geoff-codes

We (a school teacher and an unemployed hacker) have an idea we think could massively empower educators. We had plans to apply for Imagine K12's fall cadre. All we were waiting for was the IK12 application to open.

But an IK12 application didn't open. Instead, IK12 folded into Y Combinator.

We had weighed the pros and cons of applying to YC (under the education RFS) vs IK12. We had concluded that the latter would better suit our needs/circumstances.

So we're scrambling a bit. Now, instead of being first out the gate, we're applying in the middle of an application cycle. We won't know anything about our status until mid-April (as opposed to three weeks, rolling basis). And we'll need to relocate to the Bay Area three months earlier. Etc.

I'm NOT complaining. Really. Adapt or die.

Plus, I love the idea of being amongst the YC set. But there's a lot I would have done differently if I had known I'd be applying to YC rather than IK12. I'd have spent more time on a prototype. I'd have applied earlier. I'd have been more active on HN the last few months.

With IK12's process, my roommate/co-founder could take a sabbatical (where he could go back to his teaching job, if needed); now, he's going to have to burn some bridges if we get accepted. Etc.

These are sacrifices we're willing to make. I know this surely sounds as though I'm just whining about how "the rules have changed". But what I'm more concerned about is if we'll get as fair a hearing as we would have with "the old" IK12.

At the end of the day, if our idea is good enough, it shouldn't really matter. But I can't help but wonder if we (not just myself, but the edtech set as whole, who would have applied to IK12) is going to be somewhat disadvataged, at least for this application cycle. I guess we'll find out.

This may not be "news", but Apple's GSX (Global Service Exchange) site has been compromised for some time. This is the site is where/how Apple and Apple Service Providers order, receive, and are paid for in-warranty parts for computers covered under AppleCare. I haven't seen this posted much of anywhere, although there's a thread about it at JAMF (https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com/discussion.html?id=13767).

I know this for a fact because I have had my own Apple ID compromised, but apparently only the one with which I had access to GSX. I no longer have the same access, but I receive these emails only at the email/Apple ID with which I once had access to GSX, not any other emails associated with other Apple IDs. The emails are about as stupid as other phishing gambits, but that fact that someone has been able to access Apple's database of Service Providers is indeed disturbing, or at least annoying.

1. Because it contains the phrase: "Graham has stated he hopes to avoid the Eternal September that results in the general decline of intelligent discourse within a community". Except that I cannot find a single actual primary source anywhere in which Paul Graham is quoted using the term "Eternal September".

Having never heard this it ever myself, I found this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September to read about the same way, say, the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England does. [ Although, if you're a little bored, you should really take a look at that code ESR has up for 'sdate'. ;) ]

2. This penultimate line: - See also: gamification

Spin up an instance of one of the GitHub Enterprise AMIs — they're public, easy to find.

SSH in, then use my little script here: http://git.io/XKINlw

...which de-obfusacates everything in /data, the code that powers GitHub.com and GitHub Enterprise.

(You can then make a tarball and copy it locally, and terminate the instance.)

I sent this to the GitHub security team a week ago. The response I got was basically "yeah we know, its whateva".