fairlyodd

Levandowski sold two companies to Google for $120M, while still being a Google employee.. That's where the funny money comes from.

It is very slow though! WebGL has a long ways to go..

(Macbook Pro with VGA and 8gb RAM)

I'm considering using it for my bootstrapped startup. Anybody know how it compares to ExtJS?

Meh. All I get is "37Signals?".

All I can say is LOL

Yea, I don't think there are 50 sites out there that could boast those numbers.

If you can't monetize a billion pageviews in ways other than Reddit Gold, you've got to be kidding me.

TimesSkimmer was very good when it came out. But gradually, it has become very slow and somewhat unusable. I definitely think the Chrome version is much far ahead of the Skimmer. Skimmer used to open the article in an iFrame, which spoils the entire motive of decluttering. There were also needless animations that made it a bit slow. Plus the lack of any social functionality that made sharing articles difficult. I really like that they took care of all of these issues in the Chrome version!

FOXCONN

Tangential question, does anybody know the song used in the commercial in the bottom video?

Use . to add tempo. Each full-stop adds a fixed amount of time before the next word is pronounced.

Facebook Platform, Graph API, Like Button, Social Applications - a few truly transformative things that have come out of facebook in the past few years. Saying facebook doesn't innovate is rubbish. Though they do tend to borrow an idea here and there, they have sometimes left it better than they found it (exceptions of Quora and 4sq)

It'll always feel awkward if you attach navigation history to a modal display.

Haha

I agree with the poster, but doesn't $150 an hour seem unusually high for a freelance developer? It is equivalent to about $300k yearly - no developer makes that kind of money by programming alone.

How did the authors of the visualization get the checkin data for every venue in SF and NYC? I have been trying to do the same for another project, and it is not supported by foursquare..

Aside from the fact that this guy has produced some decent software, I can't believe that hardware/software configurations of random people is interesting discussion matter.

Ok - I'm curious. How do you lay a cable across the Atlantic Ocean - a length that spans thousands of miles?

Wow, I did! Thanks

CORRECTION: Amazon Prime free for anyone with a .edu mail address. I graduated long ago, but my .edu mail address is for life, so I occasionally mooch on these discounts. Too bad I already ponied up for an Amazon Prime this year :|

While I agree with some of what he says, I still think he discredits online dating sites far too much. Being single in a city (SF) I moved into recently, I've tried both online & offline, and I'd say I'm more satisfied with my dates that came out of the online one. The city is full of singles, but most singles are crowded in bars, and that is not the most conducive environment to find someone for a meaningful relationship. Also, most past attempts have been crapshoot, where I end up conversing with girls that are either superficial, uninteresting, have nothing in common, committed, married (they want to 'network') etc. No real success with the bar scene so far except for a phonebook harder to navigate, and a really attractive girl that also told me she was institutionalized once, and that her parents are cons.

On a paid online dating site (for eg: match.com), you know that the people are there because they really are looking for a relationship (and that they care enough to pony up ridiculous money for the site). You get a sense of a person by various things that they say about themselves, and you only initiate conversations with ones that you'd be interested in. Though much of the Ariely discrediting is with the search attributes, those open-ended questions offer a peek into how the person views himself/herself. If you move beyond the superficiality, there is definitely a good chance there. I've been on a dates with people I met online, and I do feel that there was better chemistry on these dates rather than the offline ones.

No offense, but that app really blows. Really good on you if you were able to milk 30k out of it :)

Yea, this is indeed quite inane. I think a better strategy for Microsoft would be to partner with the top 100 websites (most internet users are likely to hit one), and have it display a prominent upgrade or gtfo message.

Well, this is a great way to get the Steam store on to my computer.

AAh! Thank you!

It is like FarmVille for real life! I think you should highlight that, definitely would get some eyes on the site. Maybe even a targeted ad on Facebook? Another suggestion (maybe you already do this) is to give detailed info on how to take care of the plant. Spin a user community around it, and they'll be exchanging tips, posting photos and celebrating their flowering plants.

Other than that, I love the idea, and really nicely executed for a launch! I'd signup if I were into farming, and did not live on the 10th floor of an apartment complex.

Well, you can definitely build a facebook alternative -- it will take a while, and it'll be probably not be up to par with what the top-notch talent at fb dishes out, but anyway, you'll build it. It is there. How would you convince people to use it? Without the people, the technology is bunk. I have hundreds of friends all locked into FB - a mass exodus is definitely not possible.

I think that FB has grown beyond a point where any other network can compete in the short run. The more important thing is that FB needs to realize they have attained a size where they need to care about social responsibility and be governed by certain policies. All these attempts by the site to ram down new social values into our culture is what needs to change.

I've been using it, and I think the reason people like it is because of its obvious portability and accessibility. Internet is nice and all, but it is being able to watch netflix at the gym, kindle during the commute and have all my files through dropbox that really cut it for me.

Imagine (or draw) a dotted line where the zeroes are..Count the dotted intersections as contributing zero to the diagonal addition step.

Nice site. I've always believed that focussed social networks are the ones that work out in the end. However functionality-wise, the site is still very primitive. Lots of improvements are needed. Basic functionality like saving an article is absent. Anyway, I know those are on their way.