Hacker News Reader

eragnewon Chrome Experiments: “3d city”

I love seeing stuff like this. But what really excites me is when these types of 3D models start to represent real cities. Like the ViziCities project[0]. Maybe the idea of Mirror Worlds [1] will eventually become reality.

[0] https://github.com/robhawkes/vizicities

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Mirror-Worlds-Software-Universe-Shoebo...

eragnewon PyCon US 2014 – Videos

FYI, headline has a typo. 2014 PyCon Videos.

eragnewon Ethereum: the Yellow Paper [pdf]

I understand your sentiment, but I'd warn against judging the project based on one blog post by Ethereum's communications guy. There seems to be some serious crypto/engineering heft behind the project:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=428589.0

Note: I'm not involved with the project. Simply watching it with interest at this point.

eragnewon Ethereum

Because presentation of the idea matters.

eragnewon Poll HN: Do you ever code while stoned?

After 10 hours:

708 responses, 269 "Yes" (38.6%), 433 "No" (62.2%), 33 "Other"

I'm surprises SurveyMonkey doesn't show the results. Won't be using them again. Thanks everyone for participating in this informal poll.

eragnewon Firefox OS doesn’t stand a chance

Firefox OS is a nice idea, but it’s predicated on open standards: Anyone can take Firefox OS’s additions to HTML5 and produce their own implementation. If developers get on board — at least one Mozilla bigwig has stated that they “want to attract hundreds of thousands of developers” — and lots of open web apps begin to appear, then Google can simply implement the same specification in Chrome, Microsoft can implement it in IE10, and Apple can implement it in Safari. Even if you’re worried about the commercial interests of Apple or Google — or if you’re a carrier trying to extricate yourself — there’s nothing stopping you from installing the Android Open Source Project on your phone.

I think this is where the author contradicts his own argument. Do you know how many small businesses can be created on an open platform such as Firefox OS? It let's individuals and small development teams compete directly against Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc. It truly levels the playing field, in my view. Or at least, that's what I hope Firefox OS will be capable of.

As a developer and designer, I (for one) can't wait to try out Firefox OS. If it works well, I'll start using it more. And by all indications I've seen, it will probably work pretty well :)

eragnewon How to work with Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) in HTML 5

Wow, these are some great examples to work with. Thanks for this :)

eragnewon We (unexpectedly) got 60K users in 60 hours - What we learned

Thanks for sharing the lessons

eragnewon I bet you over-engineered your startup

publically traded != startup (in my opinion)

eragnewon I bet you over-engineered your startup

> over-optimized

That does seem like a better term for it. Or at least an equal term for it :)

eragnewon I bet you over-engineered your startup

'Over-engineering' is a term I'm starting to pay a lot more attention to :)

eragnewon I bet you over-engineered your startup

Exactly what I needed to read this morning. Thank you.

eragnewon Levels of aspiration

This diagram is kinda like a roadmap for how to succeed, IMO:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/37assets/svn/952-technical-hierarchy...

(that links comes directly from the article in question)

Good stuff!

eragnewon Vigilantes Have Renamed "The new iPad"

Why is it a mistake? I would be pretty happy if I owned the 'iPad' brand. Seems more valuable than 'the new iPad', IMO.

To me, it seems like Apple is simply resetting expectations.

eragnewon Investing in GitHub

Congrats GH! Sounds like a good match. Excited to see how it plays out.

eragnewon Trello is now half million strong

congrats! i've been meaning to try this out

eragnewon Light Table Playground Levels Up

> coffeehouse-MBA

IMO, you have to consider the audience. Chris probably hasn't had time to build any kind of glossary for 'marketing-slang'. He's probably spent most of his time building the functionality that the new version of LT is displaying today.

The line you highlighted can make plenty of sense if you take the time to think about what each word means. There is no instant gratification for understanding.

What do I mean by that? Google 'REPL' and take the time to learn what that concept means. Do some research and play around with leiningen. I'm really not trying to be rude, but do you know what type of developers LT is aimed at right now? hint: clojure

HTH.

eragnewon A Northwest Pipeline to Silicon Valley

Glad that Seattle is getting noticed. Wish more Seattle people would stay in Seattle rather than think they need to relocate to SV. Just my opinion.

eragnewon The Drone Zone

In my view, the importance of this article is this question: 'Who watches the watchers?'

What does that mean exactly? Well, it seems to me that there are some people (authorities) in the US who would like to use drones for domestic policing and surveillance. While that may not be a bad thing in and of itself, it could be abused by someone who has a desire to abuse others.

So my takeaway is that transparency into domestic drone programs is a good thing. And I, for one, will not trust any domestic agency that wants to use drones without being truly transparent about what they want to use drones for.

eragnewon Cause & Effect

If there is another Stephenson book you have been thinking about reading, I would recommend diving in. I haven't read all of them, but I've read many, and have yet to be disappointed. Also check out Daniel Suarez if not familiar with him already. HTH.

eragnewon Ask HN: How to get feedback?

my take: a nice demo/tutorial would be nice. i went to http://lax.kpasa.co/ and didn't know what i was supposed to do. how do i use it?

+1 if you can demonstrate within the demo why your service would add value to me as a user. sell the service to me. tell me what i can get if i use this service.

eragnewon Ask HN: How do I improve my programming/engineering skills

imo, keep asking questions. direct, honest questions can be scary, but they can be remarkably effective.

also, start learning python and don't stop until you can actually build something you like. experiment.

eragnewon Ask HN: What are 3 things you would want from a non-technical co-founder?

IMHO:

A -> Always be learning. Always.

B -> Books. Books are good. O'Reilly is great. Other books can be great too.

C -> Competence -> Comprehension -> Confidence

(ok, i'm cheating. this is four things)

4 -> in my opinion, competence is simply a process where you keep trying new things over time. you keep learning as you go. always.

eragnewon Show HN: fontBomb - Stylishly destroy the web

nice, thanks. will check it out.

eragnewon Warby Parker (or, Finding Broken Systems That Are Full of Money)

Agreed. It is well-designed.

eragnewon Lessons Netflix Learned from the AWS Storm

Dear Netflix, thank you for being transparent and honest about what happened.

eragnewon Armchair scientists

It seems a little ludicrous that we're bashing the year of the Wounded Knee Massacre solely on its perceived surplus of haughty bystanders.

What?

eragnewon Armchair scientists

I literally could not agree more with the sentiment expressed in this article. Good stuff.

eragnewon Show HN: fontBomb - Stylishly destroy the web

Didn't watch the movie, but I think the functionality is awesome :)

Would love to see a gallery of what people have come up with.

Is it possible to see source code?

eragnewon Argentina bans dollar purchases for savings

I'm not trying to be argumentative here, but in my view, the article isn't just 'political'. With currency and money involved, there is an 'economic' angle that I, personally, want to learn about. And with a government being involved, there are moral/philosophical issues that I, personally, want to learn about. So for me, this article gratifies my intellectual curiosity.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the link may seem off-topic to you, but it's highly relevant to me. And there's nothing wrong with any of that. And of course, just because an article shows up here doesn't mean you have to read it :)