zkinion

What's so bad about that?

Whenever they send it is when the emails go out. The exact time varies.

Barbells I've got down solid. I was on Stronglift's 5x5 for quite a while. Now I've been getting more gains from a hybrid zyzz's workout, with enough compound lifts mixed in. My diet could use some work though, as that's what accounts for most lifting gains.

I'll look into #2. Maybe that can help with #3. When I can think straight and focus, I can stomp my foot on the ground and money seems to spring up around it. Thanks for the advice.

I was there at that YC startup school where Mark said younger people are smarter. The atmosphere in the air was part humor and part insight, not some seriousness to mean that older people are stupid in anyways.

The most important thing he said that day I can remember was that his company was, no matter what, a "software" company, and even his chief legal team lawyer codes as well, and stressed the importance of understanding and doing coding.

Now, I'm 32, and made a lot of money in my late 20's, and also in my early 20's, but lost everything right before I turned 30 in some legal grow op investments in California. I've never had a successful startup, even though I had a successful affiliate program in college, and am beginning to feel old.

When I was 22, in college and making more than a plastic surgeon because I figured out how to generate oodles of mortgage leads online during the mortgage bubble, I not only felt different, the world itself was different. Everybody seemed to be happier, friendlier. The world is just simply a different place when you're making lots of money and building things, whether its in internet marketing or in the startup world. The world is a very shitty place when you're stagnant, barely making any money, and just rotting away some like dead animal.

Its hard to even think straight any more. It's like a part of me is just not there that once was. I exercise and eat healthily, but its just not the same. Maybe I need to start getting on some HGH treatment, but that's nearly 30k a year. Its probably more mental than hormones.

So yeah, if you're over 30, you're a slow old man, only if you let it get to you deep down.

Can't some code screen scrape instagram and then get the picture data that way? I screen scrape using firefox using zc.testbrowser libraries but there's libraries where you don't need a browser. hacking that together in curl or even mechanize would be insane w/ php or python because its so much javascript.

I'm sure instagram wouldn't want you logging in with somebodies account and it would come from your server ip unless you have the scripts use proxies to get the data. If you use fb to login you would run into roadblocking accounts plus asking for a fb pw is stuff that only apps like spotify can get away with.

shall i make a hacker news fan page?

some awesomeness that lets companies make money whenever people go to their competitor's websites. there is no site at all and no user interaction

Yeah, I think both of you are right. Its part that there are scammers out there who use gambits and deception, and there's also due dillgence by yourself that must be done.

I need to mention that as far as a track record goes, a lot of the people that have wronged me in the past are extremely wealthy now or quickly getting there. Many have networks of friends that they don't scam, and that will readily vouch for them. The worst is if they do become extremely successful, and decide to be "serial entrepreneurs", the path they knew to previous success was the only path they know, and thus are more than ready to run gambits again. That's all they know. Therefore, a track record or "references" doesn't mean much.

I think a good analogy would be like a college girl getting completely drunk and passing out in some guy's bed at a party and the guy takes ripe advantage of the situation. What he did was wrong, but she was still completely foolish to put herself in that spot.

There is no reward without risk. I've had incredible success in business back in the day, from going out on the ledge and taking chances with people I barely knew. However, I've also had that success striped away from me by trusting the wrong people. I'd of been rich several years ago if not for a couple of bad choices. Normally my bad choices revolve around people.

From doing some introspection and reading this thread, I think the key is to mitigate that risk as much as possible. A person will never have complete information until the game is done. Its not like chess; more like poker. One way for me to do this will be through upfront expectations with the person as well as a contract like you described. I do need a lot more self examination, especially with how easily I can trust other people.

How do you know the full story of it? A lot of startups in the valley now are totally dicking their employees out of equity and doing "firing layoffs" instead of really laying people off.

How do you know that journalspace wasn't being shady and screwing them in some kind of contract or negotiation gambit?

I can think of quite a few startups these days that deserve a similar fate to happen to them.

Journalspace sounds like one of an army of web 2.0 startups that aren't going to survive the coming years anyways and go broke. Maybe the founders can now focus on better projects. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise.

Please put something more into it to make it different than d-link's or any other wireless picture frame that can also pull stuff from facebook/etc. Is there an ease of use advantage?

Just saying its "social" is played out and only works in the valley. Everybody is doing that these days. Hardware is normally a different game than software and is played by different rules. The marketing is totally different as well. That's awesome that you guys have been able to put a solid piece of hardware together. Don't let all that work, and all that future work, go to waste by falling into a web 2.0 trap. :)

Starts out good but just chooses and explains a "middle-ground" and then goes into "just be yourself, the situation will dictate the strategy to use". That's how I feel, but its a little bit drawn out.

The foundation of this whole bubble is too much (often its not that much) growth and no revenue or even future hope of revenue what-so-ever.

In short, there's a lot of bullshit start ups out there.

It was EXTREMELY painful just drawing simple stuff because the "free transform" resizer would pop up after every segment drawn. Make this optional.

Also, don't even make people sign up. Not right now. Later.

hahahahahahahaha, those guys are making bank off of the publicity they're getting. The lawsuit probably won't even cost them near what they're getting. Its nothing more than a bundled up hackintosh. Their product is pure hype from the digg/slashdot/blogosphere. Any mention of a lawsuit is only helping them make more money.

I kept an open mind when everybody said (and even on here), OMG they won't last till the next day, apple is going to sue them hard!!! You'd be surprised how crazy stuff works out in the real world.

You sure that wasn't leaked "on purpose"?

There's some good companies on there, but most... are just bubble startups, especialy 90% of that contenders category.

If thats the best 25, I don't even want to know whats below that...

I might finally make the switch and use it as a desktop. My main concern is that wpa support still might suck for linux.

I'll wait a little bit until I hear more good reviews.

I can just feel the angst and envy in this thread. Despite being a silly product, they still worked very hard on it and built up enough spin and hype to get it to that point. It brings up the argument that a startup can do any kind of shenanigans as their business, but with hard work, resourcefulness, determination, and perseverance, they can still be successful. Go read their blog from years ago when it was just a couple of guys driving out to the valley, all the way up till now with seven digit offers coming in.

Xobni will make off like bandits despite how "worthless" the product is. The next offer will be for way more than the original $20 million. I wish them the best of luck.

The videos don't seem to work when I click play on several browsers/boxes. Are they still being uploaded or something?

hahahahahahah Paulslist. I like the sound of that. :)

Yeah, living with other startup founders would be awesome. Email me too. zkinion@outrunpoker.com

There's always the typical examples: myspace with a hardcore spamming operation, facebook with beacon and some minor spamming/data theft in the beginning, youtube - pirated content. Ebaum's world - totally stolen content.

Those are obviously the biggest, most well known. Beneath the surface, a ton of companies are doing similar things, at a lesser level, but it often goes unseen. Many cams and dating sites started out spamming and fake profiles/female profiles. Most startups that require a "network effect" often create a lot of fake users at the start.

This article is nice, and I agree with the part about momentum gained by holding to greater values than simply building a successful company.

However, PG doesn't mention the incredibly successful startups that start out with evil/crime and then later go good: ones that start with spammy & unethical means to get initial users and pirated content startups.

I think most people strive to do good, but the world itself is a very evil place that sometimes needs adapting to.

Yes, it was a very nice presentation.

There's too many kool-aid drinkers in the web 2.0 world these days, and its a true breath of fresh air to see somebody with some real business fundamentals talking. I hope his talk makes more people wake up and realize that by trying to build a solid business over time, you have a much much MUCH greater chance at success than people flipping dodgy startups.

I don't think his message was controversial at all. Instead, its a shot of common sense in a world of disinformation.

Alot of people here are referring to fear of messing up and failing as a means to gain motivation for a startup, whether its letting yourself down or letting others down. I hope people don't get stress confused with actually working hard. Yes, worrying about stuff can make you certainly work hard, but also getting into a good frame of mind every day and getting into a "flow" of completion of tasks works much better.

Running towards something good and being happy while your doing it works just as good, if not better than running away from something bad and being stressed at the same time.

Bleh, right before I move to the bay area, people are organizing get togethers all over the place. :(

I used to go to defcon702, but that fell apart. Its always good to go to weekly gatherings related to computers. You get kind of a network effect that you don't get off of message boards and such.

Yes, momentum is everything.

Heh, I found this thread off of vwag.

Eh, give him a break. He's probably been coding all day.

This is dead on about the copyright infringement.

all the accounts here are bots. Theres like 3-4 real people total. ;)