kirvyteo

I agree. Part of the value is that it is a default application in every phone. My previous startup provides an SMS gateway that sending 500K messages each year to mostly SE Asia receivers (small amount compared to what other providers do) Even now although data plans are getting cheaper and more common, there are still a lot people NOT carrying IPhones, Androids, BB etc. If you want a ubiquitous push notification mechanism, SMS is still the only app. And maybe part of the reasons why the author is ranting about this is because when I compare SMS rates across different countries, US users are paying quite a premium for SMS as compared to Asia or SE Asia where I am located.

I have seen resumes with 20 different languages. I simply email them to rate on a scale of 1 to 10, how good are you with each language. (So that I can have interview questions on their better language). Surprisingly (to me) or maybe not surprisingly, a lot of such people never get back to me on their ratings at all. It could be the same "weird, insecure defensiveness" you are talking about.

It looks like a strategy against low-end disruption that companies like sumopaint are causing.

Wow...I never knew about the part "as a business with less than $10M in revenues or $10M VC funding". Now it sounds like the contest is only a PR exercise. Not that it is surprising though.

I can relate. I am 33 and married, no kids. The only difference for me before and after (getting married) is the amount of time you have available for your startup before you need to spend time with your wife or kids. Age is not a factor, the amount of time you have is the factor. But having someone supportive, wife or gf, is really a big plus. And it really helps a lot when you use them as a listener to pitch your idea to. They come up with amazing questions.

I can't say much about death punishment but..

"He said he was carrying them to Australia for a Sydney syndicate to help his brother Khoa, a former heroin addict, pay A$30,000 ($31,460) in debts."

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a...

See how drugs forces people to do "dumb" things?

If I may ask, you mean you will like the government to "force" or "regulate" the airline to take over the recruitment so that there is one male and one female in every cabin and at every age group? Where is the "freedom" in that? :)

And with regards to looks, you got to be kidding me. I assume you are implying they are only getting beautiful ladies. :)

If you only feel like "an unlucky afternoon can result in a death sentence", it is ok. But it is really far from the truth. Oh.. unless your daily life include smuggling drugs, kidnapping or something hideous.

I don't fear for my life everyday when I go to work. I am more concerned that I am late.

It is an old and famous article and there are some interesting facts about the article you should know. You would think that the person charged, "Monetary Authority of Singapore official Shanmugaratnam Tharman", would be facing the death penalty or exiled, but sorry to disappoint you, he is now a Minister for Finance, and with considerable clout.

Anyway, I live here and the article sounds exaggerated and over dramatized, and at the end, I felt it was really humorous. People changed, places changed, rules changed. A well written article doesn't make it real nor the well rehearsed words of a politician. So to say "The author hits it spot on about Singapore", is really bewildering.

I always like to compare the drugs laws here with the gun laws (or lack of) in US. If you care about effectiveness or deaths, which one has ended up with more deaths as a result of the laws based on per capita?

(For the skeptics, oh yeah, you are right, the lee dictatorship is forcing me to write this. Ok I am ready to be downvoted.)

You mean like 3 years later? But seriously, I started using Paypal recently to collect money and so far, everything is fine. I did get some checks but it was resolved after a few calls and some faxes. Not a lot of money was involved so it was not a life or death situation. I understand they do need to check for fraud but some of the cases I read do send chills up my spine.

Hey me too! It happen on more than one occasion so I know it can't be coincidental. Very often, I will get stuck in debugging a programming problem and after spending hours on it, I give up and take a nap. When I wake up either the next day or hours later, the solution presents itself after working on it for a couple of minutes. It is like a nap reboots our brains (there are lots of articles about sleep and synapses).

I just like to build new things, like creating your own art, something to call your own. Sometimes it solves a real problem, sometimes it is just something you feel the world needs. I like the challenge of trying to sell it. The money that may come with it is great and it is a way to keep score. Some like the fame and attention it brings but others just prefer to be known quietly and proudly as the creator. Whatever it is, it is probably one of the coolest thing you will ever do.

I sometimes wish there is one with a special arrow button move to the next word instead of next character. Will help a lot with typing and programming.

It just shows the differences in views. Even something that is so obvious, logical, rational to you can be so ridiculous and downright stupid to others. But it will be healthy for discussion if they say why they downvote. It is like passing judgement without explaining your judgement. You don't win minds or opinions over from the downvoted person and the downvoter doesn't understand the other guy's point of view as well.

The last statement in the article is interesting. "Has philanthropy solved any major social problems in the past 50 years?" Can philanthropy solve social problems in the first place? It feels like charity is more effective when it is a short term issue, like meeting the needs of population hit by an earthquake. Longer and bigger social problems? Anybody know any positive examples out there?

That is being paranoid. I don't understand the downvoting. Is US a "Disneyland with guns" then? How many people have been killed by guns versus death penalty in Singapore? (Before you downvote me again, hear me out)

I live here. I see lots of curses in facebook and websites about the government and I mean really really mean curses, personal attacks and so on. I complain lots about the government. And to clarify, there is a line which you don't cross, which is the religious line and accusing the govt of corruption without proof. It is rather simple.

I don't really see how young people doing startups care about that? Just respect your neighbours and their religion, is it hard to do? If you have proof that someone is corrupted, just report it. (Btw, some govt guy just got charged for a huge corruption case.) Having a death penalty doesn't mean the whole country is one brainwashed crazed population looking to execute anyone. In fact there are so many foreigners here at any startup event that the locals are beginning to seem like the minority.

Yes, this small place(market) has lots of problems and it is definitely not disneyland. But to say it is a bad place just because of death penalty or lack of freedom to insult other religion is just ridiculous. Just look beyond political nonsense and journalistic opinions.

Why do you bother about chewing gum and having cannabis if you are looking for a place to start or run a business? Doesn't factors like low corruption, safety or market size matters more?

It depends on the X and Y. If you say - You are the "successful company" of X industry for the Y industry, then there is no issue of X overlapping Y, since X and Y are distinct enough. For Opzi, they are just targeting another segment in the same industry, and that is too close for comfort.

I would imagine music scores in IPads or other touch sensitive screens. No more books or sheets.

Interesting! I am trying to work out the price plan for my startup as well. Can I ask if you got people signing up for paid accounts directly or they did the free plans first and convert later?

Cool stuff. The first thing I thought about was the latency. One of the problems running VNC or remote desktop over internet is always latency. I tried running VNC to EC2 instances for a test but the experience is terrible. It will be nice to see this run faster.

It is kinda like music. Practice can be boring to most. But learning a new piece, and performing it, or composing can be fun. So is music boring? You are asking people to explain why they love music. No matter how much anyone love music, scales can be boring or playing the same piece the 1000th time can be boring. Coding is just an activity, like playing music, your purpose in coding it ultimately determines the fun.

I think this has more practical use whereas Segway is like an expensive car. Show this to any caretaker looking after people with stroke, disabilities etc. I am sure they will find it useful. Think about how many falls this can prevent indoors? They probably need to cap the max speed for old people to their walking speed. A back rest will be nice.

It is not all gloom and doom. I remember reading about Pyongyang University of Science and Technology and how it was initiated by this man - Kim Chin Kyung in fortune mag. His background is very interesting. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/04/1057179156781.h... He tried to affect change in a different way. Not by anger which we all feel after reading the article. You have to admire his determination. Immediate changes or changes caused by outside interference may not be a lasting or stable thing. I believe at some point in time, the idiots ruling the place will want to follow their only friend, China, transformation. The question is when. Any form of aggression is only going to cost extra lives and delay this timetable. As for them making the first move in a war....hmm...US can vaporize the whole north peninsula and still have left over nukes.

I find your points interesting, especially "Prepare to shift from SaaS to shipping hardware". Can you elaborate on this? As in why and the situation that causes it? thanks