razzaj

As a tech entrepreneur your most valuable resource, and your only real currency at the beginning, is time. As you interact with more people with different background you will experience more or less frictions, this is normal. You have to focus your energy and time towards your end-goal. If your end goal is to become an Accelerator curator, then by all means continue blogging about incidents like these, and get testimonies from other entrepreneurs.

If on the other hand, your end-goal is to get your product up and running, and change the world, put aside that bad experience (which in retrospect, sometime down the line will look ridiculous) in your life and focus on building your startup. Tech entrepreneurship is a long unbeaten path for most, filled with rewards, setbacks, victories, nay-sayers, supportive people, and assholes. Save your energy for the trip.

There is nothing more draining than fighting with people ready to do things you are not willing to do. If it is any consolation (it really should not matter though), if they are half as bad as what you are describing, they will implode spontaneously sooner than later.

now, switch from that blogspot window to Sublime and carry on hacking.

It is fascinating how much more information is in the article's comments section. In fact, I found many of the comments much more informative than the article itself. I recommend going through those to build a more informed opinion about the theory being discussed.

I don't see how this is less secure than downloading a program and running it. Or downloading some package that asks you to run an install script.

People will see no problem with curl | sh as long as they feel they can trust the source/site asking them to do so. They will be running the same risk as with downloading binaries or install packages.

Facebook on the other hand, bans incentivized sharing/likes. http://c4compete.com/facebook-bans-incentivized-likes/

I always though our biggest existential threat were Nukes and other WMDs. AI could potentially become yet another existential threat (especially if mixed with WMDs).

I would not fret over computers using AI to "see" or "hear" or even learn how to walk. I would start worrying the day computers start formulating judgments, I could not find any research in that direction. Anyone knows if such research exists?

On a more personal note, i can't say i agree with some people picking on Elon for formulating this opinion. Especially that it does not sound so unreasonable, really.

Somehow reading the founder's perspective, makes this look worse for me. There is a threshold after which "hacking" stops being cute. Do you really want to start your relationship with a lie?

We use BIRT to design & run our reports. It is flexible and renders in all sorts of ways (including PDF). We have not had major issues with it.

while "bad little dog" sounds better than "little bad dog", "big bad dog" sounds better than "bad big dog". I wonder if that means that we might be subconsciously interpreting strings from right to left, and in that sense: Little(bad(dog)) would represent less our intended meaning than bad(little(dog)). Whereas Big(bad(dog)) would intuitively enhance our meaning when compared to bad(big(dog)).

I am self taught, started learning programming around the age of 7-8. That was in 1987-88. The funny thing is that i did not know any english at the time, being from the middle east and french educated. I learned Basic from a french science magazine my dad used to get me, called "Sciences & Vie" (Life and science), and that used to have a programming section in Basic at the very end. Obviously all the basic commands are in english, luckily the magazines coders commented their code thoroughly in french. Initially, and before my dad accepted to get me a computer, i used to "think the code" and write it down on a my notebook (a real paper notebook), i think i still have that somewhere, i wrote some basic stuff like a simple text encryptor, calculator etc... Finally in 88 my dad got me a used commodore64, then two years later a used 80286 etc... It was quite difficult at first, for my lack of knowledge of english, much of my learning was by deduction from how magazine code was supposed to work and comments. There was no internet, no programming books around, the country was in the middle of a civil war, and few people knew anything about computers. But then, around age 12, the war was "over" and english was added to our curriculum, and things got a lot easier. I sold my first software at age 16 for 350USD, it was an internet & LAN gaming cafe management software, that used to time usage on computers and report to a central invoicing "server", written in Visual Basic.

I fail to see the "innovation" in this. Purpose built keyboards have been around for as long as i can remember, I am especially thinking about the TV production computers with special keys, colours etc... When i saw this i had my hopes high to see a touch surface with an electronically customisable layout, so that the app can essentially draw its own controls.

With e-Ink this is not difficult to do.

for 200 extra i would go for a makerbot digitiser http://store.makerbot.com/digitizer.html assuming you have a 3D printer, that is.

Came across this today. http://m.thelocal.se/50030/20130903/

An intermediate option might be moving to Lebanon temporarily. It is still relatively (to syria) safe. As a Syrian, you dont need visa or residency permit. You can continue your work from here and figure out your next move; namely apply for immigration visas here-and-there.

No amount of willpower, or medical procedures (except maybe for lobotomy) will render tasks "you" find boring harder to postpone.

The key element, in my opinion, is to cognitively transform tasks into achievements. the latter are far more appealing to smart(er) people.

adding to that the premise : No matter how smart you are you wont be able to bullshit your way out of PAYING salaries at the end of the month.

My advice: Start your own company doing what do now, just as a service instead, and i bet the paradigm shift alone is enough to "motivate you". That said, this will not "cure" you from procrastination. It will just drive you to overcome it as your brain starts to link "tasks" to actual milestones which pave the way to achievements.

I think this app (although nice looking) misses the point of coloring book exercises. I think that using a pen/cil to color is not only aimed at fostering kids' creative process but also developing their hand-eye coordination and improve on their focus. I dont really have the time to dig out the references for this right now.

An additional side effect of this app is that now coloring takes less time. A great feature of coloring books is their ability to "buy" you (the parent) 30-60 minutes of peace.

Are you saying Mathematicians did not know how to factor before 1400? hmmm ;)

This sounds similar to ogame only for hardliner geeks. I like it already. But i guess it will all be in the interface, i hope he nails it right. This could be very interesting.

The 31st is a day before aprils fools day... perhaps it is just a prank. Over and above, the writing style does not match that of the usual Anonymous letters. It almost sounds like some kid that has never read a book.

My absolute favorite passage is "If the dinosaurs had a space program they would still be here"... Beyond the caricatural aspect of this phrase, i think it is a deep statement that needs to be understood by all humans. We had that exact discussion the other day with a bunch of friends/geeks; we tried to calculate the cost (to humanity) of all the "wasted" time designing,building,marketing,selling things that reduce the likelihood of the human specie survival beyond then next 500 years (an arbitrary large number). Seriously just think of bankers (very popular scapegoat these days - not that they do not deserve it) and the money (=time x effort) they wasted and how this time x effort could have been a far better investment in advanced space programs. Obviously, bankers are not the only negative contributors on the planet...

Silicon Valley and Hollywood are not equal... dying businesses are.

Not only that; I think the contents do not match; I am no spanish speaker but i detected some words that do not exist in the english version. so unless i have missed something...

This is a load of crap. I think this attitude of justifying someone's wrong doing by pointing out that everyone else is doing it, is just hypocrisy. On the other hand I cant agree with people lashing out on apple because of this practice, although i do disagree with the practice in the first place. I will tell you why this seemingly contradictory stand isn't contradictory at all.

The practice of exploiting someone else's weaknesses for one's own advantage is widely spread and even sanctioned by some societies in general (implicitly and sometimes less so), the bottom of the problem is not tech companies abusing poor workforce, it is the general lack of consensus as to what is fair and what is not. Singling out a single actor from the flock is also unfair (such as is the case today with Apple - and just because they are so successful-). Not is it only unfair, it is counter productive because it will hurt apple and in no way do any good to the chinese workers.

Now, we want to fix the problem? Then we need to first figure out what the fuss is all about, and i say that is easy!

This entire argument, it looks to me, boils down to fairness. The question of What is Fair, and what is not (or evil if you will). It is not a new argument, for ages people have tried to settle on a general agreement on what it is to be leading the good life. Religions were built around this and constitutions were designed for that as well; the social contract that defines who we are as Americans, Chinese, Arabs, French, Christians, Muslims etc.... It has however been very difficult to bring all these people to agree together to one single approach to life, and so over eons people have "siloed" each with their own "moral code".

And i say companies (including apple) have all abided by these contracts and are not abusing any of their compatriots. So in essence they are not in violation of anything. Why? simply because the "abused" -by western standards- people you are concerned about are not being abused in America, but in China, and what's more? Their treatment is not considered to be abuse in China, it is legal THERE.

This is horrifying, because it is cool to indirectly abuse someone overseas as long as you treat your compatriots fairly? I say not, but in order to make it un-cool we need to agree to a new universal bill of ethics where things are more defined and definitive like What is a minimum fair working condition universally.

What now?

I think it is time for tech companies that have made billions (including apple) to take a step back and ponder their moto "we do stuff that changes the world", add to it " ... to be a better place for all" and apply it on all the aspects of their business. This new bill of ethics once finalsed can be "ratified" by these monster companies and others will follow. The reason i am specifically speaking of tech companies it because i know tech and the hacker spirit and i can assert that there is a general good will and faith to make the world a better place, and since the world has given us, and still is, great things and lots of appreciation, the industry and community is mature enough ,now, to start giving back and leading by example.

I disagree totally with the logic the article is following. If you do not like Microsoft's products and services (I don't) that is totally acceptable, and i might add understandable, deal with other software vendors ! I do not understand the logic saying "I hate your service and so i will just steal the product".

If you want to make your point just go ahead and complain, send a written letter move to another vendor (I Have). Stealing, And i will call it that because it is stealing, is not a legitimate nor a logical reaction to crappy service.

The entire internet philosophy, IMO, was build on trust and a certain code of honor if i may say (at the risk of sounding corny) breaking that breaks the internet. Imagine people just screwing up Wikipedia because they think Jimmy Wales did something wrong in their opinion or because an article of their got removed or whatever.

Piracy has always been, and will always be, a thing of the internet. think of it as a wicked charm. I will not encourage eradicating it. To be honest i have used pirated software to evaluate when vendors wont offer evaluation options. But then i would go and buy the damn license, because: 1 - it is the right thing to do, regardless. 2 - If i like something, paying for it will support the vendor to continue on making the stuff i like.

I personally do not like the way Microsoft does business, i dont like their products and i think they are arrogant pricks but if i need to use windows (god forbid) i will still pay for the damn license.

I can think of this as well.

an "IT security company" : 1 - We secure your network 2 - Our site is down for maintenance

I gave up on reading this article after the first page. Please spare us the X is great but I am greater speeches.

"you can see photons moving through space..." I think of this statement and cant help but think it is fundamentally flawed. One cant see the photon moving through space. You might be able to see an electron moving through space because e can emit a photon. But photons cannot emit photons while moving. In essence one only sees the photon when it hits the detector. Physics majors feel free to correct if i am mistaken.

in the sample they provided shreds seem to be 25 pix and not 32

But aren't the hassles one of the aspects us "geeks" like about IRC? I think us "geeks" deep inside love the terminal, having to setup an IRC client on a hosted server and tweaking the settings, getting our hands dirty. Us, "geeks", love also the sense of exclusivity that the barrier to entry to IRC provides. Take that, and the hassles, away and it becomes yet another chat network.

In his book "Predictably irrational", Dan Arielly, talks about this exact behavior and explains it from a behavioral economics vantage point. In essence he is saying that the missed opportunity cost of not taking on "all projects" is far less than the risk you are taking by working on so many different things at once. In one of the chapters he tells the tale of a chinese general who burned his army's ships thus leaving them no choice but to win all battles ahead since they now had no other option.

On another note, you are not alone. It is an anxiety that, IMO, emanates from you not being able to read the pattern correctly. And that only comes with experience and exposure. Once you get to a point where you can "see" the general direction of things you will be able to accurately filter the probably-doomed-to-fail from the probably-a-bang-in-the-making projects.

Lastly, think of this; Who do you prefer to be?: - being the guy that doesnt know how to say no and never finishes anything fully (like a drift wood that never reaches a shore)

- being the guy that is selective but dedicated to the projects he chooses to work on. (like a power boat)

Anxiety is not something you can beat in 2 days but being aware of it is a major step. Work on it!

I Love the idea.