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SmkyMt | 4 years ago | on: A stranger secretly lived in my home

I look forward to viewing it this evening. And FWIW: It could motivate me to _buy_ ($20) rather than _rent ($4) [from Amazon] if I knew the respective portions that go to (your) production company rather than just to Amazon.

SmkyMt | 7 years ago | on: One of the world’s most visited websites that nobody is aware of (2017)

Article's author explains: "Unfortunately Alexa doesn’t have intelligence on the amount of visitors for this site." He goes on to describe additional data from informer.com, similarweb.com, etc - and to explain that the site actually strives not to be ranked well - as part of their business model.

SmkyMt | 9 years ago | on: Former Google VP Starts a Company Promising Clean and Safe Nuclear Energy

>People simply aren't rational. It has been so hard for me to accept that.

You raise an important point: human irrationality is as real as climate change. And probably more challenging.

We might more quickly tackle climate change by simultaneously tackling human irrationality.

It's a shame that more of the best and brightest minds don't enter the (messy)fields of behavioral science - where progress is much less impressive of late than in technology IMHO.

SmkyMt | 9 years ago | on: Fear of litigation may be key to security on the Internet of Things

> the real solution will be when consumers realize most of this IoT stuff is a gimmick for manufacturers to be able to sell you something...

For the sake us us all, I hope it's not the _only_ solution. This does not seem like the type of thing that the consumer marketplace ever "realizes". "Gimmick" or "bling" or "coolness." Praise or disparage such labels, huge portions of the consumer market wants what it wants at the moment; then it moves on mostly when the old one breaks or something else looks shinier.

Now _that_ IMHO is a problem in real need of a solution.

SmkyMt | 9 years ago | on: Create your own online notebook without any signup required

Although it appears to require little time/energy overhead to try out your project...

The lack of any information about privacy and security (not to mention evidence of commitment for the project to be around with my notes available to me for more than a few weeks) means I won't yet be trying it. Just FYI

SmkyMt | 9 years ago | on: Why I will never have a girlfriend (1999)

Reminds me of punchline from a joke about a man who finally, after 30 years of searching for "the perfect woman - found one:

"Unfortunately, she was looking for the perfect man."

In my experience, an overlooked part of finding a good mate is making yourself into a good candidate for your side of that partnership.

[edited for grammar]

SmkyMt | 9 years ago | on: When You Are Depressed, Make Something

One of the core symptoms/phenomena of major depression is anhedonia - the inability to experience pleasure.

It’s very difficult to imagine what that would be like - until you experience it. Hope you’ll seek out some effective help. It’s hard to dig out all by oneself.

SmkyMt | 9 years ago | on: LG signals plan to put Wi-Fi in every appliance it releases in 2017

Planned obsolescence. The greater the software/hardware complexity included - the more opportunity for obsolescence. For the manufacturer & retailer - a great component of their "business models." Not so great for consumers/environment.

I'd like to see some great technical minds attack _this_ technico-societal issue.

SmkyMt | 9 years ago | on: Faster Images using HTTP2 and Progressive JPEGs

Sample size: three (and counting). It's an awful problem, mobile or laptop/desktop: My greatest gripe is that I may think page is fully loaded, click to highlight text and - boom! I'm sent of to some page of video or advertising through a link that abruptly displaces the target I aimed at.

SmkyMt | 9 years ago | on: On Digital Minimalism

"The best digital products improve our lives..."

I'd like to be as optimistic as you. But actually (sadly?) this already happens. Those who want to "improve" their lives at profit-from-advertising are running A-B tests to evaluate the "best"-ness of their design/development based on clicks, ad revenue, conversions etc. Those who wish to promote a political or religious viewpoint ...same.

You may not ever want to have your life "improved" in the way I choose to "improve" mine. There will be some digital technologies that leave the Facebook crowd feeling that they have better lives and others that do so for more niche markets (HN, anyone?).

SmkyMt | 9 years ago | on: AirPods are now available

And is not December 13 a primo time to hype the pee out of a $159 (U.S.) "stocking stuffer" (or an IOU for one)?

...though I cringe to think of the pressure at this time of year to release a product whose quality is not yet vetted by early adopters.

SmkyMt | 9 years ago | on: How leaving a corporate job to join a startup fucked me up and sorted my life

The story might be more interesting to me than to more experienced hackers here, so YMMV. For me, however, what was intriguing was how he first of all had to learn what he didn't know - and then learn it. Looks to me as if one of those learnings was essentially about life/work as a roller coaster - in the sense that even though it sometimes appears you're headed for a crash/death, sometimes it's just a whiplash in one's professional "learning curve." Rahul's sharing this on HN may be one of those whiplashes - on the blogging slopes - where it's more important than one might guess to attend to writing(and formatting) style. Until that slope is mastered, the poster discovers that most comments about his post concern his quirks of using bolding in overabundance.

Anyway, congratulations on surviving the transition, Rahul. And here's wishing you move through surviving to thriving!

SmkyMt | 9 years ago | on: The 40 Books That Saved My Life

But he forgot what was said to have been the one book on Steve Jobs’ iPad - the one that was handed out after Jobs’ memorial service: Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi. As Marc Benioff said, Steve’s last message was, "Actualize yourself."
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