mdolon

I wrote a little web app to track my weekly goals and check-in with a couple of friends/colleagues: https://weeklycheckins.com/

It's only been online for a few weeks but it's already been quite helpful.

I actually wrote about this just last week: http://mdolon.com/essays/amazon-has-ruined-search-and-google...

In case the author is reading, I'm curious to hear how you structure your day and what your learning routine is like. Any tips you can share?

I was so annoyed by the promoted products and expert recommendations that I wrote a Chrome/Firefox extension that hides them. It needs to be updated but mostly works as expected: http://mdolon.com/projects/shopsuey

Forgive my ignorance but does CloudFlare have any technical or infrastructural advantage to address problems like the great firewall? Or provide options for people when their nation states lock down the internet? Access to a free and open internet seems like a worthy moonshot to pursue.

Sorry to hear that. I can't speak about Arcteryx but I've been a long time customer of Patagonia and have only the absolute best things to say about them. Their products are expensive but they back them with lifetime guarantees. I had a $400 Gore-tex jacket that after two years of use, started letting water in at the seams. I took it to a Patagonia store and told the clerk, who gave me a free bottle of a liquid wash that helps restore water repellency. When that didn't work, I returned to the store and the clerk apologized, took the jacket and told me to grab a new one off the shelf.

I've had other friends get replacement gear years down the road, and have also had down jackets get repaired by them for free after regular wear and tear. It's those little things, along with their support for environmental causes, that have made me a lifelong customer.

Jeff Bezos frames this concept fairly well too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwG_qR6XmDQ

Great find! Definitely provides a lot more context

This was both helpful and inspiring to read, thank you for sharing.

  - after thousands of lines of code, we realized our Edtech startup did not have product market fit,
  so we pivoted to building a Mixpanel competitor focused on segmentation*
  - 6 product iterations later, nothing was working. We were trying to decide between a group trip 
  planner and what eventually became Segment. It was a dark time.*

I'm curious.. when validating ideas, when do you know it's time to move on?

Very cool, thanks for sharing!

Looks awesome, and something that I've been wanting myself for a while now. I'm curious about your pricing model (pay what you want). How has that been going so far, if you don't mind me asking? I have a couple of small projects that I've been considering that for but I'm curious as to how it actually plays out in the real world.

I'm a fan of Patrick Collison's blog: https://patrickcollison.com/

And I use my personal site (https://www.mdolon.com/) for sharing projects and writing, the design is based on a free Jekyll theme that I've customized. You're welcome to build on it if you'd like: https://github.com/mdolon/mdolon.github.io/

Your counterpoint (“except for perhaps afterwards”) is a large part of why I, and I’m sure others, work out. Not only for the relaxation effect — a late evening workout or run does help me sleep better — but often as a way to calm my mind and increase focus throughout the day. It’s hardly because of status.

I don’t think it’s that simple. For many, some of these social network products (ie Facebook or Instagram) have become deeply engrained in their lifestyle. Yes, they can still stop using them, but it is not that easy to because of the immediate consequences. If all of your friends and family use a product and have grown accustomed to communicating with you via that channel, it is difficult to offer alternatives — it’s completely feasible yes, but nevertheless still difficult. There is a psychological ball and chain effect that these networks create, which, in my mind, is one of the biggest dangers. That a corporation has enough leverage over your behavior to make leaving it’s product a psychologically or physically tough decision seems dangerous and wrong.

For me it was board sports in general, including snowboarding and surfing. Both are unique and amazing in their own right.

For surfing, I had always assumed it was a hippie thing bored Californians did. It wasn't until I tried it one summer in Hawaii that I realized the level of physical and mental resilience you need to surf, or the meditative aspects of it. The bulk of my time surfing is not spent standing on a surfboard but rather paddling out or staring at the ocean, waiting for the right wave.

Similarly, after snowboarding in the mountains of Vermont a couple of winters ago, my whole perception of mountain sports changed. While it's physically demanding, there is a zen-like calmness to it as well. That paired with the gorgeous mountain scenery is quite special.

I made a grid overlay tool years ago, perhaps something in there may be of use? https://devgrow.com/griddy-overlay/

This feels like a scene straight out of Idiocracy. The brands must be pleasantly confused.

One could argue that many social media companies are doing the same. The net psychological effects of gamification and engagement hacks are yet to be very well understood.

This exact same thing happened to me, resulting in the loss of hundreds of emails collected over the years from my website.

Any recommendations on alternatives?

The article briefly mentioned competition from ride sharing services but I wonder to what extent it's made an impact.

Anecdotally, given how cheap Uber and Lyft are in Manhattan (typically $4-5 for a shared ride), I often find myself opting for that instead of dealing with the hassles of the subway system. Both are unreliable when it comes to timeliness, as ride sharing services often take longer than expected (especially Uber Pool and Lyft Line). And as painful as the subway system can sometimes be, I do appreciate the rich history and incredible performances you'll often come across in subway stations. I'm torn, to be honest.

Are there any good tech meetups/groups there that you'd recommend? I currently live in NYC but will be working remotely from Hawaii from Dec 15-Jan 15.

Don't be afraid to quit.

This is awesome! I have friends who regularly volunteer at refugee camps and I'm sure they'd love this. Being fluent in more than one language, volunteering abroad is something I've also wanted to do but haven't committed to because of time constraints. Thanks for making that a bit more accessible to folks like me (and for sharing your findings in your blog, that was an insightful read).

Sorry, I was simply sharing my own experience and point of view. Please do treat it as such.

You can also say I created my own bubble by choosing to live in SOMA and the Mission (or anywhere downtown SF in general). I'm just sharing my experience of encountering mostly tech employees in those neighborhoods. If you've experienced otherwise, kudos to you! :)

Having lived in both SOMA and the Mission, I wholeheartedly disagree. The vast majority of people I met at coffee shops, restaurants or bars in the city worked in tech.

Living in Manhattan (East Village) and Brooklyn provided a completely different experience. It was a rare to meet people who work in tech.

In both circumstances, I haven't been going out of my way to try to meet people in any specific industry.

There are a ton of tech meetups in the city, check them out. https://www.meetup.com/find/tech/?allMeetups=false&radius=5&...

This was a critical factor that led to me relocating from SF to NYC. While it's nice having every tech giant and startup in close proximity, the homogenous conversations and social interactions were a huge drawback.

There's definitely a trade-off -- while it's nice being exposed to the issues people experience in a variety of industries, it was nice having easy access to engineers/friends willing to hack on ideas in SF.

I think this average takes into account salaries in other states as well, not just CA and NYC (where junior devs do make higher starting salaries). We've hired people fresh out of bootcamps at companies I've worked at in the past and in most cases, we offered them salaries pretty close to that of a recent grad.

This is great! Outside of the obvious use case for flourishes and light animations, are there other uses you're envisioning this for?

All of your other work is fantastic too, tres magnifique!

For those curious, two companies/services to look at in these spaces are M-PESA (http://www.safaricom.co.ke/personal/m-pesa) and M-KOPA (http://www.m-kopa.com/).

I spent this past February in Kenya working with a tech startup and all of my expectations about technology in Africa were completely shattered. Nearly everyone I met (both in Nairobi and in smaller towns) had smartphones with data plans, used mobile banking and were very willing to try out the latest technologies. I used Uber to commute to the office every day and get around the otherwise sketchy parts of town at night, the service is doing so well that traditional taxi drivers were rioting on the streets. Sub-Saharan Africa is a hotbed of opportunity ripe for disruption.