LearnSomeShit

7 Billion People on Earth!

simplenation — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 03:21:14 +0000

In 2011 you will be 1 in 7 billion people on earth.

10 Tips for Tech Entrepreneurs

simplenation — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 07:44:27 +0000

Kevin Rose, Digg’s founder, spoke at Webstock in Wellington, New Zealand and covered 10 amazing tips for entrepreneurs. They were truly insightful and obviously came straight from the heart and soul of someone who worked a day job and built his dream after hours. This is our take of what he had to say.

1: Just Build It: You don’t need anyone’s approval and in fact, you probably won’t get it, so don’t even try.

2: Iterate: Build, release and iterate. Make a list of the features you want to create over the next six months and get going! For small companies, once a week; for larger companies, maybe twice a month.

3: Hire Your Boss: Make sure you hire people that you would want to work for, who challenge you and you can learn from.

4: Demand Excellence: Ensure staff are committed to and understand your vision. Passionate, committed staff have a tendency to rub off on people. There is nothing like a new junior developer who runs circles around everyone to get people hyped up and raise the bar! Stay involved in the hiring process as long as you possibly can.

5: Raising Money: The higher your evaluation is, the more equity you have to work with. Beg, borrow and steal. Be creative about finding ways to cut costs. For example, tell the bar you are having a “birthday party” instead of a corporate event (which they would charge you $5,000 for). Rent servers, don’t buy them. Don’t just take the cash, make sure your investors can add value. Stick with angel investment. Venture capital mean board meetings, which is a huge sap on time and resources.

6: Hack the Press: Hit up the lower-end bloggers at your favorite tech blog. They have just as much opportunity to write about your product as any other blogger on the team. Attend the after-event parties. The same crowd that attends the events also goes to the parties, but the parties are free.

7: Invest in Advisors: Give away a small amount of stock to advisors (which they can vest after a few years) who you can call on in a pickle or for general advice as issues arise. Set the ground rules so you and the advisor know how much time you have access to.

8: Connect With the Community: Hold a live town hall where you can collect feedback and get advice from your users.

9: Leverage Your User Base to Spread the Word: Facebook notifications is a great example of how to do this.

10: Analyze Your Traffic: Pay attention to how people are using your site, and then learn and evolve. Use Google Analytics to understand and track traffic sources and entrance and exit paths.

Obama: $8.3 billion to build first nuclear plant in 3 Decades

simplenation — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 23:42:56 +0000

US to Build 1st Nuclear Plant Since the 70s

Obama just gave a speech on clean energy after touring a clean jobs training facility in Lanham, MD. In the speech, he made the announcement that his administration has approved an $8.3 billion loan guarantee to build the first nuclear power plant in the US in three decades.

The last two power plants to be built in the US were the Watts Bar plant, which began construction in 1973, was completed in 1990, and didn’t begin commercial operation until 1996, and the River Bend plant, which was built in 1977 and went online in 1986.

The loan guarantee for the new project is to be taken out of the $54 billion Obama set aside for nuclear loan guarantees in his 2010 budget–and it leaves $46 billion more to be allocated to other nuclear projects.

Moscot Eyewear and Eyecare since 1915

simplenation — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:20:03 +0000

MOSCOT Eyewear and Eyecare Since 1915 has been a New York City institution for nearly 100 years. moscot.com

Checkout this Nebb Review just one of many great frames that Moscot offers.

Square. Accept credit card payments everywhere by anyone!

simplenation — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:54:26 +0000

Square

Is this iPhone Credit-Card Reader going to change the way we exchange money? Is this the start of a trend to end the exchange of paper money? I don’t know but it’s a really cool device!

Windows Phone 7 Series Demo Video

simplenation — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:18:00 +0000

See what happens when you push the envelope. Check out this video to get a first-hand look at the latest Windows Phone that brings your people, photos, music, and video into an unrivaled mobile experience. With a holistic design that brings together web content, applications and services into a single view, phones worship you now, not the other way around.

Experience Catastrophic Hard Drive Failure Without Catastrophe

simplenation — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:08:03 +0000

If you’ve ever wondered what caused massive hard drive failure or what a pretty much destroyed hard drive looked like, there’s an app for you.

Drive Savers has created the DriveSaver app for the iPhone, calling it the “first online hard disk drive simulator,” which it is, in all likelihood. The app is free. Of course, Drive Savers isn’t being completely altruistic here – they’re a data recovery company and want your business. But for those who aren’t intimately familiar with the interior of their computers, the app is pretty cool.If you’ve ever wondered what caused massive hard drive failure or what a pretty much destroyed hard drive looked like, there’s an app for you.