tomlor · HackerTrans

4 lata temudiscuss

I don't think you're alone there. This was EXACTLY my mindset as well.

I have the same problem with the various Japanese logic puzzles (Soduku, Nurikabe, Hashi, etc): 1) This is fun! 2) Hmm, I'm using the same algorithms to solve every puzzle 3) I could probably write a solver 4) Don't write solver. Move on to something else.

tomlor

5 lat temudiscuss

Thanks for the recommendation! As a huge Wing Commander fan back in the long long ago, do you have any other recommendations?

tomlor

5 lat temudiscuss

I singlehandledly forced the replacement of Expensify at my company after some dodgy billing practices. They incrementally, yet substantially, raised our bill over a period of eight months with no notification to us whatsover. It was hard to detect because our bills were already variable values per month (based on active users).

When I discovered the higher rates we were paying I reached out to support and they said I wasn't notified because I elected to opt out of marketing emails. They wouldn't issue a credit either.

I threatened to cancel service and they truly couldn't have cared less. So we dumped them. Very satisfying. It's a shame - the product was ok. But from my persepctive, F these guys.

tomlor

5 lat temudiscuss

I came at a solution doing the following:

Well, I know this:

   1 = 1/2 + 1/2

We're trying to get to 5 terms. So let's split 1/2 into two terms.

   1 = 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/4

Hmm, let's do that again - this time splitting 1/4.

   1 = 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/8

Ok, I'm pretty close. Can I split 1/8 into 1/9 and some mystery term?

   1 = 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/9 + 1/N

Well, that's not hard to solve. N = 72.

1 = 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/9 + 1/72

tomlor

5 lat temudiscuss

I was really hoping this was about how to make a patsy take a fall for an egregious crime I committed.

tomlor

6 lat temudiscuss

The pickers in my neighborhood are a nuisance. If my recyling bin is full, then they move good recyclables from my recycling bin to my trash bin in order to try to find cans and bottles. Often, then don't move them back when they're done rummaging.

tomlor

6 lat temudiscuss

Ha, I know exactly who you're talking about.

tomlor

8 lat temudiscuss

If every dollar in adspend nets you 20x in revenue, why are you quibbling about 5 bucks a month and not pouring money into advertising?

tomlor

8 lat temudiscuss

One of my gripes about this price point is that they downgraded the buns they use with their hot dogs a few years ago. They used to be these tasty, substantial picnic rolls, but now they're bland and bready. I'd happily pay a few cents more to get the better buns.

The real kicker is that if you look at the photo of the hotdogs in their food courts (in SoCal, at least), the photos are of the old, picnic style buns and NOT what they are serving today - a bait-and-switch (bake-and-switch?) if you ask me...

tomlor

8 lat temudiscuss

I thought the same thing until I discovered H&M socks. Say what you will about their labor practices - at least they make socks that fit my feet.

www.hm.com/us/product/92297

tomlor

9 lat temudiscuss

The people buying Bitcoins now?

tomlor

9 lat temudiscuss

Not really, all these shenanigans occur in a nested series of iframes. The original webpage that served up the initial ad iframe can't see down into these. Whatever supply partner the webpage is using doesn't want to shed light of this to the publisher or else that supply partner may be replaced.

This issue is illuminated to some degree by 3rd party ad analytics companies that monitor this via crawlers and user panels. This problem is also attacked from the advertiser side that will use 'viewability' providers to ensure their ad is, well, viewed.

tomlor

9 lat temudiscuss

I've seen some other pretty abhorrent behavior as well. The specific instance that comes to mind is an ad that would load all the resources and content of its click-through landing page into a hidden part of its own iframe. Then in the off chance you click the ad, your browser cache is already warmed and the resulting landing page loads fast. All of that for the 0.1% of us that click ads. It boggles the mind.

tomlor

11 lat temudiscuss

That's a slick idea and one you could actually execute with some amount of success today. The basic idea would be that you could sign up for an advertiser account on a DSP (Demand Side Platform), create a retargeting audience, cookie your own web browser cache to place yourself in your retargeting audience, and then buy ads against that audience - ie yourself.

That would be essentially the same thing this guy did to his roommate: http://mysocialsherpa.com/the-ultimate-retaliation-pranking-...

tomlor

11 lat temudiscuss

I've started a hardware company before and went down the patent route. What we did, with success, was to file a provisional patent before raising money - which is far cheaper and less time consuming. That satisfied investor questions regarding IP protection and then we used investor money to file the actual patent itself.

Regarding your proposed step four - if you truly intend to have a limited role for yourself in the future, disclosing this to investors (as you should) might make fundraising more difficult. If you are the visionary behind the tech/company - they'll want to see your continued involvement.

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