goodkarma's comments

goodkarma | 16 years ago | on: Ask HN: Are you using SSDs already ?

I've been wanting a SSD for weeks now. I think hard drive speed is why Windows XP is running so slow for me (via VMWare on my Mac).

Downside is I've got a 320 Gb hard drive so need something somewhat comparable. Bigger SSDs are still not cheap! Saw the 250 Gb ones on Amazon for about $600. Almost bought it yesterday, but decided to wait until after my next trip..

goodkarma | 16 years ago | on: Stealth Search Engine Blekko Raises Another $2.5 Million

Google was such a massive success that any search startup with a chance of being a "Google killer", or even just a worthy competitor, seems to be finding investors.

If 1% share is a billion dollars in annual revenue, there's some real opportunity there.

I think everyone is investing in search by looking in their rear-view mirror. I doubt the real "Google killer" will be a "text box entry leading to a list of links" search engine of the same nature as Google.

goodkarma | 16 years ago | on: Droid: iDon't Understand Search Engine Optimization

I visited the site because I saw their commercial on TV. I imagine most folks will hear about it through their marketing campaigns.

They have plenty of smart folks over there - is it possible they did this intentionally? If their goal is to promote a phone launching later this week, perhaps SEO is not their top concern here?

goodkarma | 16 years ago | on: Homepage of Berkshire Hathaway, 17th biggest company in the world

Their website is functional and actually has quite a bit of content on it - including many years worth of letters from Buffett to Berkshire shareholders.

I'm sure the site would be fancier if Warren Buffett actually used a computer - but as far as I know he doesn't even have one in his office.

goodkarma | 16 years ago | on: Dustin Curtis's new web app

Your points are all true but printed snail mail is still more mainstream then PGP encrypted e-mail.

Despite its age and the fact that it is grossly inadequate, snail mail still has a place in our society - at least for now.

goodkarma | 16 years ago | on: Dustin Curtis's new web app

I love the idea of a printed letter API (like what postful.com has) as a solution to send automated letters to people. First one that comes to mind is to send a letter to someone if they do a chargeback or their credit card was declined.

I look forward to implementing something like this!

goodkarma | 16 years ago | on: Seattle company allows you to rent goat herds to clear brush

I remember seeing the Google piece and thinking it was a good idea then.

I can see the progression now:

1) local farmer rents out some goats as an experiment

2) seeing positive feedback, local farmer sets up a business breeding goats and renting the herds

3) seeing the success of farmer #1, other farmers set up their own local businesses renting goats

4) one enterprising farmer optimizes the business model and starts acquiring goat rental agencies and setting up regional "goat herding hubs"

5) enterprising farmer gets funding from a prominent silicon valley agency to scale this industrious idea and take it to the masses

6) enterprising farmer's enterprise is acquired by multinational farm equipment company (think "John Deere")

:-)

goodkarma | 16 years ago | on: Heroku refreshes Add-ons and offers Amazon RDS integration

I LOVE HEROKU.

In the process of migrating a large app to the cloud via Heroku. (We have other apps already running there.)

The guys there are awesome and very helpful, and the service is mind-blowingly bad-ass! Amazing how Rails deployment has evolved!!

goodkarma | 16 years ago | on: Heroku refreshes Add-ons and offers Amazon RDS integration

You can definitely host tiny apps for free.

If they are fairly low traffic sites with small databases (< 5 MB) that don't require SSL or more than a daily cron, they should fit within the parameters of a free plan - i.e. "blossom" database server, 1 dyno, etc.

goodkarma | 16 years ago | on: Google and the Deadly Power of Data

WOW.

Google is fundamentally changing the business model of many companies. This is a great example. To Google this is all data, and their goal is "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."

So these companies should ask themselves: what are they offering? A service, or data?

That said, the stock market has overreacted. Nothing Google has done has affected the earnings of any of these companies. Yet. You all have a decent chance of pocketing a 20% gain if you buy now, because that fear got priced into the stock today.

goodkarma | 16 years ago | on: Surprise: McCain Biggest Beneficiary of Telco/ISP Money

I think the special interests donate to folks they know they can influence. (Everything in government is about getting the votes they need, right?)

Which may be why Obama got a lot of donations from individual taxpayers and not multi billion dollar corporations.

goodkarma | 16 years ago | on: Tell HN: Watch YC Startup School Live

I've been trying to watch and the video has been pretty choppy too.

Not trying to hate or anything, but I'm pretty bummed about this. I was really looking forward to watching it.

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