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de_dave

710 karma · joined March 28, 2012

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de_dave··on Solved by Flexbox
For a start, flexbox doesn't require JS.
de_dave··on Why I’m breaking up with Google Chrome
I'm an accidental convert. Since upgrading to Fedora 22, I've found myself using Firefox almost exclusively for both normal browsing and webdev. Previously I was 100% Chrome, and I've somehow transitioned without really thinking about it nor meaning to!

(IMHO Chrome's developer/debugging tools are more pleasant to use, but Firefox is getting there...)

de_dave··on Weird thing happening when touching a Nexus 5 and a MacBook
The Nexus 5 has a magnetic sensor to detect when the case cover is closed shut. I suspect this is being triggered by a speaker or some other magnetic element of the MacBook.
de_dave··on Ask HN: What are you doing to improve your health?
I'd add to this list:

* Avoid all foods with artificially added or high sugar content.

de_dave··on Instant Cloud – SSD Bare Metal Servers
Seems like a really smart way to use spare capacity to market your services. Especially so when your services aren't quite the norm (i.e. ARM rather than x86)
de_dave··on Ask HN: Why USB drives are still using the FAT32 format?
LWN suggests storage manufacturers have been optimising for FAT32, so even if other file systems were more widely supported, they typically won't be as fast: https://lwn.net/Articles/428584/
de_dave··on Lenovo Statement on Superfish
The Dell XPS 13 is superb, been running Linux on it since day one. Fantastic, solid little machine.
de_dave··on Controllers and Views in Go
Having done a lot of Python web services (and other things) in the past, I much prefer Go. It may be a bit more verbose, but it's fast, the tooling is solid and overall I find it more productive. Everyone's mileage varies!
de_dave··on Configura – Store all your Go configuration in environment variables
Fair enough! Good job :)
de_dave··on Configura – Store all your Go configuration in environment variables
Looks great! I've been using github.com/kelseyhightower/envconfig which seems to do the same task?
de_dave··on Replacing Dropbox with BitTorrent Sync
Would love it if Pulse had the option to encrypt the stored data (currently it only encrypts during transmission), so it could be used on untrusted hosts.
de_dave··on Replacing Dropbox with BitTorrent Sync
On my (already battery-starved) laptop, it would always suck up 100% CPU for a few minutes on a fresh boot, and then occasionally pop up now and again.

On my (PowerPC!) NAS, it was constantly using lots of CPU and RAM, although I have a feeling plenty of that was caused by swapping to disk (NAS only has 128MB). I love the fact that BTSync have the forethought to provide a PowerPC client for people with outmoded NAS's like mine, just disappointed it was still too heavy to work reliably.

de_dave··on Replacing Dropbox with BitTorrent Sync
I'm almost certainly an edge case, I just migrated off BTSync. I was using it to automatically back up my docs/code/photos etc from my laptop to my low-power NAS, but the CPU overhead was just not worth it. (NAS was frequently pegged at 100% CPU dealing solely with BTSync).

Switched to using lsyncd instead, and works a treat!

That said, BTSync was fantastic when it worked, and Syncthing looks incredibly promising, too.

de_dave··on Linux Laptop Recommendations
+1 on the XPS 13 (although I got mine refurbed rather than the dev edition) - aside from a little typical wifi flakiness, it's bloody fantastic and very un-Dell!
de_dave··on Go 1.3 beta 1 released
I've been more than happy with VIm and the vim-golang extension.
de_dave··on Evil.js: A JavaScript library for thwarting hot-linkers
No, it just prevents other scripts linked from the same page from working via sneaky, nefarious means that make it hard to debug.
de_dave··on Clearskies (BitTorrent Sync alternative) fundraiser
SyncThing is another open-source implementation that's worth a look: https://github.com/calmh/syncthing
de_dave··on Liquidfun – 2D physics engine for games

  For applications on Google Play that integrate this tool, 
  usage is tracked. This tracking is done automatically using 
  the embedded version string (b2_liquidFunVersionString),
  and helps us continue to optimize it.
Is this tracking functionality restricted to libraries by Google employees? Seems like it would be useful for all third-party library developers to see how their libraries are being used and can be improved.
de_dave··on Android coming to wearables
Saw a new metal Pebble watch yesterday and was actually shocked to discover it was both smaller and thinner than my own analog watch, which isn't particularly big or chunky.
de_dave··on Radar data suggests missing Malaysia plane flown deliberately toward Andamans
The fact that none of the countries in the region want to disclose the capabilities of their defence systems isn't helping: http://my.news.yahoo.com/distrust-adding-malaysian-jet-confu...
de_dave··on Show HN: I created this site to comment and draw on sites
The "Enter URL" box on the front page has "http://example.com" as the hint, but if you type in "http://example.com" it adds a second "http://" to the front, i.e. "http://http://example.com" and then fails to load (the image is a 404).

You have to be sure to OMIT the http:// part for the site to work.

Also, on Chrome, dragging on the image frequently literally drags the image (rather than drawing). When the drawing does work, it happens about 2 inches to the right of where my cursor is actually placed.

de_dave··on Show HN: I created this site to comment and draw on sites

  Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 (NOT FOUND)
  http://sitecommenter.com/generated_img/79.png
de_dave··on Try Out Decompilation In Your Browser
Quite fun what happens if you feed the decompiled code back into itself a few times: https://gist.github.com/johnsto/8435431
de_dave··on Best Linux Laptops (2013)
I've got the XPS 13 standard edition (max-specced refurb was half-price of the dev edition!) and it's been nearly smooth sailing.

One difference between the dev and std editions is the wifi chipset - 6235 in std, 6230 in dev (and some reports of the AR9462 in others). The wifi was practically unusable for me until I manually disabled power-saving on the wifi interface.

Also had a couple of instances where the machine has dropped into a coma (even on full battery). Usually after rebooting or suspending. Quite scary when it happens, since the long-hold power button trick doesn't always revive it. It usually comes back to life later but I wish I knew what was causing this.

Also have to run the battery all the way down to 0% (the point at which the HW forces a shutdown) and charge back up to 100% every couple of months else the calibration goes wonky.

Lovely machine though.

de_dave··on Dropbox is down
No it isn't.
de_dave··on Comparison of File Transfer Application Speed
A comparison against BTSync would be nice.
de_dave··on Should Apple Buy Tesla?
I think Betteridge's law of headlines applies here...
de_dave··on Is it worth buying a MacBook Air?
I got mine my top spec XPS 13 for around £700 (refurb'd by Dell). Nearest MBA was over £1,100, and it had lesser specs.

Both the Dell and Apple refurb stores should be your first port of call.

de_dave··on FlowType: font-size and line-height based on element width
Seems like a reasonable solution until vmin/vmax/vh/vw are more widely supported.
de_dave··on Google Maps Easter Egg: Inside the Tardis
There is no double arrow for me :/
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