mantalk

AMC series

"The resulting storm of 'unsubscribe', 'me-too' requests, sarcastic facepalm images and recipes for broccoli casserole resulted in (by the time the list was closed) over 4 million emails and generating over 375GB of network traffic."

Linear regression! The horror!

jobs@tivli.com

We are.

Tivli's hiring. We're based at the Harvard Innovation Lab, and we're building and rapidly iterating upon TV, the most popular platform in the world.

PM me for more, or check out hack.tivli.com.

Content thinks about this a little bit differently.

Here are a few factors that may make the proposed offering less favorable than the status quo, even if you factor in piracy:

(1) Windowing. First-run content is way more valuable than longer tail content. So sure, Simpsons episodes can go for $2 on Amazon and eventually come bundled on Netflix, but only after a wait. This is a more favorable situation for content. Different media and different windows command different fees, and this allows content producers to sell to different people at different times. In the case of Scrubs, for instance, Buena Vista/ABC produced the content, sold the first run rights to NBC (who paid ~20% of cost for first-run rights) and then later syndicates it to Comedy Central and others. They ultimately become available on DVD, iTunes, etc.

(2) Advertising revenue isn't enough. That's right, in many cases, only around half of value comes from advertisers. "But TV is free on my bunny-ears!" Sure...but not if you pay for cable. If you do, the cable guys have to pay retransmission consent to content guys, and those costs can be considerable. On cable, most if not all of the content revenues are from subscription fees.

(3) Bundling. Taking in subscription revenue allows content to take bigger risks on (potentially) great content, and to invest more in it upfront. Think about HBO. They cost a fortune, but I think that many would argue that they are worth it.

On a related note... I part of a new TV startup that addresses many of these issues. We're serious, we're venture-backed and we're disruptive. PM me if you're interested.

This is actually one of the best blogs on the Internet. Thrilled to see this on HN.

Very nice.

Forests could be cool...creating a genetic algorithm for such a forest could be a lot of work and lead to less interesting results than expected...

Playing with the settings, different species of trees come to mind... It would be really interesting to classify and group trees by these parameters.

Awesome. That could make for an interesting model of skew versus sun direction/latitude, too.

Very nice.

Is there any way to control balance? Could there be?

Bamboom?

Harry Lewis is awesome.

I wonder how this sort of analysis, especially at Harvard, will interface with the new Harvard Innovation Lab (i-lab.harvard.edu) being built as we speak. Academia may be able to adapt to help make startups easier in a traditional academic environment, or to help make academia more meaningful for students doing startups.

Very cool--thanks, guys!

Life is an experiment. Whatever you do, try, learn, iterate.

Remember, though, that time is your precious resource. You'll never, ever get it back. All life hacks must either extend your time, shorten tasks, or make your time more meaningful.

Here are a few things that came to mind:

Productivity:

* Make a check list. Once you start, you won't be able to believe that you lived life without one. Can't overstate this one.

* I wrote a script that takes screenshots every half minute and lets me see what I've been doing. Huge time-saver. Check-lists also help.

Mental/Spiritual/Creative Well-being:

* Read an actual book that's actually not on a screen. Don't do anything else concurrently.

* Keep short, creative side-projects/weekend projects that you can be excited about. It'll keep your creative juices flowing.

* If you're in a rut, start saying "yes" to things more. It's too easy to stay in.

Fitness:

* Cold shower in the morning, and/or swimming in cold water. A few minutes of this and you'll feel like you ran 10 miles.

* If you're going to enjoy soda or something bad for you, enjoy it in small sips.

* F.lux for your eyes.

* Eat when you're hungry or low on energy. Don't eat when you're not hungry or not low on energy.

Social interaction:

* "Flirt" with everybody. Men and women. Don't overdo it or be weird about it, but the qualities that are successful in flirting tend to be endearing.

* Pay attention to people. "Being there" mentally can be hard, especially when you're tired or your company is tiring, but you've got to try.

* Low self-confidence is a road to all bad things. You're better than that.

* "I like your shirt/watch/shoes/bag" and get ready to hear a story.

* If you can use someone's name, use it. If you can't (and I forget names _all the time_) see if you can introduce a nearby friend. ->* Need help remembering names? Apparently this is an old sales trick (I haven't tried it but it's brilliant): index names in your phone book by category, as you may know WHERE you know a person from but may not be able to remember their name. So for a guy you know from college and whose number you have but you can't remember his name, you can go through your "College" contacts to find "College Ted." Hopefully the name resonates when you see it; I haven't tried this yet.

Time for sleep, I think, but hope these are helpful to someone...

I want to be this guy's friend.