profgubler

I have been saying this forever as well. As a marketer this is what I want, not the current ad units Facebook is selling. I think they could honestly destroy Google Adsense and dominate the display ad business. With their data and a Google like distribution of their ads they would be unstoppable.

Those people will only see your updates if you send something that is public and is not to a circle.

Because those systems couldn't even get the votes from their own party.

I don't think they are using an Arduino Mega. They are using the same processor that an Arduino uses which is the Atmel ATmega, which is a very common processor for microcontrollers.

Don't think so, as Microsoft makes great Bing apps for iOS and Android.

Wouldn't this mean DDG is giving amazon information about it's users?

I love DDG, but this seems shady putting the affiliate code into search results. Amazon ranks great, but it seems this would encourage DDG to rank Amazon even higher. Google would get in quite a bit of trouble for doing this.

Actually, I would believe you could have had that even if it was in copyright, as it would be considered parody. Would it not?

And I would probably not take that bet, because I am sure you are right as well.

Thank you for your suggestion, I am referring to the front glass not the case, because I have a case. Unless you think some sort of invisible shield might make the glass feel less cold.

You do realize that well over half the country is anti-gay marriage? So when you read online do you discredit every two out of three articles you read because that person is likely against gay marriage?

This is in jest but most of the time external beliefs don't matter to the topic at hand. Such as do you discredit the work of Schindler because he was a womanizer and from most accounts a jerk, or look negatively on others who write about coding because when they aren't writing about coding they are out supporting the tea party perhaps.

You get an MBA for the long term. I am currently at Notre Dame and the stats here say that most pay off their loans within 2 to 3 years. I am constantly thinking of new ideas while getting my MBA, but at the same time am looking for a job that will help me pay back the loans that I can work for, for 3 to 5 years and then start my own business. Most MBAs switch jobs after 2 to 3 years anyway.

Remember most MBAs are there to climb the corporate ladder not start businesses. So looking for the sure bet was their thought all along. Mine is that now was the best chance to get a degree, so that down the road if I ever want I can teach. I wanted higher level training and a degree and knew if I didn't do it now I would never do it.

Not related to your comment, but I have already learned so much that will help me in the future. Next semester I am taking a Venture Capital class where I will get to evaluate companies all semester long with actual VCs, and they grade my valuation. It will be immensely valuable to me in the future to have had this experience. And that is just one example of what you can learn in business school.

Most English majors cannot write copy, unless they are trained to. Advertising and promotional copy are very different beasts than English. Find a copy writer instead and not some random English major.

I used my regular gmail/amazon account and it just had me add my .edu email. I think most comm will come through my gmail.

I go to Notre Dame and we have Google Apps. Our emails however look normal with a @nd.edu domain and the sign up worked for me.

I think his wife became more popular here than he did, because of her show. You can't transplant greatness to get Americans interested in a sport. They must be american, and Americans who constantly beat up on Europeans like Lance Armstrong is always good for American ratings, even if overall Americas interest in cycling is only superficial. But, Lance did make it a lot bigger.

Yes, the externality is being paid for in that instance, which depending on your viewpoint is a good thing. But if that is the case that we only want to pay for your stupidity in drinking soda, than they shouldn't be pitching something that is for the health of the people, because it isn't.

Which brings us to the entire problem of a government run health care program. Anything deemed bad for us will be taxed and pitched as the fact that it is for the health of the people instead of to cover the costs of your choices on society.

And yes, I realize that a person who drinks a soda in a free market healthcare system still affects the cost of my insurance, however it is to a far less extent than when I am the one paying for my neighbors drink.

It depends on how high the tax is and how elastic the demand for soda is. If the soda tax isn't high enough than people will continue purchasing and pay the tax. An extra couple of cents on a can of soda likely won't change consumption and will only hurt the poor more.

I am guessing that the elasticity of soda is a lot higher than cigarettes so it would take a lot smaller of a tax to change behavior. And to be honest most sin taxes are really not there to change consumption they are their to make money because they know people will pay for it.

Look at the recent increase in the cigarette tax that is supposed to pay for S-Chip. They don't want smokers to smoke less, because that would reduce revenue and prevent them from paying for the program. They set the taxes at a level that will maximize revenue and not greatly affect consumption.

Update: I just read here http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/137417-wall-street-strateg... that the new england journal of medicine says that the price elasticity of demand for soda is -.8. What that means is that demand for soda is inelastic. This means that soda is just like any other sin tax. It is not meant to actually reduce consumption. It is meant to create revenue. Yes some people will consume less, but the vast majority will not consume less. So I hate to say it, but this isn't a tax for the health of the American public, but a tax for the wallet of government.

I was taken aback by how manly this commercial was from apple. If you just listened to it without looking at it it could almost be a truck commercial. This is a very divergent strategy for apple, even though the apparently made a similar ad for th newton, but even that one didn't sound as manly.

Does Apple feel a need to attract men with this product? Are they afraid only women will buy it?

The question you need to ask yourself as a startup is how much time I should spend to not make money. I am sorry, if I already can't ship to you, why do I want to add all these resources for you when I will never receive money from you. Yes if you move to the US the owner might eventually make money, but that amount of time spent on such a low conversion rate is hard for a startup to justify. I think a message of US only would be sufficient for any startup.

I don't know if this is a good thing, but my wife thought I was signing up for a facebook game when she was looking over my shoulder. Probably the logo and the planting mentions caused her to think that.

Other than that she and I both love the idea of the site. Good luck and congrats.

Do you think that every investment you make is in the next Google or Microsoft? How about other investors? It seems like if you were specifically looking for the next Google or Microsoft that would be a great thing, but what if your not.

Do you think that the majority of investments you make (which likely aren't going to be the next microsoft or google) could be better done with an MBA on the team? Has this really been even tried in the startup world since the dotcom bust? I am not saying the way you in vest in founders is wrong by any means, but could VC's be missing out do to a bias of trying to find the next microsoft when in reality they know the company they are looking at is likely only acquisition bait?

I actually think very few go from undergrad to their mba without work experience. Look at the average years experience for top grad schools. It is normally 3+ years on average. I am about to go to Notre Dame for an MBA and I have just under 3.

It is all great to pick on people who have a business undergrad and mba, but sometimes in life people don't know what they want to do at the undergrad level. I did not start my business undergrad thinking I would get an MBA, but it becomes the logical career move later on. I am way excited for where I am going now with it, but double business isn't inherently a bad thing in some industries.

For me I want to get more into tech, so I am teaching myself rails. People always talk about learning business on their own, why can't someone also learn programming on their own?

Agreed. Maybe instead of auto hide, always leave it on with an option to hide it.

It is the dilemma of the righteous dictator. We have a dictator who is good to use, but he is still a dictator. And you are constantly afraid of the next one that you don't know.

The reason they made it fixed width is to bring the ads closer to the results. It was a financial move on their part.

Just for my information, what do you mean by parenting outcomes? How is that defined?

I love Vivek's analysis of a replicative entrepreneur vs. an innovative entrepreneur. He and mark really go on it in nature vs nuture. I think VC's have really created a matter of selection bias, but Mark makes a convincing point as to why he doesn't go looking for specific demographics, but instead looks at the idea.

In the end it sounds like VCs might want to go looking in new areas for talent.

I still think Google's Adwords customer service is pretty pathetic. When you spend $50,000+ a month and have to go through a lot of work to get the phone number for the first time and then can't get a consistent account rep it is very frustrating. At those kinds of spending levels a lot of companies will roll over for you, even if it isn't a 1,000,000 dollar account.

They also apply their policies very inconsistently, and greatly favor large advertisers. I think their documentation is great, but they need to make a better effort to reach out to advertisers. I am not a huge fan of Microsoft's adcenter, but their customer service is incredible. Their number is always nice and prominent and when you call they will do anything to help, and work hard to get it solved then, where as Google will take their time.

Again this is a sample size of one, but google goes out of their way to not talk to you, they even hide their customer support chat service through several layers of help screens.

I have had that look for several weeks. It is weird because I am the only one in the office with it.

If there is a shortage you might make more on ebay.