one010101's comments

Learn to type faster! I went from 35 wpm to over 100 in just over a year of 4-hrs-a-day practice. I have a USB foot pedal so I can start and stop, rewind and fast-forward mp3 recordings. (It would be better if I could do this with speech command - my foot gets tired) Programs to alter the speed of playback typically suffer from pitch alteration.

If you want to do this for a living, look at http://www.careerstep.com

Ontrack

Agreed! And brush up on your English writing skills.

I don't see a need for a co-host. I used to produce a half-hour weekly program in a similar interview format. Changing hosts mid-stream would have seemed artificial and disturbing.

I am!

I don't have a general answer, but in my case it really does come from life experience. Let me give you an example, using one of my current projects. I met two friends (about a month ago) for a brewski. Turns out they are golfers. We went to Harding driving range and Lincoln golf course. When we were on the 2nd hole at Lincoln it occurred to me that there are people who would probably like a photo survey of the local golf courses. We have roughly 15,000,000 visitors a year here. So now I'm building an iPhone app that will help tourists plan their golfing forays.

I see opportunities everywhere I look. And so far, I have not had a failure. Not all ideas are reachable, but there are always many that require no investment other than my time and energy. (and always remember: Time is non-renewable. Budget your time very carefully so it is profitable)

I think the most valuable lesson I've learned is that being successful in business is not based on how much money you have. It is much more based on how you allocate your resources. Time is the most important one, because it is non-renewable.

I wish you great success in the future!

Thank you for your kind words. Yes! That sounds fun. You'll get an email from me soon. btw, I am happy to talk about anything I am currently working on, with one single exception (because it is the first worldwide). Competition is a good thing, and we learn from each other. I'm a very agile developer and am not the slightest bit concerned about talking about what I'm doing. If I do it might bring new customers. And in the final analysis, there is very little we can do that is ground-breaking in concept. It is the execution that distinguishes companies. For example, honesty and prompt payment appear to be in short supply. So even if we're in a highly competitive market we can always rise above the middle of the bell curve.

Good point. Maybe you can see by the <p> tags that HN removed the formatting I attempted. I agree it would look better if they had retained my intended presentation.

Goodness, how could that NOT be great? Did you steal from them or something? I can't imagine why you would ask this.

I'm exactly who you describe. Are you in San Francisco?

I agree mostly, but I would never say what can or can't happen, since this is in the civil arena. It all depends on what a jury would consider "reasonable" and that's hard to nail down. At the end of the day I think you are right, but Apple might like the value added and may not decide this is someone worth investing their massive resources to mobilize against. I'd prepare for it, but it is by no means inevitable.

That's normal. Just because you're good doesn't mean all your competitors are, though. There's a name for that that I can't remember, but the simple fact is that you can carve out market space even with substantial competition. You only need to distinguish yourself by competence, responsiveness, honesty and transparency and ethical dealings. imho, that's the key.

FTW! Good advice. That would give you a way to keep earning income on your products even if the name itself gets "complicated" by potential future legal action.

Any of us who have done a successful startup knows that the name itself is great for marketing, but as soon as it becomes a liability be prepared to sell it or abandon it, if necessary.

Word of warning: legal action is a major expense, once it gets its teeth into any company. Even Microsoft suffered tremendously because of it.

Litigation is the most expensive legal action for both sides. If you can meet a challenge with an amicable settlement you will have a much greater chance for survival long-term. i.e., be prepared to cease and desist on the narrow issue of the name. Try to contain the legal issue.

My advice (which is solely personal. I am not a lawyer) is to do all you can to anticipate legal challenges and have files ready to go when your attorneys might need them. Or, if the IRS requests documentation. They require full and complete business records. The standard is nebulous, except as regard financial transactions. Those are pretty clear. Full and complete is safest.

Documentation is like disclosure. Just like the old joke about voting in Chicage. "do it early and often" Not publicly, necessarily, of course.

Before you even start using a trademark owned by a large company, you need to prepare your eventual defense theory.

Look at the case of Mr. McDonald who was told he can't use that name. Even though it was his.

And make sure you have a good attorney involved from the get-go. Don't let him prevent you from doing things so much as allow him to be ready for any legal challenges.

My 2c worth. Good fortune, my friend!

You've got the right attitude for running a business, however I would caution you to begin preparing your counter-case now, just in case. No pun intended.

Yes, eventually. Their success will hinge on whether you used the name before they did, imho. But you are a value-added service for them, so unless you poke at them they might simply decide to tolerate it. Their case would be complicated, regardless of the registry dates. But they have deep pockets and a case like that would bring them publicity, (as it would you), so who knows what they'll decide to do or not. Hard to predict that one. If I was on their counsel staff I'd say they should go for it and make sure there is nobody else using their trademark. And that's their pattern. I hope you're saving most of your income for your next venture. And I hope you are preparing your legal team with all the information you have available so they can give you the best advice possible. Good luck, my friend.

Depends on what you want it to do! Give us some guidance here.

I agree completely. When you've written enough code that you have confidence you can solve real-world problems, you're there. In my personal case it took just a couple of years before I could sell my code. And now I've done it for nearly 30 more years.

The best part is that you can sell your advice even before you can sell your code. That way you'll learn more about what the real world needs out of a programmer. And they'll pay you to learn!

My clients are pretty effective at keeping me moving along the right track. It would be nice to have a network like you describe, but I don't have time to try to find them!

Just do it. Pick a project and program it. Then do another. Practice is the key.

Hmm. Why are you on Facebook if you don't want to be part of it?