Comment That was quick (Score 1) 2
Fixed now.
Submission + - Why Starbucks.com has zero Facebook likes (dandascalescu.com) 2
dandv writes: "Today Facebook pushed a change as part of their Like plugin migration that broke all sites whose "Like" button links to their Facebook page. They now display zero likes, and clicking the Like button reverts to zero within a few seconds."
Comment Invest in hardware? How about a boat? (Score 2) 222
Steve Blank should stop lamenting and instead invest in Blueseed. Now THAT's hardware.
Blueseed is a visa-free startup community located on a cruise ship 30 minutes from the coast of Silicon Valley, in international waters outside the jurisdiction of the United States.
Comment Re:Just a gimmick (Score 1) 332
Instead of going through the effort to work on a ship of Bahamian registry, why not move to the Bahamas?
The value proposition is proximity to Silicon Valley - http://www.blueseed.co/faq.html#silicon_valley
Comment Re:I fail to see .... (Score 1) 332
See http://www.blueseed.co/faq.html#silicon_valley. And again, Blueseed will host startups. The project that intended to host coders was Sea Code, http://sea-code.com/
Comment Re:Just a new sliver of foreign territory (Score 1) 332
Very well put. There's nothing radical about Blueseed. People from Vancouver have been traveling to Silicon Valley for tens of years to conduct business. Blueseed is legally just like Vancouver, but closer.
Comment Re:Crime and security (Score 1) 332
Correct - http://www.blueseed.co/faq.html#laws and correction - http://www.blueseed.co/faq.html#silicon_valley
Comment Re:Crime and security (Score 1) 332
Crime will be handled the same way it's been handled on cruise ships that have transported tens of millions over the past 30 years. http://www.blueseed.co/faq.html#laws
Also, it's one thing to steal someone's wallet on a cruise, knowing you won't see them again, vs. on the ship that's practically the town you both live in.
Comment Idiot (Score 1) 332
How in the world do you expect a sweatship for startup entrepreneurs online 24/7, to survive in the press spotlight near California's coast? Have you the faintest idea about the PR implications?
Comment You don't quite understand VCs (Score 1) 332
VCs aren't after "offshore talent". They're looking for high-growth startups. Plus, Blueseed wasn't started by VCs, but by immigrant entrepreneurs (look at the bios of the founders).
And please drop the silly argument about "enslaving". If someone doesn't like it on the ship, they leave. Do you realize the amount of press the ship will get? If anyone is in the least unhappy, that would lead to a PR disaster to Blueseed. Slavery? Please.
Comment Cruise ship precedent (Score 1) 332
The laws that apply on the ship will be those of the flag country - www.blueseed.co/faq.html#laws
Cruise ship shave a 30+ year precedent of ensuring order and safety aboard.
Google and Yahoo! have been started by immigrant founders. Now they're employing tens of thousands of people. The US of A is quite desperately looking for ways to boost entrepreneurship. The USCIS has an Entrepreneurs in Residence program to understand startups better. The White House supports that too, see Strengthening Immigrant Pathways for Job-Creating Entrepreneurs.
Comment Blueseed FAQ (Score 2) 332
I should've linked to the Blueseed FAQ in my original post. It answers a lot of the silly counter-arguments (though not those as silly as "Pirates!!!" - When has anyone last seen pirates near California?). To sum up:
- * why not telework/conference call all the time: because that doesn't work for startups in their early stage, and because no investor will invest in a startup without meeting the team in person; also because you can't go to startup events via Skype
- * the whole libertarian red herring - Blueseed has nothing to do with a political system or another. It's an entrepreneurial solution to a very clear problem: the lack of visas for foreign entrepreneurs. AILA (the Association of Immigration Lawyer of America) explains it very clearly in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLCYfhZEFb8#t=3m15s: "There are simply no US visas available for immigrant entrepreneurs"
- * the whole tax haven or lawlessness red herring: Blueseed is JUST LIKE Vancouver, in the sense that Microsoft employees come to Silicon Valley all the time from Vancouver to conduct business, then they fly back. There's nothing radical about Blueseed, other than it being much closer than Vancouver. Also, the entire cruise ship industry has been functioning for years and is a clear precedent that laws do apply on cruise ships, and people don't just go murder each other.
- * International waters are 12, not 200 miles from shore. See UNCLOS, the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea, article 3.
- * the exploitation red herring: how in the world would you think that Blueseed will be on anything BUT best behavior when everybody on board is online pretty much 24/7, and the entire ship will be in the brightest press spotlight?
Submission + - Blueseed startup ship of dreams has hundreds knocking at its door (blueseed.co)
dandv writes: "From VentureBeat, http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/06/blueseed-startup-ship/, The Register, Huffington Post, Globe and Mail and others today:
Blueseed is a Silicon Valley company that plans on launching a cruise ship 30 minutes from the coast of California, housing startup entrepreneurs from around the world. These startuppers won't need to bother with US visas, because the ship will be in international waters. They'll have to pay tax to whatever country they're incorporated in, though. So far, 146 startups said they'd like to come to the ship — http://bit.ly/BlueseedStartupSurvey1"
Blueseed is a Silicon Valley company that plans on launching a cruise ship 30 minutes from the coast of California, housing startup entrepreneurs from around the world. These startuppers won't need to bother with US visas, because the ship will be in international waters. They'll have to pay tax to whatever country they're incorporated in, though. So far, 146 startups said they'd like to come to the ship — http://bit.ly/BlueseedStartupSurvey1"
Submission + - Scientists "Switch off" Brain Cell Death in Mice (scienceworldreport.com)
fishmike writes: "Scientists have figured out how to stop brain cell death in mice with brain disease and say their discovery deepens understanding of the mechanisms of human neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
British researchers writing in the journal Nature said they had found a major pathway leading to brain cell death in mice with prion disease, the mouse equivalent of Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease (CJD)."
British researchers writing in the journal Nature said they had found a major pathway leading to brain cell death in mice with prion disease, the mouse equivalent of Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease (CJD)."
Submission + - Quantum entanglement of diamonds (nature.com)
ananyo writes: A pair of diamond crystals has been linked by quantum entanglement — one of the first times that objects visible to the naked eye have been placed in a connected quantum state.
