alex_lod's comments

alex_lod | 4 years ago | on: Show HN: I made a privacy-first minimalist Backblaze

alex_lod | 6 years ago | on: LogMeIn Acquired by Private Equity

LastPass recently started deleting a secure note of mine after I’d edit it. It’s been almost two weeks and their support team has done nothing but kick the can down the road. I wonder if the acquisition has anything to do with their very poor support quality.

alex_lod | 7 years ago | on: Ask HN: Software development after 40, how do you keep the fire?

The term is most commonly associated with Suzuki Roshi, who founded the San Francisco Zen Center. He has a book, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind." You can learn more about him here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shunry%C5%AB_Suzuki

Here are a few blog posts:

- https://zenhabits.net/beginner/ - https://jackkornfield.com/beginners-mind/

Here are a few talks/podcasts:

- http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/68/talk/17919/ - http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/23/talk/500/ - http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/139/talk/893/

Finally, I have had the most special "beginner's mind" experiences while attending multi-day, silent meditation retreats. I live in the Bay Area, so I've attended Spirit Rock up in Marin. However, retreat centers exist all across the world. I recommend "insight" retreats, which are sometimes referred to as "mindfulness" or "Vipassana" retreats.

I hope this is helpful!

alex_lod | 7 years ago | on: Ask HN: Software development after 40, how do you keep the fire?

Have you heard of the concept “beginner’s mind?” It’s an attitude that can be developed with practice that helps you see otherwise ordinary things with awe and curiosity. Here’s a bit more about it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoshin if you’re curious I can share more references.

alex_lod | 8 years ago | on: The Trouble with Mindfulness Apps (2016)

What bothers me most about these is that they often charge money. In Buddhism the teaching of mindfulness has been offered through “dana” (donations). Teachings so close to our hearts shouldn’t be commercialized in my opinion. If they are, they lose a lot of their essence. Hard to explain :)

alex_lod | 9 years ago | on: VPNs are not the solution to a policy problem

I just did a bunch of research at https://www.reddit.com/r/VPN -- looks like Mullvad is the most recommended / highest rated.

alex_lod | 9 years ago | on: What HP Must Do to Make Amends for Its Self-Destructing Printers

Instructions for rolling back the firmware, which fixed the issue for me: https://www.brozkeff.net/2016/09/01/how-to-downgrade-firmwar...

alex_lod | 13 years ago | on: One Year, Six Products: What I’ve Built and Learned

Here's the promised follow-up article, One Year, Six Products: 16 Tips for New Entrepreneurs:

http://alexlod.com/2012/07/11/one-year-six-products-16-tips-...

alex_lod | 13 years ago | on: One Year, Six Products: What I’ve Built and Learned

Here's the follow-up:

http://alexlod.com/2012/07/11/one-year-six-products-16-tips-...

alex_lod | 14 years ago | on: Top Technologies Used By YC Companies

I'd love to see the breakdown of hosting providers -- Heroku, EC2, AppFog, Rackspace, etc.

alex_lod | 14 years ago | on: How Facebookipodayclosingprice.com Scaled with MemCachier

It was covered in TechCrunch, Bloomberg, and other big journals, too -- it definitely got a lot of views.

The difference between the small number of updates (2261) and the presumed large number of views is precisely why this was a great use case for memcache/MemCachier. High-read/low-update content is the perfect caching use case.

alex_lod | 14 years ago | on: Show HN: I built a fake product (BreakStreak.com) as a lean startup experiment

Thanks for the feedback :). I'm terrible when it comes to design, and I totally agree that there's an opportunity to go somewhere with the BreakStreak concept -- back to the drawing board :). For now, though, I'm pleased with the experiment!

alex_lod | 14 years ago | on: Working at a Startup vs. a Big Company

Let's take the following hypothetic example, which by the way isn't so hypothetical:

Your company decides it wants to build its business on mobile phones. You go out and hire the best iOS developer you can find, and she builds the app. Then, once you have a few thousand users, you realize that actually this app should be a website. You pivot the company to become a website before an iOS app. Now you have an expert iOS developer and nothing for them to work on. You'd be in a better position to have a super awesome programmer who can (and has interest to) learn new things.

The above example happens all the time. The earlier a company is, the more likely they'll make big pivots.

alex_lod | 14 years ago | on: Working at a Startup vs. a Big Company

I've worked at big companies before and I could never go back. I'm not a 9-5 kinda guy, which is what I meant by "all in."

Stress is something that comes with doing exciting, scary things. Sure, having a comfortable day job and working on a side project on the side might be fun, but it's probably not scary and big, unless of course the side project becomes something big. At which point you'll be stressed again.

alex_lod | 14 years ago | on: Working at a Startup vs. a Big Company

I've never been able to find the time or motivation to do side projects, probably because I'm more of an all-in kinda guy. But I agree that side projects could be a good way to scratch the startup itch and have a great time, too.

alex_lod | 14 years ago | on: Working at a Startup vs. a Big Company

Very good point. I suppose I've only worked at startups that have done very well (Redfin, Cloudera), hence the bias here. While we're here, though, could you share some of the negative parts of working at a (failing) startup, apart from the obvious: you're out a job?

alex_lod | 14 years ago | on: Working at a Startup vs. a Big Company

I'd hire you if you were a good engineer but not a good interviewee :). My hope would be that a good interviewer can see through an interview in the same way that a good teacher gives good grades to good students, not good test takers.

alex_lod | 14 years ago | on: Ask HN: New York vs. San Francisco to do a startup

You couldn't be more right about what's going on between my cofounder and I. He loves New York. I love San Francisco. But still, I expect there are clear differences between the two tech scenes, for example meetup sizes, general candor, how willing a VC is to meet with you, etc.