause issues.

Is this a case of if you can't beat 'em, squash 'em?

So? You're missing the point entirely. The article sums it up well: "This kind of casual copyright infringement, with no malicious intent, is exactly the kind of thing that SOPA was after."

This post seems like a success story, so far. So how is not interviewing them a bug? If you are seeking startups who need help identifying how to get customers and how to create products people want, then it seems that Codiqa doesn't fit. Codiqa has customers and is making products people want.

Said another way, the delta between where Codiqa stands today vs. where they would be had they been interviewed does not seem as large an opportunity as probably the opportunities you made for the companies you did select. Therefore, I'd say there's no bug.

So funny to hear "Chicago" and "the midwest" in the same sentence. Chicago is different enough from the Midwest that usually organizations serving both have both in their name to make it clear they serve and understand the differing needs and mentalities. Though Chicago and the midwest share the same geography, they do not, thank goodness; share the same mentality. I can say that as a proud Midwesterner.

I agree. You hear the phrase "I don't have healthcare" too often used when what the person really means is "I don't have insurance." If you live in a developed country, believe me, you have health care.

Not to be pedantic but I will stand on a soapbox for a moment: I'd also point out that we all have the ability to care for our health. Health care is a daily activity which requires no insurance, and often no cost.

The entire concept of insurance is to share risk. (Egyptians had the bright idea to combine grain together onto shared barges so if one sinks, none of us loses our entire cargo.)

Risk carries an element of unpredictability. If a scenario is predictable, there is no risk to be shared, ergo by definition a scenario with little risk (e.g. known diagnosis and treatment plan) is absolutely and unsurprisingly not fitting for insurance.

"I develop relationships with them, and at the end of the day, I am done, there is nothing to do except go out for dinner, drink beer, and have fun. No deadlines, no all night code sessions. This is how life should be."

I know it's hard to believe because such environments don't get all the press. Yet in my 20 years of IT, the vast majority of work has been just as you describe your vegetable selling job. Software development can work out just fine with 40-hour weeks, relationships with real people, and plenty of time for fun!

Should be titled, "Pinterest's first investor explains nothing."

Not only does he make no offering of a "secret to success", but in reality says:

'there’s no way to explain how the company that has done no PR, no marketing and is still operating on an invite-only basis is “captivating so much of the conversation”'

It's the old bait-and-switch article title.

Well done. Thank you for sharing this intimate part of you. Please, please everyone: take heed: "Those who push only for the sake of some future reward, or to avoid failure, very often burn out, sometimes tragically. Please don't do that."

To those not taking heed: Being and Internet Celebrity today will provide you no comfort in that not-to-distant tomorrow when your spouse, children, family, and friends have realized that they are not the most important ingredients of your life.

Developers moaning about Bootstrap have fallen into the common trap of seeing apps through developers' eyes.

Please consider that: 1. Almost no one in the world has heard of Bootstrap. Though it's captured our mindshare as developers, most of our users will not know nor care if the app is Bootstrap or not. 2. The vast majority of web apps still will not be Bootstrap apps.

Basically none of the general public will say "Hey, this is a Bootstrap'ed application, I'm not using it." They just do not know nor care what Bootstrap is. If it looks professional and works as they expect, they will be happy. If they're happy, I'm happy.

You have fallen into the common trap of seeing apps through developers' eyes. Please consider that almost no one in the world has heard of Bootstrap. Though it's captured our mindshare as developers, most of our users will not know nor care.

Basically none of the general public will say "Hey, this is a Bootstrap'ed application, I'm not using it." They just do not know nor care what Bootstrap is. If it looks professional and works as they expect, they will be happy.

For the same reason that, as a user, I benefit from Apple's Human Interface Guidelines, I am fine using Bootstrap applications.

The BS is not limited to start-ups. Check out the break-dance troupe kicking off JavaOne. geez: http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/05/07/PS080733.p... (credit: http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/05/07/J1D1)

This risk-reward axiom holds true for almost all aspects of business. Lower risk, lower investment == lower return.*

Of the many economies and business environments created throughout history, this system of reward makes for the best so far.

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(* Not saying app development is without risk or investment. It's just that clearly Apple and AT&T have an order of magnitude larger investment and risk than the average developer).

Amen. I would think getting noticed based on the coolness of your parties instead of getting noticed based on your product would be lame. Instead, it seems to be what draws people to the game. "BS" is a good call.

Another in the long line of Silicon Valley companies screwing up and then getting kudos from the community for handling the screw up. It's getting tiresome to see people get accolades for basically doing their job, after failing to do their job.

"How Not to Sell [Cheap] Software in 2012."

or

"How Not to Sell Software [to Small Companies] in 2012."