December 2011
Strong Opinions @marksbirch: Seriously Bold Tech... →
marksbirch:
About this time of year, folks put together lots of lists about the past year as well as the outlook on the future. While these are nice, thoughtful, and insightful posts, I think people are being way too timid. This is the time to aim high and hit it out of the ballpark.
So without further…
Eric Bidelman: Introducing filer.js →
ericbidelman:
Some 1300+ lines of code, 106 tests, and a year after I first started it, I’m happy to officially unleash filer.js (https://github.com/ebidel/filer.js); a wrapper library for the HTML5 Filesystem API. Unlike other libraries [1, 2], filer.js takes a different approach and incorporates…
blog.izs.me: Browser : Operating System →
izs:
Fairly early in my career as a programmer, I switched from the C and C++ path over to front-end web development. It was fun, in-demand, and provided a way to scratch my artistic and programming itches at the same time. I spent a lot of that time wrestling with web browsers. These days, I write…
How this works...
programmer 1: Hey, it turns out you don't need semicolons in JavaScript, and my previous reasons for putting them there are not actually true. Neat.
programmer 2: Yeah, but it'll break.
p1: But... that's just it, it *doesn't* break. It's actually ok for me to do this.
p2: No it isn't.
p1: Why not?
p2: Browser bugs.
p1: Which browsers?
p2: All of them.
p1: Well, it works fine on all the engines I've tested---
p2: IE.
p1: Works fine there, too. Even in IE 5.
p2: Compression. Compressors can't handle it. Need the semicolons. All of them.
p1: All the compressors in use today handle it fine. In fact, the code compresses a little *better* in most of them.
p2: Well, whatever, that's not how it's done.
p1: Ok, well, there are other reasons to do things besides a convention. I mean, you're wearing an unconventional hat, and that's cool.
p2: So, now you have a problem with my coding style AND my hat?? FUCK YOU.
p1: You can code however you want, and I love your hat, I was ju---
p2: No. NO. Fuck you. Seriously. You crossed a line, dude. Too far.
p1: [puzzled] I don't get why this an issue, I mean, if you see the spec, it says---
p2: You just can't let this go, can you? Why don't you lighten up?
p1: Let what go, exactly? And I don't really think that I'm the one who needs to lighten anything.
p2: Oh, so now you come in with the personal attacks. I get it. We're all not smart enough to understand your precious spec, so you have to attack people? HAVE YOU NO DECENCY, SIR? AT LONG LAST, HAVE YOU NO DECENCY?
p1: I think maybe hacker news isn't for me...
MongoDB Durability: A Tradeoff to Be Aware Of →
nosql:
The MongoDB team post about MongoDB’s durability made some waves last week. While I’d still recommend reading the original post, I’m including below a summary of the most important points from the post:
First, there are many scenarios in which that server loses all its data no matter what.
[…]
In the real world, traditional durability often isn’t even done correctly.
...
Janky: Jenkins + Hubot = GitHub flavored CI →
thechangelog:
GitHub continues to share their homegrown development toolbox with the world. The latest is Janky, a specialized continuous integration server powered by Jenkins and Hubot. No longer is Hubot good just for entertainment or demystifying esoteric 80s TV show references in the team chatroom. With Janky, Hubot is a remote control for your build box:
hubot ci build...
Strong Opinions @marksbirch: Public Markets Vs.... →
fred-wilson:
““I’m spending the rest of the day on our product. I believe that that’s what serves investors the best, and I believe that that’s the way it will be rewarded by the market in the long term the best.”
Mark Pincus
After Zynga IPO, Pincus Aims to Keep ‘Startup Feeling’ -…
“Computers don’t care about API design. Convenient serialization formats, sane...”
– APIs are for human beings (too) - Twilio Engineering BlogTwilio Engineering Blog (via devexp)
API Half-lives
Some other things I've found myself thinking about in particular cases wrt to this question about API half-lives:
How active is their API discussion forum?
How responsive are they to API bugs/issues?
How core is the API to their business?
How long have they been around already?
What is their runway?
Do they seem like they're passionate about what they're doing?
Are they likely acqui-hire targets?
“to steal from someone and not feel bad, you either have to be a sociopath or...”
– power to the people, especially the artists
Hi I’m Louis C.K. and this is a thing : IAmA
Louis CK is doing an AMA on Reddit. This is part of his response to a question about his Beacon Theater special, available for download DRM free at louisck.net
(via jericsinger)
GPU-Accelerated Databases →
nosql:
Wolfgang Gruener reporting on a new patent filed by IBM:
Instead of traditional disk-based queries and an approach that slows performance via memory latencies and processors waiting for data to be fetched from the memory, IBM envisions in-GPU-memory tables as technology that could, in addition to disk tables, significantly accelerate database processing. According to a patent filed by...
Andy Swan: 7 rules for pitching to investors that... →
falicon:
andyswan:
So you want an investor in your business. Here are some rules that I, as both an angel investor and entrepreneur have found valuable:
Don’t pitch to strangers: People very rarely invest in an idea. They invest in people with ideas. If you don’t know anyone, get started now. Investors are more…
love it all.
Watchsparrowmail:
Sparrow 1.5 is here. It brings 3 of the most requested & awaited features!
First. Dropbox.
Drag, drop, send (and sync). Sending a mail with attachement has never been simpler. And without even noticing it, you are syncing your files in the cloud making sure you never lose them.
Second. Block remote images. Keep control of the images displayed in your mail: once or...
Microsoft As The Firefox Savior? →
parislemon:
Marco Arment brings up the most fascinating aspect related to Ed Bott’s report that Google may not be renewing the search deal that essentially keeps Firefox (and really, Mozilla) alive:
What if Bing steps in to fill Google’s shoes?
That would basically mean Microsoft would be funding the demise of their own product, Internet Explorer.
But because Firefox has a huge user base,...
Facebook Buys Gowalla →
parislemon:
How does Facebook keep pace in mobile with the built-for-mobile and insanely well-designed Path? Here’s one piece.
Assuming this deal is finalized — great scoop by Laurie Segall — I’m really happy for the Gowalla team. They were putting an emphasis on design and attention to detail in the mobile space well before it was the cool thing to do. And they stayed true to their roots and...
