mmcdan

I echo this sentiment. Would love to hear about your path to tech.

Is this intentional lucid dreaming a skill you've developed or did it come naturally? I've heard you can increase the probability of having a lucid dream by keeping a dream journal, doing "dream checks" in everyday life, etc... but i've never heard of a surefire way to have them.

I am so happy this thread exists. Reading a bunch of raw, honest, and insightful stories about the journey through an industry fueled by reality-distortion is like a breath of fresh air. This feeling must be what people mean when they talk about the "old HN". Glad to see its spirit still lays beneath the surface.

I think that there are a lot of professional-quality robotics projects that one can do, if you look at specialties that use robots. "Robot" is a loaded term that conjures up generalized images of the stuff you read and see in movies. Look into keywords like "automation", "mechatronics", etc... Examples: Silicon wafer handlers, pick-and-place machines, vacuum cleaners, beer pourers, recycling sorters, package handlers, CNC machines, etc... An especially interesting field is open-source prosthetics.

There are prosumers making these types of robotics projects in their garages/local hackerspaces. There are many online forums where people sharing their builds as well, and many times these builds are actually used in production situations.

Also a high-quality robotics platform in no way needs to cost $1000. If you're on a budget just go to a local hobby shop, spend $100 on a chassis + wheels + motors and order some $0.10 sensors online.

Beautiful visualization. One thing missing though is a color-scale for age. Difficult to tell what color represents older vs newer and what are the magnitudes of the differences in age.

You can search through any files that are in your project workspace. When you start a project, just "Add Folder to Project" and include the ruby gems directory and the ActiveRecord source directory.

At the risk of sounding Zen, the philosophical stuff taking a backseat is the progress. Even if you wind up in the same place doing the same job as before, there was progress if you no longer wonder 'what if'. It's when you believe that the grass is greener on your side.

I think that the comment was more about death by cancer than death itself. Cancer can happen at any moment in your life, and some types can occur without any apparent cause that we can determine(aside from twiddled bits in our DNA). When it happens, our own bodies rebel against us. Death by cancer can be long and extremely painful for the person dying as well as loved ones. Death is always difficult for the living to cope with, but it is a part of life as you mention. I think that a 'graceful death', one that occurs quickly/painlessly after a long life well-lived, is not a bad thing to want.

I would argue the exact opposite. Online printing turnaround time is slower, costs more(for printing in batches), and is inconvenient when UPS/Fedex keep leaving "sorry we missed you" notices because you're at work.

It's all about perspective. 1day turnaround is very slow for software but extremely fast for hardware. In the harware world, high-quality parts turnaround in 1 day is revolutionary.

To directly answer the question: The median household income for California is $60833(http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06000.html). The average household has 2.89 people. As a single person, you have more money to spend than most families in the state. The odds of your survival are high.

To answer your implicit question: I think you are asking "Can I survive and save some money earning 72K in California while keeping up with the Joneses(tech-savvy urbanites in Silicon Valley or LA tech scene). Yes you can. In fact, I rented a room in a large house in SV with full access to everything(kitchen, living room, backyard, bathroom etc...) for under $900/month. My roommates were people from LinkedIn, Cisco, etc... Worst case food scenario is you spend $15/meal, 3meals/day, and 31 days/month... $1400/month food. Add $100/month bill for your iDevice. Add $100/month for a monthly public transportation pass. Add $1000/month for the do-whatever-the-fuck-I-want fund.

With these covered, you are spending $3500/month, or $42000/year.

Assume your take home will be $50k post-tax. You are saving about 8k/year and living a pretty lavish life for an austere single person.

The Insight Data Science fellows program looks awesome, but it is disappointing that only phd candidates and post-docs can apply. There is some irony with the fact that the cover of their brochure uses the facebook friendship visualization done by Paul Butler, who was an undergraduate intern at facebook when he made it.

Great Job. I viewed this just because I like seeing what people on HN are working on. Then 1 hour later, I realized that the music was still playing and I was in a state of flow with the work I was doing. This surprised me because I don't normally enjoy this type of music.

Definitely put "slow", "medium" categories on there. Also, maybe filter out the songs that do those jarring breakbeats since those break the state of flow.

For something as critical as email, "fine until Apple changes anything" is not good enough, given that Apple has a habit of changing things.

Non-native, true. But slow? Balsamiq on my PC is nothing but snappy. You should consider sending a support request in case there is a bug in Balsamiq(or Air?) with your OS/pc configuration.

Grade A execution. I pressed buttons like an idiot with the lights off for 3 minutes while laughing hysterically.

As an introvert, I can be a social butterfly at parties but need to leave after an hour because it felt like work. As an extrovert, I can be a wallower but want to stay out all night because the ambiance is energizing.

...and sometimes music has nothing to do with drowning out distraction. Maybe it brings a little happiness to my day, stimulates a creative part if my brain that would otherwise not be engaged, and connects my work to a deeper part of my life. Any company that tries to regulate my productivity by projecting their own insecurities deserves the massive beatdown that the 21st century will give them.

That song is really catchy.

Remember the emails that AT&T sent out to people it suspected of tethering their phones without paying the exorbitant monthly fee (http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/18/atandt-tells-customers-us...)? Something tells me that this wonderful "diagnostic" information had something to do with it.

Why packet-sniff and risk legal issues when you can just look at your CarrierIQ analytics for people who opened a tethering app regularly?

Your hn hypothetical statement sounds a lot like the YCombinator job postings embedded into the main news stories... deceptive but not necessarily bad.

Although this is an "ad" for wearing a seatbelt, I still watch it occasionally because it is so artistic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-8PBx7isoM

The biggest draw for me with native apps is the revenue model. Most users are conditioned to think if it opens in a browser, then it should be free. It really doesn't matter to me if i'm programming in Java, Objective C, or some HTML/Javascript framework... but can I justify spending time without a simple way to charge for my product?

Solve the monetization problem and I guarantee developers will look at web apps more seriously.

This whole thread is amazing and i'm definitely taking notes. The only thing I'd add is that ultimately there is no absolute matrix or enlightened perspective. There are relative layers of perception, eg. a corporate cog realizing that their own vision can be built from just an idea. But then there is also the opposite scenario is just as valid, an independent entrepreneur realizing that working from within the system is often the path of least resistance to bringing about a vision. There is always something we can unplug from.

I don't think mainstream tv content is" dumbed-down" because the poor are getting more ignorant, and the only thing they'll understand is American Idol. It's 1) consuming content passively is the most enjoyable thing to do after long hours of soul-sucking work(escapism),2) Living vicariously through others via a rags-to-riches story(American Idol) gives a misguided and fleeting sense of hope(like lotto tickets), and 3)Learning about other people's problems(eg international news) is depressing when you can't see passed your own troubles. If it helps my point, I alsilo grew up around this environment.

Stuff I like:

-The semi-transparent chameleon is clever

-The pricing section is well-designed

-Product looks simple and easy-to-use

Stuff to consider:

-Try making the chameleon 50%-75% smaller. It distracts from the content.

-I would eliminate the "Sign up with Huey" hoverstate. My first question was literally, who is Huey? I now know it's the name of a plan. If you leave it, the default plan should be Iguana, the recommended plan, and not the most expensive one.

-Currently the product comes across as too generic. Add a few more screenshots and use-cases to show off the uniqueness of your product.

-The support and sign-in buttons are too transparent. To draw attention to them, they should probably less transparent and have a solid text color.

-The product may be too barebones for the prices you are selling at. Try adding more features like voting for the best version, adding annotations, etc...

I hope this gets made into an iphone/android app. I would definitely play around with this on long trips.

Robots are the next revolution, but not because of the examples listed in the articles. I don't get that excited to hear about robots getting my packages, cooking my dinner, talking to my (future)wife, etc...I think the real revolution is with robots that can provide oxygen to people in burning buildings, locate/extract people under debris after a natural disaster, and find my lost car keys.

As for the robot in every home, I think a cheap, easy-to-program home automation processor that connects wirelessly to custom hardware is more appealing. That way I could set my bird-feeder, alarm system, and central-heating to "vacation-mode" and leave with peace-of-mind.

I don't understand all the animosity. Google should have never called Android "open-source", which is a loaded word, and called it a "Mobile Platform with Viewable Source" or something. If Google did the exact same thing under a non-loaded name, they would be praised for the fact that they handle all the carrier bullshit/politics and developed an OS that is not a black box. To have a true "Open Source TM" mobile OS, Google would have to stop working with carriers(the definition of a closed ecosystem). I would rather develop on a platform with delayed source code releases that will be on the majority of phones in the world, than an open-source platform that carriers were too afraid to use on their phones.

So as a developer, I'm not really pissed about the fact that the source is delayed for a month or two. I'm more pissed about the shitty Market experience which drives customers away and the many countries that are not allowed to purchase paid apps.

I went to the Dojo for a few events when I went to school in the Bay Area. It sold me as a welcoming community and a safe space for exploring new ideas. I'm considering relocating to the Bay just so that I'll have access to the TechShop and HackerDojo communities.

Something that would normally take months takes only a few weeks when you are surrounded by people who are working towards the same goal cheering you on.