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steventruong

351 karma · joined May 22, 2011

you can reach me at my <username> at gmail
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steventruong··on Why were all stories about the '60 minutes' leak removed from HN?
There are two: dang and tomhow.
steventruong··on Ask HN: Which domain name registrar do you use?
Porkbun. Been using them for years and I'm fairly happy with them.
steventruong··on CVC acquires majority stake in Namecheap for $1.5B
I’m happy with Porkbun.
steventruong··on A vibe-coding tool for serious developers
Funny, reading that, made me think of Bill Gates' book, Business at the Speed of Thought: https://www.amazon.com/Business-Speed-Thought-Succeeding-Dig...
steventruong··on AI can't even fix a simple bug – but sure, let's fire engineers
This is an incredibly weird view to me. If I borrow a hammer from my neighbor, although I don’t own the hammer, it doesn’t suddenly make the hammer not a tool. Associating a tool with the concept of ownership feels like an odd argument to make.
steventruong··on Ask HN: What non-existent app or tool would you pay for right now?
Maybe I am misunderstanding something here but I’ve seen ads for at least two different companies aimed specifically at this problem. Never used them so I don’t know if it’s a one click resolution or not but the surfacing subscriptions you’re paying for and aren’t aware of is the main part of their advertising.
steventruong··on More users are watching YouTube on TV than mobile
I watch almost everything on my computer or smartphone but we have young kids at home and the TV is constantly streaming Youtube content throughout the day. By that measure, it clocks more watch time than anything I would stream on my devices.
steventruong··on You don't need Next.js – Why we migrated from Next to React
Relevant article: https://www.epicweb.dev/why-i-wont-use-nextjs

Discussion at the time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38018217

steventruong··on Getting to 2M users as a one woman dev team [video]
Eric Barone as a one man team built, designed, animated, wrote, and composed the entire game of Stardew Valley by himself.

The game sold over 30 million copies and had an all time high of over 230K concurrent players at one point earlier this year.

steventruong··on AMC movie theater calls FBI to arrest a Google Glass user
I use to be huge into listening to music in the 90s. Gradually at the turn of the century, I practically stopped and almost never listen to music these days.

I can't speak for others but for me it was a couple of things... When working, I zone out quite a bit to the point that it's like not hearing music anyway so what's the point. If anything music can be distracting. Unfortunately unlike others, I prefer absence of sound aside from stuff like keyboard typing when I'm working.

Outside of work related stuff, I gradually faded out listening to music altogether in the car or while running as well. I generally prefer instead to ride in silence thinking (zoning out again) or if I listen to stuff, stand up comedy somehow became a thing to replace music

Edit: It is worth noting most of my music exposure these days if at all (and if you can call it that) is coming across stuff on YouTube or while watching a movie and music enhances the film lol. It did a major 180 in my life.

steventruong··on Ask HN: Alternatives to HN
steven.truong [at] gmail

thanks

steventruong··on The hardest question on the Y Combinator application
I partially agree with Pytrin. While its true not everyone quits their job to dive into a startup immediately, its arguable whether or not those are even startups yet or just projects.

That said, if you aren't at the stage where you can commit to doing a startup, you probably shouldn't be applying to YC.

steventruong··on $100 in Google Adwords Credits
Could you send one my way, thanks
steventruong··on Ask HN: Why do tech companies demo using Macs?
I can't speak with any statistic but in the few years I've lived in the Bay Area, the number of Mac users is insanely dominating. Its quite rare to see a PC in my own experience
steventruong··on College Degree Required. But Why?
One possible answer is a degree is not indicative of whether or not a person can perform a job well. Unless its a legally obligated position (practicing law or medicine for example), this could alienate talent that might otherwise do well.
steventruong··on Ask HN: How do you find out about startup parties/events?
Its almost impossible to miss if you live in SF. There are way too many everywhere. Especially if you have friends in the area who are into tech. Also people list events all the time.
steventruong··on Ask HN: Python vs Ruby, syntactic sugar?
No, definitely not the only diff
steventruong··on Ask HN: How many tech conferences a year do you go to?
One, maybe two. Self employed and self pay.
steventruong··on Ask HN: HTML 4.01 or HTML5?
HTML 4.01, then HTML5. Do both. It's good to know and helpful in the transition.
steventruong··on Draft, easy version control and collaboration for writers
No details, just a signup field. No thanks.
steventruong··on Ask HN: Are there any other books like Running Lean?
A quick search yields: http://www.amazon.com/Running-Lean-Iterate-Works-OReilly/dp/...
steventruong··on What if Mark Zuckerberg invented Twitter?
Partially correct. SMS is limited up to 160. The 20 difference was to account for the username and various other possible things I believe.
steventruong··on Ask HN: How do you get someone away from affiliate marketing?
You're missing his point. That's like saying if someone steals, everyone steals. Affiliate marketing itself isn't bad. It's the type and what an individual does.
steventruong··on Ask HN: Why do so many people hate Ruby?
All this was in the Bay Area
steventruong··on Ask HN: Do you click on ads as a donation?
No
steventruong··on Show HN: A simple multiplayer game with Python and Socket.io
Nice. How do you get the diamonds out that are stuck in the rocks if your only controls are the arrow keys?
steventruong··on Ask HN: Why do so many people hate Ruby?
This. I think in all the years of talking to folks in the rails community, only 2 people were decent. Literally hundreds of arrogant assholes otherwise.
steventruong··on Do not look at this on a Mac.
As far as I've seen, this affects Mountain Lion
steventruong··on Ask HN: Would you like to Never get a paper recept again?
Square is obviously trying to tackle this with Square Register by replacing POS systems altogether which includes a slew of features they offer including paperless receipts emailed (with geolocation, etc...).

That said, I don't think that bears anything on you being able to compete but I do think trying to tackle this problem is incredibly difficult on a large scale. The other issue is some people will always want printed receipts. The question about sustainable business model is whether or not businesses see a reason to pay you for your service over what they are currently doing.

The eco-friendly pitch is one that matters to a niche group of people (even more so when you consider practitioners; personal belief). I don't have statistics to back this up but what I do believe is at the end of the day, it boils down to what advantage the business gains out of doing this. From a consumer standpoint, only subgroup will really care starting out.

steventruong··on Congratulations Crunchies, Winners. GitHub Wins Best Overall Startup
If you're counting total companies he's involved with:

1. Zip2

2. X.com -> PayPal

3. SpaceX

4. Tesla Motors

5. SolarCity (albeit his idea, he doesn't take cofounder title here)

But currently, yes, three. However I believe majority of time is spent mostly with SpaceX. I do agree he should have won Founder of the Year.

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