Disqus - Latest Comments for oakmad

Re: Panic Attacks

oakmad — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 09:27:00 -0000

Its so humbling to see others share their stories and realize how not alone we really are. Also great to read how others have handled it. My big breakthrough came when I took myself to California and attended a Hoffman Foundation week course - think lots of hitting things with bats. For me, I don't think its ever something I'll say I'm 'cured' of, but I know I'm way way way down on the spectrum which pleases me no end.

Re: Engadget Giveaway: win one of four Nexus 7 tablets, courtesy of NVIDIA!

oakmad — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 11:37:03 -0000

please?

Re: Engadget Giveaway: win one of two Samsung Galaxy Notes, courtesy of 1SaleADay!

oakmad — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 12:44:16 -0000

yes please!

Re: Engadget Giveaway: win an 11-inch MacBook Air pre-loaded with Parallels!

oakmad — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:25:27 -0000

Even though new macbooks are just around the corner, yes please...

Re: Engadget Giveaway: win a new iPad, courtesy of puzzle app Triple Entendre!

oakmad — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:32:11 -0000

Yes please

Re: Engadget Giveaway: win a Sony 40-inch 1080p HDTV, courtesy of The Grey on Blu-ray and DVD

oakmad — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:49:10 -0000

Yes please

Re: Immigration Reform

oakmad — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:32:38 -0000

I'm an Australian with US permanent residency (heading towards dual citizenship) and working on bootstrapping my second company here in Austin TX. I don't know that I necessarily would agree with you about Australia being very similar, though I see how one can get that impression.

I distinctly remember having a similar conversation in 2002, just after I moved here. I generalize when I say this, but in the US when you talk to someone about your ideas and plans, you get a sense of encouragement to try and willingness to support you in your efforts. That feeling of instant support is harder to come in Australia, it requires more justification and overall, I think the startup eco-system is more closed because of this. I don't have any stats to back this up but my gut tells me that there are far more startup incubators/VCs etc per capita in the US than in Australia. I hope someone can prove me wrong on that. I'd argue the point that the main difference between the two cultures is what Australians refer to as the Tall Poppy Syndrome. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wik... describes it well as Australians "alleged desire to punish the successful". Thankfully this is much less prominent in the US. Australia is a definite 'knock you' culture and I think the result is a quicker cull of those people and ideas that are not yet ready for prime time. Maybe this is a good thing?

I recently attended a startup bootcamp with Tech Ranch here in Austin and 30% of students were Immigrants. The Deutsche Bank CEO got it pretty right, something special happens when you arrive. In some ways we need to work out why so many Immigrants want to try and how we can inspire more Americans to start their own company.

Re: Wrenched & Ridden bike reviews: Time I-Clic Carbon road pedals

oakmad — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 12:44:25 -0000

I just switched from speedplay zero pedals to the I-Clic and concur with pretty much Zack wrote. My biggest learning curve has come during clip in, migrating from the stomp that the speedplay's required to the toe first these do. Once in though the pedal feels a lot more solid under foot, though I too miss the free float.

Re: Hiring Update #3

oakmad — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:55:54 -0000

I received mine also. Don't apologize for the form letter, it was well done and I think a lot of employers in your position just wouldn't have bothered given the numbers. You earned more respect in my book for being open and early in the process, rather than waiting until you had made your hiring decision to send them out. I'll be interested to see how you engage the network of applicants in the coming months, could be some other great opportunities.

Re: Hiring Update #2

oakmad — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:17:10 -0000

I concur. Its nice to see such open honesty and to see such effort at treating the applicants with respect. I think every applicant realized USV would make every effort to do it right and thats why there were over 600. Bravo.

Re: Why You Should Start A Company In NYC

oakmad — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:13:21 -0000

It was a big day for Austin startup publicity yesterday, with articles from both Business Week http://www.businessweek.com... and ReadWriteWeb http://www.readwriteweb.com... They both do a good job I think of summing up the Austin mindset and how its different.

Re: A Blog Comment That Every SXSW attendee should read

oakmad — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:20:00 -0000

I'd add Restaurant Jezebel if you want really decent places.

I don't know about everyone else but I always think of sxsw as $30 a head kind of meals not $100. I can go to any city in the world and easily find the expensive decent restaurants, its the great cheap ones that are hard to find and the real point of these comments IMHO

Re: A Blog Comment That Every SXSW attendee should read

oakmad — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 13:25:43 -0000

LOL But I didn't mention the etiquette of ordering from the Burger Fascist - Austin's very own version of the Soup Nazi

Re: A Blog Comment That Every SXSW attendee should read

oakmad — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 10:21:24 -0000

Here are the places I frequent; though generally not during sxsw, and they are all close to downtown.

Tx Mex: Polvos on Sth 1st at Johanna St about 1/2 mile sw of Gueros. For Breakfast Juan in a million, E Cesar Chavez St at Mildred St

Burgers: Nothing is better than Casino El Camino right on 6th St and Neches

If you get stuck head to WholeFoods at W6th and Lamar. They have kiosks that serve the best value Italian and Seafood meals in Austin. Right there is also Amy's Ice Cream and Waterloo Icehouse (Burgers etc) and just a bit west is Z Tejas for more Tex Mex.

BTW the differentiation between East 6th and West 6th is Congress Ave

Re: One Thing You Don't Need To Be An Entrepreneur: A College Degree

oakmad — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:12:53 -0000

I submit my Msc (Internet Computing) dissertation on Saturday; I got kicked out of my BSc 16 yrs ago. Here is what I finally learned from University. Its actually really good at educating you in areas you never considered, being forced to take a class in something you would normally shy away from is priceless. Until I did this course I thought I was a great programmer and my business analysis was OK - turns out I'm an OK programmer and actually pretty darn good at business problem type analysis. Now I leap at the chance to get more involved in those problems and learning that is worth than the piece of paper.

Re: Setting up Django on SliceHost with Ubuntu Hardy, Postgres, Apache, and Nginx

oakmad — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:29:39 -0000

Almost worked for me until I got to the Apache configuration at which point restarting Apache generated errors about Virtual host requiring additional arguments, then directory requiring additional arguments and finally NameVirtualHost *:0 has no VirtualHosts. I'm still working through them but something seems awry.

Re: Glue: A Social Net That Lives In Your Browser

oakmad — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:27:55 -0000

I had similar thoughts and discussed with Fraser. On pages where he good stuff is below the fold its easy to scroll down and totally miss the benefit that the Glue bar provides. I've learned to think about the bar but a couple of display options would nice. I for one always have a ff sidebar open, I would be happy for Glue to use some of that real estate, or appear like Fred's FM music player bar below; of course providing too many UI options is a slippery slope.

Re: Glue: A Social Net That Lives In Your Browser

oakmad — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:42:20 -0000

I've been using this for a few weeks (since Fred's first tweet) and have to say its getting better and better. Regular updates keep improving it, its interesting to see as I browse amazon to see who is browsing the same products and what sites they are viewing them on. I've noticed the same people keep popping up on my recently viewed list which makes me think of lots of opportunity for introductions. I'm impressed with the possibility and think having it as a ff extension is a positive at this stage.

Re: The Lazy and Smarter Web

oakmad — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:44:28 -0000

I think this has a direct correlation to the five degrees of separation; within five people you will get to the source. Knowledge always eventually bubbles to the surface if you ask enough people, such 'laziness' just increases the speed at which you get the result. As an Australian living in Austin TX you would be surprised how many requests questions I am asked about Australia from strangers facilitated through my loose network of friends. They are all like Fred's: Advice on where to stay, what to visit etc etc.

"Yes, it's much easier to post a simple question than do a ton of research and I am doing it more every day." Of course, because this puts into result into a context you are looking for from people who you can trust as they took the time to response to your direct question. It like attending a lecture and being able to ask direct questions verse reading a text book.