+1 for the hack, but the other solution was to tell your lacky, ...err...I mean personal assistant, to push a button on Mark's phone at the same time as Mark rang the bell. We live in a age where we can execute all amazing technical solutions to non-problems. Now was that truly epic? Waiting for the pop to see...
IMO the beauty of a hack comes from two places:<p>1) Doing something that can't be done by hand, OR
2) Replacing repetitive manual work, this saving time in the long run<p>IMO there's nothing "cool" about a hack that will only be used once and could be replaced by Mark (or anyone standing nearby) pre-typing the message and then posting the status to Facebook seconds after he pushes the Nasdaq button.<p>You could also argue that it might have been an opportunity for the engineers to learn something, but IMO you could think of more worthwhile hacks to learn from.
A question for some one who knows trading laws:<p>Would it be legal for facebook to spam everyone's time line with ads that essentially say: "Get an e-trade account today and buy a piece of facebook! For the first time ever you can own part of facebook! Click here"<p>I am not saying this would be a good thing (a bunch of uniformed investors speculating and boosting the price), however I am curious would it be legal?
I don't understand why most comments here are so jaded. This is just a fun simple hack pulled off by a creative engineer, nobody claims that it was groundbreaking or even necessary. Personally, I think it's good that they have a culture that encourages things like that.
I would have found the reverse creative as well--something similar to the release of portal 2. Have some actions on facebook by many people lower a robotic arm to press the button.
The real story for me is that, when you go public, NASDAQ brings some kind of button to your offices? Or there's a button at their offices?<p>Why? Just ceremony, like a ribbon-cutting?
"A couple of hours later, we had built our hack. The finished product wasn’t exactly the prettiest thing, but hacks aren’t supposed to be. They’re just supposed to work."<p>I can't say I agree 100%. Sometimes when you have time left over at the end of the hack, it doesn't hurt to go back and clean it up.
Am I the only one with massively messed up layouts on Facebook today? What's going on?<p><a href="http://cl.ly/0N3L34461V1z130f2W1e" rel="nofollow">http://cl.ly/0N3L34461V1z130f2W1e</a>
Oh wow, Facebook is so cool! These are real hackers. A button that posts to your Facebook timeline? I thought this technology was at least a decade out.