Get as far as you can on $5 of gas and drive to friends and family's houses running msconfig and cleaning up crapware to make their computer run faster. Easily $20 - $40 a pop. Protip: reinvest a little profit into more gas, make even more money!
Obviously you should talk to a lawyer; most immigration lawyers will give you a free hour of consultation to ask the general questions.
That said, there are any number of valid ways. If they're not taking a salary from the startup, for now they can enter on a basic business visa (B2 I believe) while they "explore opportunities", but they cannot make any money from a US source. If they are making money, you may be able to get them a basic employment visa. You might also be able to set up a Canadian corporation and they can be a transfer from one entity to the other. If they have enough money they can get an investor visa (E2 I think, takes anywhere from $500k - $1M)... Like I said, there are a huge number of different options, only a lawyer can advise you on which one is best/easiest/most appropriate.
Your Pricing and Signup link is deceiving. You should separate the pricing since that what I expect to see when I click on that link.
Other than that, I think the idea is straight forward and decently presented. I would like you to highlight on that front page what makes you different (read: exceptional) than other providers.
Having a features page which explains that in a little more detail might be beneficial. Same with have a feature 'grid' that compares your service to others.
I have signed up and am testing it out, so far it looks very easy to use. I do like the visualization with Google Maps to get various response times. Very impressive.
Will definitely add a features list then, I was thinking I was already overloading the user a bit on the homepage but having a separate link to a detailed features section means those that want more information can get it.
I would second this. Some of the features look really intriguing -- like the uptime graphs and the global visualization -- but I want more info -- like how often my site is pinged and from how many different locations.
Certainly more the former, but I think that the latter will come as a natural result. I would love to learn both the algorithm details/design as you mentioned and at the same time, some of the attacks available on them (my assumption here is of course that there are a set number of attacks that people would try on a new algorithm; it's entirely possible that is not the case :) ).
Well, I don't know if it's that clear. Knowing the math behind differential analysis or the reasons behind the values of AES s-boxes won't make you any better at assessing the standing of a web service or a daemon.
If it's not too technical, try finding some articles in phrack(.org) magazine. They usually outline the details of attacks and will let you see what vulnerabilities attackers take advantage of. If you want to stay technical, I'd look for exploits online and try to understand how they work. If you start at the defensive end, it might not be exactly clear why some counter-measures are in place and might be more dry than playing with something you can actually break.
Get a very old Linux install, disable ASLR, PaX, W^R and anything that might stand in your way and create write your first buffer overflow attack. Then try a a heap exploit. Then move on to more interesting things. Try to follow security conferences and the papers presented there. Attend security-related meet ups in your area. Idle in irc channels, etc.
This was my initial thought as well, but I just can't see myself saying "Hmm.. no camera in the iPod, guess I'll have to get the iPhone instead and just not use the phone part of it." I doubt the camera functionality would ever be enough to push people into the cost of a new phone (contracts, initial outlay, etc.).
I'm not saying I agree with the logic or that it makes sense in the real world... I'm sure there is a lot of RDF in Cupertino. Not necessarily from Steve Jobs, but just from being too much of a mono-culture.
I don't know if it's still the case, but IIRC the iPod Touch didn't have Bluetooth support while the iPhone did. I can hardly think that Bluetooth support would be enough to push someone to the iPhone from the iPod Touch...
Even back in the day, I remember things like Apple limiting the capabilities of the video card in the iBook so that it would only support mirroring through the external VGA adapter, even though the video card supported adding an extra monitor as a separate display. (This was demonstrated when someone hacked around the limiation in the OpenFirmware or driver, can't remember)
Apple does this stuff all the time in order to draw distinct lines in the sand between where one product's features end and the other's begins. It's most apparent between the iBook/MacBook and PowerBook/MacBookPro lines dating back to the PPC days. There were many features they were excluded from the 'consumer' model (iBook/MacBook) that were present in the 'professional' model (PowerBook/MacBook Pro) that were not enough for a lot of people to pay the extra $700+ for the upgrade.
I've never thought that it made too much sense in a lot of cases, but it's an ingrained philosophy in Apple's marketing/product design dating back years. I would hardly expect them to end it now.
Dropping a feature like Bluetooth from iPod Touch totally makes sense. It has nothing to do with segmentation.
In case of hardware or software that requires per device licensing, it's about cost. Let's say that BT chipset costs $3 per device. They sell 30 million iPods, it's 90 million dollars saved on a feature that very few iPod Touch users cared about.
Really? There are a lot of people with Bluetooth headsets now. I'm sure they would love to pair that with their iPod Touch to also be able to listen to music... Don't know what percentage of people that is though.
{edit} I would predict that it's equally possible that there are a lot of users out there that don't care about Bluetooth on their phones either, but that didn't stop Apple from cramming it into the iPhone {/edit}
Ah, Bluetooth was just an example I picked from previous comment. iPod Touch actually has Bluetooth nowadays, it seems.
My point was that device manufacturers drop features from cheaper models because of costs. "This won't make a difference how many units we sell, drop it and we save $50 million!". Nokia does this all the time with their phones. From outside, it can appear as an artificial segmentation, but it rarely is.
I like sites that mix liquid width style and fixed width (centered) content. I vary my site's width with how much content there will be and try to balance the whitespace out with the amount of text/content, usually between 800 and 950 pixels wide.
As for landing page, I think it should highlight whatever is the most important part of your site. The first thing I should notice is what you do and if I'm interested, have a well defined navigation so I can learn more.
On a truly personal note, I love big footers from both a design and usability point of view :)
This is a little misleading... most launches that are "stealth" really aren't, because they're just trying to build hype or make sure their servers don't get overwhelmed because people already know about it.
What this is describing is the majority of product launches, where you put it out there and no one comes. You're not really being stealth about it, it's more like the Unknown Launch.
Set up a website to chronicle your journey posting photos, interviews (even summaries), etc. and put a donate button on it. I wwould donate once I see you're doing it and committed.
+1 on kickstarter - and if you're in NY, I'll give you my couch, the idea is very compelling and if you're passionate about it, you can make it happen.
Worst case, you lose the $1500 and end up looking for a job. Not so bad, is it?
i agree, there are a lot of people out there who have money and are willing to "invest"/donate in people with passion. create a blog, show your passiong and SHARE your passion and you will find a way to earn money.
