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the4dpatrick | 8 years ago | on: I don’t want to be a software developer anymore

I can personally speak to this because during the times I was working long hours, I was avoiding some other aspects of a personal life and was using programming/work as an escape. This paints some of my perspective on seeing coworkers who are working these types of hours. I am unsure whether they are passionate or are avoiding other things.

the4dpatrick | 9 years ago | on: Can Google or Facebook ever have a true competitor?

Google and Facebook are not immortal beings infallible of mistakes. These two entities are companies comprised of people. At whatever level you look at inside these two organisations, you’ll see people making decisions. Whenever there are people involved there are bound to be some inefficiencies and mistakes made on the way. These inefficiencies and mistakes can be masked however because of the size of the organisation and the actual impact of a single decision made. Nonetheless a series of compounding “mistakes” could lead to these companies being open to other competitors.

A strength of these two companies lies in the amount of talented individuals in these organisations. Google and Facebook both have a reputation to hire the best and brightest. If this is the case, then we can assume they’d have the raw ability to make right decisions. (debatable point) Given enough time and resources these people could do almost anything. This can be illustrated by the number of moonshots being attempted at Google.

Another point of strength of these large companies is the ability to diversify. Diversification comes in handy when you’re in an ever changing world like we are in. Diversification comes in the form of external investments into potentially game changing industries and technologies (AR, BioTech, etc). Alternatively, change could come from within the organisations, albeit a little harder and riskier,

These are a few of the strengths of large companies like Google and Facebook. Despite these strengths new opportunities and new competitors will still arise. Google is a search engine, but it has moved into email and other markets. Google had existed before Facebook, and Google had more resources than Facebook when it got started. Why didn’t Google takeover social networking instead?

The OP posed the question about if Google will always be the default search engine it has acted as for the last two decades. In my opinion, this can change. With the advent of Amazon’s Echo and Siri, more and more searches are being conducted via these platforms. Both of these platforms use the Bing search engine. [1][2] If Bing did a better job [3], then it’s conceivable that more marketshare can be had by Bing. As human computer interface progresses, the act of visiting Google.com will become antiquated. This leads to opportunities for other search engines to gain adoption more or less transparently.

Facebook is a social network we access via our web browser and mobile device. If VR becomes what is promised and more widely adopted, then social networking as a category will become redefined. Facebook is at an advantage because of the Oculus acquisition, but the VR space is still so young; There are no real experts in VR.

TLDR; A series of “mistakes" made by these people comprised organisations could lead to true competitors. Strengths, like talented people and diversification, could counteract any risk to competitors. New platforms like Echo, Siri, and Cortana abstracts the use of the Bing Search Engine. VR could redefine social networking which opens more opportunities.

[1] https://www.quora.com/Can-I-change-Siris-search-engine [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/amazon/comments/2lsg9n/amazon_echo_... [3] http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2015/07/08/alexa-y-u-no-answer...

the4dpatrick | 10 years ago | on: Understanding Git for real by exploring the .git directory

Before reading more about rebasing, I wouldn't have an opinion here, but like most things in programming I think it's a matter of philosophy. Do we want the history to be "record of what actually happened" or "story of how your project was made." [0]

I see merits in both approaches: Rebase seems to be good when you want to focus on the project minus the process, while merging seems to be good when you want to know the process behind the project. For larger projects with multiple contributors, I think the merging approach is better because of the process visibility. For smaller projects with one or two developers, a rebase approach could be "cleaner" when looking through the logs later on.

I'm interested to hear what other's opinion on the topic as well.

[0] - https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Branching-Rebasing#Rebase...

the4dpatrick | 10 years ago | on: AI generated music to improve focus, relaxation and sleep

> "I'm not sure how they call this psychological manipulation technique"

You could see this personal survey as a way for the site to make you doubt or question yourself subconsciously. For you to even read the question, you have to process that question introspectively. The more questions you answer, the more likely you'll find something you'll want to improve. Then miraculously this site is the silver bullet. Buy more sessions here [enter credit card info].

Another way you could see this product, the survey, and the upsell could be through the perspective of NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming). The two concepts to focus on would be pacing and leading. You listen to the relaxing ambient music and you become calm. (Pacing) Afterwards the survey pops up when you're in a more docile state. You answer these questions. Each of which is ever so slightly leading you to the conclusion that this product is the solution to the problems you've clicked "Yes" to.

the4dpatrick | 10 years ago | on: To Anyone Who Thinks They're Falling Behind in Life

> "We have to put in our best efforts and then give ourselves permission to let whatever happens to happen"

A friend once shared how surfing illustrates how having a process driven approach vs. a result driven approach is beneficial.

In surfing you start off knowing the basics of how to get on the water, standing up on the board, and riding the wave. You may know the basics, but until you actually go out in the water, you're not going to know about what will happen. The waves may not be the right size to your liking. You could be having an off day and keep falling. Or you may be having a great day on the water. All of this are factors to you actually enjoying surfing.

Instead of focusing on trying to catch a good wave or catching many waves, you can focus on the process that is surfing. This way you can make incremental improvements to how you surf. You'll then see each wave as a new opportunity to gather more experience/data for the next time you try. And you can replace "surfing" with entrepreneurship, science, and many other areas.

With this mindset, you'll be able to let whatever happens to happen. Life is too short to always be chasing after the end goal. From my experience, after you attain the goal, you'll always have another goal in mind. You will never be truly satisfied.

the4dpatrick | 11 years ago | on: Show HN: Hacker Experience – Online hacking simulation game

@napsterbr, just finished my first mission and got some BTC. Yay! I really liked how the on-boarding and the learning of how the game played was so smooth. For example, I was about to go back to the missions tab to see the IP address I needed, when the popup on the right showed it. This is a simple example, but this happened numerous times just in the first mission. By the end, I knew how to play. On-boarding was spot on

the4dpatrick | 11 years ago | on: Ask HN: What to do on a gap year?

I'm on my 'Gap Year plus' right now. I decided to take a year off after sophomore year to teach myself some web development and travel. I was originally planning to go back to university this Fall, but I am pursuing a career in modeling/showbiz. It has always been on my list of things I wanted to do, so I thought it would be better to do it now while I'm young rather than later when I have more obligations. My advice would be to go with whatever whim or dream you have, even if others might not agree.

the4dpatrick | 11 years ago | on: Ask HN: Ways to increase mental sharpness or intelligence?

Someone mentioned nootropics so I'll chime in. I've been taking the nootropic Piracetam for about 3 months now, and I can say there is a definite 'sharpness' or rather what I call 'clarity' in the way I think and function now. I recently took a break from piracetam, but when I started again, I could tell the difference under an hour. Nootropics are worth a try if you are interested in an increased mental sharpness or intelligence.

the4dpatrick | 11 years ago | on: Chesscademy – Learn How to Play Chess

Congrats, its a very clean app.

I was watching the intro to tactics video and I wished there were more visual queues signaling the transition between topics. ie skewer, fork, etc. Maybe its cause I had to think a little longer about the previous topic and couldn't easily stop that train of thought.

the4dpatrick | 11 years ago | on: Show HN: Timedrip – Drop a message to the future

This is a really cool concept. I feel there is something to this idea of 'drops', but hard to describe. It is like a delivered time capsule.

I like the use case of people making a prediction 'drop', then have it show right after a specific time. That and possibly long messages to be opened on a significant date or time.

Definitely need to work on putting a value prop up and letting people know what they could possibly do with the app.

edit: just saw this on TC http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/05/drop-the-location-based-mes...

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