

Ask HN: Critique my Mark Cuban submission - hotpockets
http://www.scribd.com/doc/12055537/Cuban

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hotpockets
Oh, I have some feedback for scribd. In case anyone there happens to read
this. I loved the signup and upload interface.

However, it took me close to an hour (at 4 in the morning) to figure out how
to get a pdf file that was readable in scribd. My pdf looked great on my
computer, but 90% illegible in scribd. I finally figured out I had to tell my
pdf program to embed the fonts in the file. I was using a latex program to
create the pdfs (LyX).

Sorry to say I now have a fairly negative view of scribd. I suspect anyone
else going through this would also. After all, scribd is all about pdfs right?
Why can't it recognize when this happens and provide help? Why can't it
display pdfs that look fine on my computer?

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cperciva
Given the marijuana-detection side of thermal imaging, I have trouble
imagining that you could pull this off without spending a decade in court
defending yourself against invasion-of-privacy lawsuits.

~~~
hotpockets
The DEA already does this from helicopters as far as I know. I don't think
there's any privacy issues with that.

On the one hand, I don't really care if people grow marijuana, so I'm not sure
I'd want to sell that data anyways. On the other hand it might save the gov
money.

~~~
cperciva
I don't know about the DEA, but I know police have been told that they can't
use thermal imaging without a warrant because it constitutes a "search".

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astrec
Interesting idea.

You really need to show Cuban his exit.

Also, you can't account for expenses without knowing the cost of GPS-imaging
technology - do some research and get a ball park figure.

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hotpockets
I submitted an idea to the Cuban idea request. Be interesting to get feedback
on it. Thanks for any.

~~~
cperciva
Do you have a non-scribded version, for those of us who don't use flash?

~~~
hotpockets
<http://drop.io/cubester>

I think that should work. Doesn't scribd have a download pdf option?

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sounddust
It's 3 pages of text, really less than that since it's a numbered list.
Couldn't you just post the text directly in HN, or a link to an ASCII text
file hosted on a website? All this downloading/flash is ridiculous.

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jacquesm
that flash crashed my browser. Arguably that's a firefox or an Adobe problem,
but just in case you have critical data in some other browser window save /
submit it first.

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gojomo
I suggest trying to talk to potential customers and possibly making your first
sales for even less than the full $12K in proposed startup costs.

For example: rent the camera for 1 day. Take the photos on foot, on a couple
of residential blocks and a couple of commercial blocks. Approach occupants
door-to-door, or via a low-res mailer with followup call/knock. Ask for a
higher price -- but be flexible, you're trying to learn the right price.

If response is positive, there are lots of ways you could fund expansion
beyond just Mr. Cuban -- including grants and investments from 'social' or
'green' enterprise groups.

~~~
hotpockets
I'd only do this if I got Cuban backing. I have other ideas I wasn't willing
to post online.

