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kjell

118 karma · joined June 21, 2007

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kjell··on OpenSkyscraper – an open-source clone (in progress) of SimTower
Yoot Tower was ported to the iPad:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yoot-tower/id379197311?mt=8

kjell··on MapBBCode Share: a simple service to share custom maps and convert geodata
Ditto: http://geojson.io/, https://github.com/mapbox/geojson.io.

There's a few npm modules for the command line, so you can do the likes of `geojsonio < some.geojson` or `togeojson my.{kml,gpx,…} | geojsonio`

geojson.io uses gist.github.com as a data store: http://geojson.io/#id=gist:anonymous/92dd314a02c072d658f4&ma...

kjell··on Unlocked phones are the way to go
I've used GV as my only number for a few years now.

> The net effect is that if anyone, ever tried to send a text message to you and several other people at the same time you will not receive it.

I do receive these. I haven't ever heard from anyone "Hey, you didn't come to my <birthday party, other event>!?!?!

I cannot send them. YMMV?

kjell··on Unlocked phones are the way to go
I bought my iPhone (3GS) in France when I lived there. I signed up for a 1 year contract and cancelled it after 10 months, no penalty because I was leaving the country. Bouyges unlocked my phone without any hassle.

When I got home (US) I bought an iPad with AT&T 3G and put that SIM card into the 3GS. I had to install a special profile to make everything work, but that was all it took for a data-only 'phone' plan.

It's a bit klunky. I make calls with an app called Talkatone, and the quality when I'm on 3G gets very bad. It's better at home and work over wifi, but some friends still complain about sound quality and lag.

kjell··on YouTube's replay button not playing cached videos anymore
I can't recommend this python script enough. In addition to youtube, it can download from tons of other online video/audio sites.

http://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/ (`brew install youtube-dl`)

kjell··on AngularFire - A real-time backend for AngularJS from Firebase
I have Leaflet.draw set up to annotate tiled images of objects at a museum.

The annotated regions pass thru angularfire as geojson. Put 3 screens side by side. As soon as someone adds an annotation on one of them it pops up instantly on the others. This was < 20 lines of bad-I'm-new-to-angular code. Firebase is cool.

kjell··on Show HN: Share your location using Longitude.me
With more gif: http://www.meattext.com/
kjell··on Free private Github repos for students and edu people
They also let (501c3) nonprofit organizations in for free at the bronze tier. Thanks!

https://github.com/nonprofit

kjell··on Why aren't we all using Japanese toilets?
About a year ago I installed a bidet in my bathroom. It's the one pictured towards the bottom of this article, and I bought it on amazon. I use it and "cloth toilet paper" for my butt-cleaning. It's great.

The water washes me clean. Often 100% and always most of the way. It took a bit to get the hang of it: to get a good wash I find it helps to clench my butt muscles and wiggle on the seat. After 5-10 seconds, I wipe with the cloth: old t-shirts cut into ~4x8" rectangles. The water does a much better job of cleaning than toilet paper.

When I first had the bidet I used toilet paper after the spray to dry off. It was only slightly less miserable than having a waterlogged ass. I needed twice as much paper to dry myself off as I would have used to wipe.

For a while I hung an old microfiber towel next to the toilet and used that, but "oh, that's just my butt-towel…" is an interesting conversation to have. So I cut up some old shirts. They go into a bucket after use and I wash them regularly. The cloth is what makes it work.

I can only imagine what it would be like to have a blowdryer down there.

kjell··on Rails Rumble Winners - Gem Teardown
https://github.com/stonean/slim#benchmarks

Slim is mentioned in the writeup. It's faster than Haml. I like it better.

kjell··on Show HN: goodbre.ws, a fully open source recommendation engine for beer
See also: http://brewtoad.com/
kjell··on Galaxy Nexus + data plan + VoIP support = free calls
I've been doing this for 2 years. My setup is a 3GS with an iPad data plan from AT&T. ($29.99/unlimited). Talkatone hooks into google voice for incoming and outgoing calls. The app is free and I paid a token amount to make the ads go away.

Compared to apple's Phone and Messages, Talkatone is complete shit. It mostly works, all the while looking horrible and feeling worse. At least 25% of my incoming calls don't connect when I answer them from another app. The audio quality isn't great. (google's voice app is a bit better but it's still an offense to any decent iPhone app. And it only does texts and connects calls to your actual phone number with a callback.)

There are some hacky VOIP/SIP solutions for the iPhone. But having it call through google's servers is killer and offsets the horrendous UI. So thank you talkatone.

kjell··on BankSimple invites first customers; rebrands itself as Simple
I signed up for the waiting list 04/2010. Anyone here that's already in? When was your sign up?
kjell··on Ask HN: Who are hackers who also like sports?
I've played soccer all my life. Everyone talks about flow when coding, but I've never come close to how it feels when I'm in a soccer game.

I've played a bit of softball and kickball and I'm not a huge fan. Likewise most dodgeball. Otherwise it's all great.

I'd like to see an adult renaissance in capture the flag and other 'kid' games.

kjell··on Advanced tricks with vim registers
To me it wasn't obvious, but with yankring after you hit p you can paste from older registers with ^p. Yankring then replaces "0 with "1. Another ^p replaces "1 with "2.

So by repeatedly hitting ^p after a paste you can cycle back quite a ways. Way easier than ":reg, now where did that go?"

kjell··on Ask HN: What are your favorite vim plugins?
Yankring: if you were ever confused when deleting/yanking/putting (was that phrase in "0, "1, "2?) yanking is beyond helpful.

Syntastic: calls out syntax errors for lots of different languages.

Command-T: I've had some trouble getting this compiled and keeping it working when updating vim. But it's the how I open new buffers.

Solarized: is a nice :color. I use the dark.

Pathogen: seems to be the way to manage plugins. I started vim from textmate ~a month ago using Janus. This week I changed from Janus to pathogen and it's a lot nicer now. (all of tpope's stuff is great as zefhous us mentioned.)

kjell··on Redditor Explains Why Apple Continue Making Frail Power Cables
If you don't think apple did a good enough job: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kjell/5818859629/in/photostream
kjell··on Apple patents system for iOS devices to prevent image and video capturing
In this image there's a toggle for the IR capabilities.

[1] http://www.patentlyapple.com/.a/6a0120a5580826970c014e88d777...

kjell··on Apple patents system for iOS devices to prevent image and video capturing
This is really scary. I'm a total apple fanboi. But no way I'd buy a phone with this baked in.

I don't like to think apple would bow this deeply to the recording industry. Maybe the government. Either way it turns my stomach.

"At block 950, a record function can be disabled. For example, if the encoded data includes a disable command, the device can temporarily disable its record function for a period of time after receiving the command (e.g., 30 seconds or 30 minutes). After the device's record function is disabled, the device may not be able to store images detected by the device. In some embodiments, after the device's record function is disabled, the device may not be able to even display images detected by the device (see, e.g., system 500 shown in FIG. 5). In some embodiments, a device may even delete one or more of the most recently stored images (e.g., the first image detected at block 910) when disabling the device's record function."

kjell··on The tent that turns into concrete in less than 24 hours
Does anyone see how these sit on the ground? I don't see any footings in the video. Just compacted and graded topsoil? What is the floor made out of?

See also: Dante Bini's air formed domes

http://openfarmtech.org/wiki/Air-formed_domes

kjell··on Ask HN: Why not have external links open in new tabs on HN?
This would be a nice preference. I only say so because on an iPad opening links in a new tab is a pain.
kjell··on Ask HN: how to become a morning person?
People say drink something before you go to bed so next morning the urge to pee will motivate you straight out of bed. I hate having to pee really bad when I wake up. But don't shit right before bed for a similar impetus. YMMV.
kjell··on Ask HN: Why doesn't Apple...
The sweet spot for me would be a normal iPhone outfitted with an iPad data plan. (You can do this now if you buy both gadgets and swap the sim. It's a lot of money though.)

Have they added a real gps to the touch yet? I think that's one of the best parts of having an iPhone.

kjell··on Taking pictures with your MacBook every time the lid opens
I have a daemon that snaps my photo every odd 30 minutes. I was the first thing i built after getting a new laptop with an isight 4 years ago. Should I leave nothing else to the world, there will at least be tens of thousands of crummy jpegs of my face scrunched before a monitor when I die.

Mine are far less cutesy than his because the only indication that a photo is being taken is the little green light activating for a split second. But more authentic i think.

kjell··on Review my startup: Tastebuds - dating for last.fm users
I wrote this down in my idea book a month ago, but I figured eventually someone else would do it. And this is sweet.

One feature request: could you somehow weigh the different artists in my history according to what I've been listening to lately? I've got 7 years of audioscrobbler history, and my musical tastes have been everywhere in that time. Today they're pretty far out there as far as people my age go. The matches it shows me line up much better with a five-years-younger me. I'm sure you've already thought of this and lots of data needs to be there before the matching can get complex. Just wanted to throw in my pennies.

kjell··on Ask HN: What are you thankful for?
I chiseled a good hole in my left middle finger about a year and a half ago. Sliced two of my tendons. Thanks to a quick surgery its all back and working, with a near imperceptible loss of dexterity.

The recovery process was amazing. I'm tremendously thankful for my 2. If you don't play an instrument yourself, take time some time to watch someone who does up close. Look at them move!

kjell··on Offer HN: Room in Japan
I'm sure you know about couchsurfing.org. You might try hosting a few people. I've had some of the best experiences of my life in situations similar to what you're offering, some with friends or relatives but a lot with couchsurfers. It's a great deal.
kjell··on Ask HN: What do you drink?
Good thread. I don't have much dot add, but: water water water. I've got a weak spot for a big glass of orange juice in the morning and go through phases of making yogurt/banana/frozen berry smoothies. Favorite drink is a gin tonic.
kjell··on Ask HN: What do you do to relax?
I bike to work, which feels good and offsets a bit of the sitting-on-my-fat-ass all day syndrome. Likewise playing sports (soccer, ultimate frisbee, lately team handball).

Making/crafting things in the real world as opposed to in software is nice. And hearing/watching/playing music, for me mostly a blend of acoustic/bluegrass.

kjell··on Bike ride, accident, and ambulance trip tracked on Runkeeper
I read through this and didnt see it mentioned, so here goes. The single most effective thing I do to avoid mishaps at intersections is to look at the driver of the car. Make eye contact and you know they see you. If you can't catch their eye then be extra careful.
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