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intranation

727 karma · joined March 22, 2009

Web developer, accessibility nit-picker, and Python coder.

Web development director at smarkets.com, a peer-to-peer betting exchange start up based in London, UK.

Can be found at: http://intranation.com/ , or brad@intranation.com .

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intranation··on Comparing Python frameworks: A simple webapp in Flask, web.py, bottle, juno ...
This is hardly an apples to apples comparison. Pyramid (ex-Pylons) and Django are "full-stack" frameworks with everything incuding the kitchen sink. App Engine only runs on App Engine, so probably isn't that relevant anyway. The others are (by their own descriptions) micro-frameworks, suitable for smaller applications with 10 URLs or so.

It's possible to use both in a project, for example we at Smarkets use Django for the main site (as we have tonnes of URLs and complexity), and use Flask for a RESTful API to our search engine. I wouldn't dream of swapping or comparing them: they both do their own job very well.

intranation··on Skype for Mac 5.0 beta released
It looks like the iTunes of video communication. And I really don't want that.
intranation··on Confirmed: Google Me coming this Fall
Yahoo! has many successful products. The Yahoo! homepage, Mail, the category leading Answers, News, Sport, and Finance. Those are some of the biggest sites on earth, it seems a bit silly to pretend that Yahoo! doesn't have successful products just because you don't use them.
intranation··on Google Apps (nearly) first class citizen now
That doesn't work on mobile Gmail or Gmail via IMAP (like on iPhone Mail, for example). So it's a non-starter for me.
intranation··on Why Django Sucks, and How we Can Fix it [slides]
I pretty much agree with all of the points raised here about Django, and I've been using it professionally for almost 3 years. The core development team is incredibly hostile to improvements that don't fit some fluffy definition of where they see Django going, to the point where some of the best coders I know are incredibly discouraged from contributing patches or improvements, and just release their stuff on GitHub instead. That's the wrong way for an open source project to be, in my opinion.
intranation··on How to set up your own private Git server on Linux
Fair point, I'll update my instructions with a warning, and a version of your commands that works for OS X as well (OS X lacks ssh-copy-id). The instructions are intended for new server builds (hence installing Git etc.).
intranation··on How to set up your own private Git server on Linux
As the author, I can respond to this:

Given the decentralised nature of Git, having continuous backups becomes less important unless all my computers (including the server) fail at once.

But yes, backups are important, and they are done.

intranation··on Arcade Fire meets HTML5
I had a lot of trouble seeing past the Hi-Res (studio behind Requiem for a Dream, among others) style pop up-driven website with cheap interactive plays at emotion. Surely this is just an old-school DHTML site built using new tricks? I thought we were past this kind of website.
intranation··on Things I've Learned from Traveling Around the World for Three Years
Just because people use electricity and have running water doesn't mean they are abandoning their culture to embrace western values.

Is anyone actually surprised by this? That's some serious western arrogance.

intranation··on Google Kills Wave
And what was the market, exactly?

Seems to me that not a single person I knew actually wanted to use it, or thought it filled a niche they needed filling.

intranation··on Want to test out using GApps accounts as full Google accounts? Sign-up here.
Worth pointing out that this isn't actually a phishing form; it's linked off:

http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/05/more-google-app...

intranation··on Times of London website visits fall by two-thirds
As a UK resident I think the Times missed a trick in their pricing model. Rampant speculation follows: I expect a decent chunk of their visitors are people who receive links via some other Internet medium (social networks, blogs etc.) and who click through to read it. These people are now instantly turned off. If The Times had a decent micropayments model in place (say £1 for 10 articles) this might be a lot more attractive. Unfortunately I don't think Murdoch cares about casual readers.
intranation··on Ask HN: What's the best feature you've built that no one uses?
At the risk of being contrary to the spirit of the thread: if no one uses it it's probably not a very good feature.
intranation··on SVG graphs on timetric.com
The work they've done combining Raphael's SVG and Flot's plotting is ace. Will be using!
intranation··on Google Apps vs. Google Accounts Parity Coming
Might be worth linking to Google rather than this website: http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&#...
intranation··on HN London meetup tonight (New Venue)
Excellent pub, good choice. Won't be able to make it though.
intranation··on HN London Meetup
Dodgy how? There's always loads of people there every night of the week: it's very safe.
intranation··on [dead]
Gmail does that too—it doesn't respect the Thread-ID header (Mail.app does).
intranation··on Ask HN: Who's hiring in Europe?
Smarkets, a betting exchange startup based in London's hot White Bear Yard incubator, is hiring:

http://smarkets.com/about/jobs/

strong front-end and Python skills a must; a willingness to hack on Erlang, RabbitMQ, and Couch a bonus. Extra points for push Javascript (Websockets, Comet) experience.

intranation··on Live odds on the UK election
The title says "odds"—what did you expect?
intranation··on Live UK Election Prices API from Smarkets
These APIs are just the beginning. We have plans to make our Erlang-based REST backend mostly public, so eventually people will be able to write bots and all kinds of other applications on top of our data.
intranation··on Ask HN: Aussies, put your hands up
Hello, London (originally Sydney) here.
intranation··on Unfiltered twitter streams are bad, mkay
Some images relating to this:

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/2035/picture4pe.png http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4035/4453821027_92d4fb8a93.jp...

intranation··on IE9 to support SVG and some CSS3
I think Chrome will eat more IE market share than Firefox and Safari in the following years, mostly because Google's massive advertisement capacity.

More likely because Google is big and ubiquitous, and people trust them. "Oh look, Google does one of those browser things, and they tell me it's fast. I wonder what happens if I download it..."

intranation··on The Most Expensive Cities in the World
Anecdotally this seems true to me—when moving to London 4 years ago I was taken aback by the cost, but recent visits to my hometown of Sydney has also surprised me at how much it's "caught up" with London.

Bit surprised Moscow is lower than London—it cost the earth when I was there a couple of years ago.

intranation··on Homebrew — MacPorts driving you to drink? Try Homebrew
There's been lots of in-depth discussion about the pros and cons of MacPorts or Homebrew on HN already:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=871341

intranation··on Japan: It's Not Funny Anymore
Culture shock to me, as someone who has visited 20-ish countries and lived in 2, is more that "things are almost normal and like what you're used to, but just not enough to be comfortable", and as a result you end up perpetually on edge and perpetually adjusting just outside your comfort zone. It's jarring and difficult, a little like the room in Orwell's 1984 where the corners aren't quite straight, and things are just out of focus.

I didn't get culture shock in Tokyo, because it's just so different to everywhere else I'd been that I completely stopped the usual comparisons and just gave up.

intranation··on GoDaddy store your passwords in clear and may access your VPS without permission
Citation...?
intranation··on Smarkets, a London-based betting exchange startup, goes public
Disclaimer: I work for Smarkets, but I thought something from the London scene would be of interest to HN.
intranation··on Adobe's John Nack: Adobe is "sabotaging" HTML5?
According to:

http://www.osnews.com/story/22874/Teacup_Meet_Storm_pt_IV_Ad...

there's no sabotage, it's just how things normally "work" (for some value of work).

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