maram

Thanks, I posted this story because NYtimes is a paper of record.

In times like these I won’t be checking news about Coronavirus on FXstreet and businessinsider, or any business related sites.

I’ll be checking newspapers of record.

will do

Thanks

>> doesn’t YC strongly encourage investors, to the point of punishing those who violate, to wait until Demo Day? That way they get to build good market conditions for raising.

I’m not sure what’s your source because the first paragraph contradicts what you are saying “Over the last few days, a large number of investors have accelerated their outreach to our current batch of founders. They are moving quickly to make investment decisions, and we’re going to match their pace and accelerate our schedule by one week. YC W20 online Demo Day will now be on March 16.”

>>They can sort companies by industry and geography, and will be able to export the list of companies to a spreadsheet.

4 days ago I commented here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22506013

“I think YC should add a sheet for us to write our comments/ratings and decision” I shared my experience on how I get bored and excited.

Many people reached out since then asking me to share my spreadsheet. This sheet will be very helpful.

Whether YC partners read my comment or not I’m so grateful for this feature.

THANK YOU YC<3

Tweet translation:

“Gulf-countries hierarchy

A gift from ARAMCO”

I said it in the first paragraph.

“But the issue here isn't the software, the issue here is privacy invasion. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy aren't comprehensive enough to inform users what they are doing or how and when they are collecting their personal data.”

>>My fear is that by writing blanket untrue statements like this, people that don't know better just read it as fact, and spread it.

You are right! "people that don't know better" should do their own research on whether Google Location services ask for their permission.

Here are few links:

"Google records your location even when you tell it not to" https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/aug/13/google-lo...

"Google Collected Data on Schoolchildren Without Permission" https://www.wired.com/2015/12/google-collected-data-on-schoo...

"More than 1,000 Android apps harvest data even after you deny permissions" https://www.cnet.com/news/more-than-1000-android-apps-harves...

"Thousands of Android apps can track your phone — even if you deny permissions" https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/8/20686514/android-covert-ch...

>>Google has the right to demand location data as payment for services rendered.

Sure, just let them be clear about it. By clear, I don't mean they mention it in the last line of the 29th page.

>>it can be argued the tech has improved people's lives.

I have a problem with general cynicism toward technology. I believe the core problem we have with tech is all about privacy.

We are on the fringe of a golden era, and we should resolve these issues about privacy and dark UX that deceive users.

We don't need to "argue" whether tech improved our lives. It already did!! When did we ever in the history of mankind had the chance to communicate, and access information in real-time?!

>>The police have far too much power in this.

Why it's not the case that Google has too much power in this, by collecting data from their users without asking their permission?

>>Even before all of this tech, if you looked suspicious you would get stopped or worse.

Tech is IMPROVING our lives. Software is an enabler, it solves our problems. If the software is making our problems worse, then there is something wrong with the software, we fix the software. But the issue here isn't the software, the issue here is privacy invasion. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy aren't comprehensive enough to inform users what they are doing or how and when they are collecting their personal data.

From the story “I didn’t realize that by having location services on that Google was also keeping a log of where I was going, I’m sure it’s in their terms of service but I never read through those walls of text, and I don’t think most people do either.” McCoy said.

Steve Jobs had a solution for this:

"Privacy means that people know what they’re signing up for. In plain English, and repeatedly. I believe that people are smart. Some people want to share more than others. Ask them...Make them tell you to stop asking them. Let them know what you’re going to do with their data"

How do I share it with you?

I keep track of investment decisions, but not life decisions...life is too big for me to have it tracked on excel.

But I hear you...sometimes you lose sight of your big goal. It helps to have your goal/vision engraved in your mind, it helps to write and dream about it.

I’m a previous founder, I’ll come back with my second act someday. After I quit my startup I decided to stay around in this startup world.

I attend these demo days on behalf of investors who trust my judgement in specific verticals.

I’m fine sharing my notes.

Excel sheet. I used both Numbers and Excel and I found excel is better to compare my notes and ratings.

After a year I go back and compare my ratings to how much each startup raised, IRR..etc.

In the first batch I rated one of the startup 1/5, after a year, when the startup raised a lot $$$$ I went back to my comment on why I rated it 1/5

My note said “too niche”

It hit me and I realized it was as if Jeff Bezos was pitching me Amazon and I said e-commerce for books only! This is a niche market.

It’s very helpful to go back and read your comments about these startups. You learn with every startup you mess..

I found it very helpful to have your own rituals for the task you want to accomplish.

I create a spreadsheet with every startup before I start watching anything.

Then I start rating startups and comment on founders on my sheet while watching the videos.

I focus 100% on the first minute of any video, sometimes founders are so good they completely get my attention, sometimes I lose interest and just go back to my sheet commenting.

My sheet/notes are my starting point, if I’m bored I fix it there..I found out that I get bored when I hear a pitch that solves a problem for industries I’m not interested in.

I attended 4 online demo days, and every time my sheet gets improved. I cannot watch these videos without a spreadsheet..and now my team asks me to send them the spreadsheet before every demo day.

I think YC should add a sheet for us to write our comments/ratings and decision.

The data from these sheets will be so helpful to understand how attendees perceive each pitch, how founders can improve it

Facebook press release is a classical PR whitewash to rebrand Facebook through POSITIONING it as the FIRST brand that is fighting for users privacy.

>>As a Namecheap customer, I'm glad that they aren't giving up their customers privacy. This is how we at the community of HN and engineers see it, but not how average non-technical person sees it.

I'm a hacker who worked in PR and advertising; I worked on media monitoring; I drafted many press releases like this and worked on PR campaigns for P&G, LG and Unilever and other global brands.

Here is what I learned: every time I read a stupid press release like this, I ask which audience is this company targeting? And why?

To read this differently, think of the target audience. Who is Facebook targeting with this press release? Clearly, Facebook is not targeting the community of HN, or tech, evident by the number of people saying Facebook shouldn't sue Namecheap.

Facebook is targeting the average person. Facebook is whitewashing/managing its PR crisis of privacy invasion by establishing itself as the FIRST tech leader who is fighting for people privacy.

Like it or not, Facebook is the only one in the tech industry who is doing it and is being loud..underscore being loud. No other tech giant is fighting to be the leader in protecting users privacy and is being loud, I'm not talking about non-profit. I'm talking about Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook.

Just read these poetic lines from the press release: "We don't want people to be deceived by these web addresses, so we've taken legal action. We filed a similar lawsuit in October 2019 against OnlineNIC, another domain registrar, and its proxy service. Our goal is to create consequences for those who seek to do harm and we will continue to take legal action to protect people from domain name fraud and abuse."

Facebook is taking the initiative of fighting for users privacy, and it doesn't matter whether they are truthful or deceptive. What matters is that they are the first.

We only remember the first.

"The easy way to get into a person’s mind is to be first. If you can’t be first, then you must find a way to position yourself against the product, the politician, the person who did get there first What’s the name of the first person to fly solo across the North Atlantic? Charles Lindbergh, right? Now, what’s the name of the second person to fly solo across the North Atlantic? Not so easy to answer, is it? What’s the name of the first person to walk on the moon? Neil Armstrong, of course. What’s the name of the second? What’s the name of the highest mountain in the world? Mount Everest in the Himalayas, right? What’s the name of the second highest mountain in the world? What’s the name of the first person you ever made love with? What’s the name of the second? The first person, the first mountain, the first company to occupy the position in the mind is going to be awfully hard to dislodge. Kodak in photography, Kleenex in tissue, Xerox in plainpaper copiers, Hertz in rent-a-cars, Coca in cola, General in electric. The first thing you need to “fix your message indelibly in the mind” is not a message at all.

Ries, Al. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind

Of course, I have many intellectual convo with people under pseudonyms. But HN isn’t Twitter. And just because HN has many intellectual users who write under pseudonyms it doesn’t mean the same thing will happen in twitter!

Twitter is: 1. Used by the mainstream almost globally (HN is used by the fringe) 2. Real-time global messages in all languages 3. Used by the president

I can go on but to because of these reasons the value of tweet cannot be based on the actual conversation.

HN iS different because of the hard work of YC partners and the caliber of HN community. HN would have been occupied by thugs long time ago to do astroturfing on behalf of big companies. Here is an example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22383746

Making the blue verified check exclusive is the main problem here.

Twitter internal system/process of verifying accounts is fundamentally broken...why don’t they open this to everyone and people can apply with their official ID?!

They can add/create another Check mark for celebrities..but verified real accounts of people should be for everyone.

Twitter is a public sphere and They should be able to identify real accounts easily.

I don’t want to waste my time talking to accounts under pseudonyms..

Thiel and Rudy Giuliani's pal ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Here is a quote from a NYTimes story that was published last month, and got updated this month https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/18/technology/clearview-priv...

>>In addition to Mr. Ton-That, Clearview was founded by Richard Schwartz — who was an aide to Rudolph W. Giuliani when he was mayor of New York — and backed financially by Peter Thiel, a venture capitalist behind Facebook and Palantir.

>>At work we do have some Win10 machines, and they are ALWAYS doing something completely off the wall bizarre and unexpected

Like linking Skype accounts to hotmail accounts without permission...

Once upon a time, not too long ago..it was Apple who did things without permission, but at least they had Steve Jobs.. now it’s everybody, without Steve Jobs.

It’s Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook...it’s the culture of companies from the valley.

But all this, is just another opportunity for a new software company.

Their arrogance and recklessness is someone else’s opportunity.

>See the trend? Centralization is a natural outcome of millions of people not

Agree

>This article about decentralization does what many other evangelism articles do: talk about the ideals and benefits.

Exactly! This week I tweeted this old clip of Steve Jobs praising decentralization https://twitter.com/maramesque/status/1194136650500255744?s=... then it hit me how Steve worked so hard to make Apple centralized.

Sure, Apple was great during his lifetime, but what happened to this very centralized company after Jobs passed away?

Did Apple live up to Jobs legacy and promises from protecting users privacy to building great products?

I think we will always live in a world full of centralized products used by the mainstream.

The mainstream will eventually get smarter and founders will always face the pressure to improve products, respect users privacy and attention.

The days of launching an app from your college and watching people downloading it from all over the world are long gone.

Why is it limit only? Why cannot I turn it off entirely? And why does it take 6 clicks of separation go get to these settings?

Seems like Apple is going through Xerox phases..Very soon they will have to explain everything.

There was a time when Xerox had to explain what their products were for. In one of the computer ads the headline said "This Xerox machine can't make a copy"

https://ries.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncatego...

The last articles have been deleted.

e.g. Top 10 books for high-tech entrepreneurs

>That's easy. Trust no one.

Of course, I meant to ask which one do you trust the most?

I'm also looking for a VPN to use with my iPhone.

This is the reason its called Islamic Civilization. Most of its scientist weren't Arab. Arabic dictionary wasn't even written by an Arab.

But as I have noticed many people don't feel comfortable to reference a religion, so they go with race.

But find it interesting that we label these scientist based on their origin, not the place that gave them all the reasons to become all they were capable of becoming..

This is like saying Sergey Brin is a Russian entrepreneur.

while I personally agree with pg here, I think we shouldn’t make any rules.

we often forget how many things started...netscape founders (jim clark and marc andreessen) met through an email!

Trying to replicate meet is essential to have a market-fit product. We have evolved into subconsciously LOVING meet. Hadn’t the vegan-chicken tasted like chicken I wouldn’t stopped eating chicken.

I was visiting a sister when she tricked me into eating a vegan replacement of chicken!(I’m a steak lover and always made jokes about vegan people) I couldn’t believe what I was eating wasn’t chicken. Then she made me try chicken nuggets, and OMG...having had that experience with chicken, I wouldn't be surprised if their burger tastes the same...

The taste of chicken was so real I couldn't believe it. I’ve been eating it for a month now and I lost 10 lbs. WITHOUT working out.