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win_ini

344 karma · joined April 5, 2010

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win_ini··on EFF Is Proud to Stand Beside Techdirt in Its First Amendment Fight for Its Life
Techdirt is one of the most deep digging websites I read regularly, with insightful and different takes on privacy and legal issues surrounding the tech industry. It would be sad if a real asshole who THINKS he invented email (he actually built a communication program called "EMAIL" - had nothing to do with actually inventing what we all consider email).

This is a sad and pathetic attempt to somehow make himself known as the inventor - hopefully the EFF can protect techdirt against such a frivolous claim - and can make sure Shiva Ayyadurai is remembered for all of history as a self aggrandizing idiot who tried to claim he invented email - which is just as preposterous as Al Gore inventing the internet.

win_ini··on Lavabit returning in 19 days
Great! Why now? Why on Inauguration Day?
win_ini··on A critique of Accelerate (XLR8) by John Kotter
+1 I didn't notice it until your comment, but you're right.
win_ini··on A Map of the World Won Japan’s Prestigious Design Award
Actually humans can do that. We orient ourselves using landmarks. If you look at theme park maps, ski resort maps, maps of tourist areas downtown produced by local organizations, subway maps....

All of them are wildly inaccurate in terms of proportions and distances. But notice - almost all are oriented to people not very familiar with that area. Certain big monuments may be left out (the highway that runs by water park, the big electric station across the street etc.

win_ini··on A Map of the World Won Japan’s Prestigious Design Award
Do you think it may be your bias based on your entire lifetime of looking at Mercator projections? The purpose of this project is to make it an accurate representation. The observations you make are precisely why this made was made.
win_ini··on A Brief History of Who Ruined Burning Man
Dude, it sounds like you REALLY need a big HUG! Don't worry - I love you man.

Here's a virtual hug for you! Really great post and some insightful points of view that really make me think about what you are carrying along for the ride. I hope your post helps open your own mind to all of our biases, preferences and unanswered questions that everyone faces daily.

* Don't Burn the Man, Burn the Man inside You!

win_ini··on Microsoft is killing Yammer Enterprise plan in January 2017
The popup makes it practically unreadable on mobile
win_ini··on Ask HN: Can I be public about a interview process with a Company?
I'd say - wait a week or two. See how you feel then.

You can post an interview "review" on glassdoor.com - there are thousands of reviews, including stories similar to yours. The companies can respond but don't know who you are(well, kinda), nor can they change your review.

Ultimately, as long as you make the post constructive - you should write a review. But - Don't write to spite.

win_ini··on Ask HN: Failed interview, feeling unemployable and depressed – what do I do?
> Try to imagine yourself talking to a son/daughter and what you might say to them if they shared the same thoughts with you.

Holy Shit. This is so simple but resonated very strongly with me. This is definitely a new "mindful moment" trigger whenever I'm too tough on myself. Little learnings like this make my day. Thanks!

win_ini··on Ask HN: Failed interview, feeling unemployable and depressed – what do I do?
I've done this before. It is hard.

It is easier if you start off with a questioning attitude. For example - in a recent interview with a CTO, I asked why their glassdoor reviews are so bad. Then mentioned that as part of MY process to find a job - if we both choose to go further, "I'll want to meet with your lead dev, marketing person, and a customer of yours". Now, you have set your expectations of them. You are putting them on notice: You care, you are experienced, you want to learn, you are ballsy (fun ballsy!).

When you find yourself "Why the fuck is this interviewer asking me the same bullshit question" or "This guy is a douche - I don't want to keep talking to him, never mind work with him" or "I don't want to waste anyone else's time...I hate their cafeteria.." Whatever. Say something simple and honest like " look, this has been informative - but I'm getting the vibe that we won't be a great fit for each other" or "I think I can help you guys out - but it seems like many challenges you face would need X or Y skill to do it really well, right?" or "I appreciate your time too much to keep going - you have a nice team but, {insert true reason here}, what do you think?".

I've had this approach turn things around where they have asked me why I want to stop the process and ask for feedback. This also makes you stand out as knowing yourself well and being able to make tough decisions. Interviewers remember how you make them feel, not the right answer to a question they already knew.

win_ini··on Why we won't be selling Genuino or Arduino any more
Low effort too: I just look at the ice in the bucket rose if it's frozen in a blob - or a pool of frozen water at the bottom. :)
win_ini··on Why we won't be selling Genuino or Arduino any more
Oops. "Nerf" - not "nerd". Although I think we'd both agree - both terms apply.
win_ini··on Why we won't be selling Genuino or Arduino any more
Similar to the nerd question - could you describe your approach to the freezer monitor? I have a cabin I don't live nearby to, and I basically can't keep anything in the freezer. It seems to go out often enough to unfreeze then refreeze the ice cube water.

I was thinking a flat thermistor. Then I started thinking - what if it's not the power, but the freezer itself?

Now I'm getting into a battery to log when power is out, save that state, continue logging temps, then transmit after the wifi (assuming loss of power - although I have a UPS for the modem/wifi that will last a few hours) is available again. This obviously adds complexity.

Would love to hear your approach to that project....

win_ini··on Rocket Slides and Monkey Bars: Chasing Vanishing Playgrounds
Looking for a playground nearby?

Playground Buddy is an iOS app for that - it's pretty great if you e got a toddler!

win_ini··on Airbnb: Building a Visual Language, Behind the scenes of our new design system
TL;DR I like Airbnb but there's lots of poor experiences that affect 2 people. Design is hard. I have experienced frustration related to the design of Airbnb. I complain.

This seems really interesting. If it can help improve the Airbnb UI/UX - I'm ALL for it. I've been hosting for over 5 years and travelling for 6 on Airbnb. I like the 'voice' of Airbnb in general and love the company and service. Take the following rant as feedback - because I've experienced the changes in your app over the years. And some of them have driven me crazy. Also - every time I have to call Airbnb or send in suggestions I say "I'm happy to speak with a PM or designer about how I use the app/service" but never get taken up on the offer (As a PM myself - I understand why) so this will act as my feedback outlet :)

A challenge Airbnb faces is that many interactions on the site are SCARY. This post from a few weeks back was really insightful about designing to address users implicit fears of screwing up. http://product.hubspot.com/blog/designing-for-anxieties

The comments below are coming from frustration with a service that brings me almost $30k each year and has opened new possibilities for my family (pre-emptive note to Airbnb haters: my place is not in SF). I write this comment from an Airbnb loft I'm currently staying at.

Still, to this day - I am occasionally shocked at how poor certain experiences are within the app. Not just that - but as changes roll out - there are some serious issues that just don't seem to be "thought about".

### New Features

The most recent example - I realize it is a beta feature - "Smart" pricing (I use quotes because I would more likely use 'dumb'). Who thought it would be a good idea to let a user shoot themself in the foot by allowing the combination of Instant Book AND Beta 'Smart' Pricing together? Result: July 4th weekend booked for less than half of what it was booked for last year (I suspect the algo doesn't evaluate previous data for my property, whatever etc.) The result is: I never trust ANYTHING about pricing from Airbnb. It is so consistently off base, and I consistently get booked when I have prices twice as high as the system suggests. The other result - an unhappy traveller I need to apologize to. User Pain within Airbnb is sometimes doubled - because TWO people are experiencing something shitty.

### Navigation on Web

What inspired he navigation pane on the left - and then the placement in the top right corner of sub-navigation (ie: go to calendar, change the pricing) - in non-differentiated colors so it conveniently blends in, in an area you wouldn't expect as navigation?

### Incentives/Penalties

So, I need to cancel a reso because your system screwed up (this has happened multiple times - most often because of an unclear or ambiguous UI) I get where the penalties are rooted in - you need to punish cancellations, etc. However, by not letting me get a new booking on those days that got canceled - my incentive is now to basically wait on a reservation request from HomeAway/VRBO/CL that is twice as much as the original booking - and THEN cancel closer to their reservation date. That's bad dis-incentive. Bad experience for me AND the guest.

### Help

I get it - Airbnb doesn't want people calling the support line. Have you ever evaluated how many clicks people hit while they are looking for help and want to contact a human (not even by phone, try to find where you create a case - this has been improved recently). Then, the help is fragmented too. Oh, have an issue that needs resolution go to entirely different place (oh, and no link to the resolution page on the case submission page - another 8 clicks of exploration). In fact I have navigated Airbnb before by using google to search for the page I know existed in the app, but can't find it.

### Contexts

So, your iOS app has a handy - "Switch to Travelling Mode". I like. I don't like that it is now completely inconsistent with the web version - as in, I go to my dropdown menu and it shows new messages and has a "View Inbox" link, then within THAT screen I have a toggle between travel and host mode. It messes with my Mental Model of your navigation when alternating between the app and the web. Either make an aggregated inbox on the iOS app OR have a 'host mode' on the web version for example. Since launching the app a while back, having separate apps for distinct functions has become a 'thing' and I could see that working out well in this situation too.

### Transparency/Clarity

I get it, Airbnb doesn't want to bring attention to the fees they charge both me AND my guest. Showing the fee you extract doesn't make a user feel good. HOWEVER - when I am making a deal with someone with a new price, Airbnb only displays to me what fees I will pay. If I tell someone, yes, I'll give $100 off: so new price is $300. Airbnb only shows MY total...so i click "Send Offer" the guest receives it and it is NOT $300 - it's something like $326 because the fee charged to the guest is invisible to me as I adjust the price. The UX does TRY to tell me on emails 'what the guest pays' - but it's not true: I only see what they pay BEFORE the fee is tacked on. Once again a shitty experience for TWO people compounding the annoyance and crappy feelings. Just show me in your neat little price calculator what the actual total price my guest will end up seeing/paying. It makes me look like an idiot otherwise. I send too many messages to guests saying "Sorry Airbnb has confusing XYZ, this is why it happened...". Several have complained to me - once I actually fiddled with my price to get it to the exact number a guest and I had agreed upon. I had to send them special offers 3 times to get to the right price, even then it was off by a bit.

### SuperHost One feature of the program is that "Superhosts get priority support when they call Airbnb.". Ah, Shucks - that's so nice! I challenge YOU to find Airbnb's phone number anywhere on the internets. For me - when typing a search in Google for "Airbnb" - the suggestion "Airbnb phone number" shows up as the as item number 5, which leads me to believe I'm not the only one who is frustrated. Pro-tip: @airbnbhelp works faster than submitting a case very often.

As I'm sure you're aware - there is so much more to do!

I want to end on a positive note! Airbnb has:

- courteous support people, they call back and are understanding. They feel human. Not a cog in the machine.

- The service has greatly improved its capabilities over time, I am actually confident many issues above will eventually be fixed by airbnb - I appreciate their iterative approach.

- Opened new travel possibilities and enabled me to own a house where my child can learn about, enjoy and appreciate the wonder of the outdoors

- Design thought leaders and puts effort into their improvements - and is shaking up the status quo.

Coolest Airbnb place I've stayed at: Tiny House in Redmond, WA. 320 sq ft. If you go to visit Microsoft campus for a business trip - it's 8 mins from HQ: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/3603003

If you've read this far, Thanks! If you work at Airbnb and want to chat about anything regarding your service - hit me up.

win_ini··on Why Product Managers Hate Vacations
Glad it's not just me who had this reaction. :)
win_ini··on Why Product Managers Hate Vacations
I'm not the writer, but I think there may be some people on HN who'd like to voice their opinion on this.
win_ini··on Arduino in the size of a AA battery
Any suggestions? I've gotten into arduino recently and am looking to simulate some projects if possible (2 year old leaves less time for bread boarding)
win_ini··on My Biggest Regret as a Programmer
As a Product Manager - my biggest regret was not learning to code.
win_ini··on Ask HN: Which IoT gadgets do you use in your AirBNB rentals?
Cabin in Tahoe, about 3 hours from my full time home, so I have interest in automating. It is off utilities network - septic well... Even needed a cell booster to get a cell signal indoors.

Some devices I've tried:

Sensi thermostat Wink spotter (no longer available) Dahua security cam

Lockitron was hopefully going to be used for access, but it didn't work out.

I've considered adding a tablet for guests to lookup instructions for the house.

I have an "EKM metering" (ekmmetering.com) gas meter that can (at some point) be connected to a pulse counter - they have a device that can tie your electric, water, and gas usage into a graph on the net (and they have an API).

Tried a wemo light switch - it sucks.

I have an Ambient Weather station that feeds current weather stats to weather underground.

win_ini··on Why Open Source CRM Died
Your first paragraph tells the reader you just deceived them by using link bait in your title. The last sentence tells me to trust you, to click to read another post which is supposedly about what your original link bait title was about. Just tell me the info next time.
win_ini··on Gogo is getting sued by American Airlines over its in-flight Wi-Fi
Purely anecdotal - but Goto has been sucking more and more over the years I've been using it. Maybe it's speed creep - everything else gets faster - but Goto st
win_ini··on Measuring hourly snowfall with a webcam and PHP
I like the title. I couldn't look at your page for much longer than 30 seconds though. Red on black and the font make it difficult on the eyes.
win_ini··on Our Stock Option pledge
As someone who recently got stuck in poor option execution situation, this is great. It is certainly better for companies to compete with each other on transparency and honesty - rather than foosball and free meals.

A big problem is all the inertia in the marketplace where Option Pools, and policies of many companies are already established and written into investment rounds, legal paperwork and usually needs a board decision that may not be in their own interests.

It would be awesome if Glassdoor has some sort of info about this(Option Exercise Policy: XXXX) per company.

win_ini··on Lyft defies predictions by continuing to grow as a rival to Uber
Well they moved their whole CS team to Nashville Tennessee which some like a form of punishment. However, apparently Uber has over 15,000 (!) customer service reps...I can't imagine that is a workforce with a pleasant work environment.

What's interesting about these rideshare companies - they have to maintain separate workforces - look up Lyft's jobs page. It talks about exempt/non-exempt "team members". Non-exempt team members get "unlimited vacation" - exempt 15 days (which is still great IMO). It must be interesting for HR to manage the dynamics as the companies get bigger.

win_ini··on Lyft defies predictions by continuing to grow as a rival to Uber
My findings are the same. Lyft made a switch to giving them the money for rides immediately too....Uber makes them wait.
win_ini··on Lyft defies predictions by continuing to grow as a rival to Uber
Check out an app called : iCalledIt. You can call out your predictions and set reminders :)
win_ini··on The sad graph of software death
Please just declare "Backlog Bankruptcy".

Start a new project in JIRA or whatever. Get rid of the encumbrances of the history of all the accumulated bugs (including some that list mundane "misspellings" of "neighbour").

You mentioned triage. Triage takes place at different levels. Clear the table and focus on the items that will really move your business and the project. The issues that were previously removed - will re-surface if they are relevant to your current customers.

Before you do that, ask - "what IS most important for our business in the next 3/6 months that we can impact with our limited resources"

However, I suspect that if your chart looks that nasty, you'd have a hard time convincing people to do that. In the end, parts of your team could probably now be put to work since they aren't just managing stories in JIRA that will never be completed anymore.

Can't wait for the followup post.

win_ini··on Don't bother creating a mobile app
LOL - totally. However, their interface actually looked sexy compared to expensify. But epensify works and I can use it on desktop....that's the killer. The mobile app is awesome for capturing but I like desktop for putting together reports.

Ultimately - I believe in Expensify's VISION - which is to GET RID OF EXPENSE REPORTS!

That's why I'll stick with Expensify - and I'm now at my third company that I am bringing it into....that is how software expands its footprint. By excited users bringing it into new businesses.

win_ini··on Don't bother creating a mobile app
Try Expensify - take a picture of a receipt, it is automatically OCR'd, read and verified - and it becomes a row in an excel spreadsheet you can send to your accountant.
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