Hacker News Reader

I am not productive at all when I use Turntable. Brain cycles are definitely wasted when I use it.

loeschgon I’m a Google Glass skeptic and think it’ll be the next Apple Newton

In case anyone else was wondering what the heck the Apple Newton was/is -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_(platform)

loeschgon Love Your Terminal

Just spent some time putting some Star Wars in my terminal greeting. In case anyone is interested, I threw a .sh and .txt up at github :)

https://github.com/loeschg/ascii-art

loeschgon Ask HN: Is Amazon EC2 (small/micro) a viable solution for me?

Thanks!

Thoughts on other VPS vs EC2?

loeschgon If Hemingway wrote JavaScript

Yup, still hesitant to click .xxx links at work even if it's not filtered. Didn't see any repercussions after the last time I accidentally clicked one at work (another HN article)... though I didn't get promoted this time around... correlation? I'm going to make myself feel better and say yes.

loeschgon More whiteboard coding won’t build you a better team

Man... I don't know what I'd do if an interviewer presented that situation up front and very directly. "We'll hire you fast, but we won't hesitate to let you go." I wouldn't be able to stop thinking of the bad news bears scenario where I quit my job, get hired, and fired at the new one within a couple months. I guess it depends how awesome the job is that I'm applying for and how (not) awesome the job is that I'm leaving.

loeschgon Abusing Emoji in iOS and Your Mac

Do you know how he set the custom prompt? I was trying to edit my .bash_profile and couldn't use emoji.

loeschgon To understand the command line...

Where's the spoiler alert? Psh. No need to watch LOTR now... :)

loeschgon Some Lesser Known Truths About Programming

I'm actually starting to find that many times I'm more productive, feel better, and I believe do better work when I do my "thinking" on paper/white board. When I sit down at a computer to do the actual coding, my brain isn't processing a ton of information. It's just using what I've already written down.

loeschgon Shocked by San Francisco, on my very first day

I agree with this. I can't speak for SF specifically, but a lot of places with high homeless populations have organizations, systems, and resources to help those in need. From my understanding, one of the problems is people outside of the organizations unintentionally undermining the organizations by giving food, handouts, etc. When people receive this sort of help, they don't see a need to go to these organizations that help identify and ideally fix the root issue.

Fixing the homeless problem is complicated. I don't think that gives you an excuse to do nothing though. I think the app is interesting, and I think could could come from it. I think the effort is better spent focusing on more permanent solutions. Maybe try joining up with a homeless organization and pitching them the idea.

loeschgon Abusing Emoji in iOS and Your Mac

Is there any way to make Emoji part of a custom bash prompt in Terminal? That would be rad.

loeschgon Code Substitution Done Right - Switch.vim

Annnnnd another tutorial that shows me how vastly underwhelming my vim skills are.

Though looking back a year ago, I struggled to navigate, let alone copy and paste. Step at a time, right? RIGHT?!

loeschgon Why developers are allergic to job opportunities

I also hate how concentrated in California and New York things are, because I'd really rather not move, too. Plus moving to San Fran or NY, a huge chunk of any salary increase just goes straight to rent. Blah. haha, amen.

loeschgon Why developers are allergic to job opportunities

Even as a young guy I can relate. I want to stay in the DC area, and I'm having trouble finding anything other than government consultant work. Not exactly the most exciting realm. Working to meet some people that might be able to point me in the right direction. As much as I hate to say it, "networking" pays.

loeschgon Ask HN: Given these circumstances, would you switch to a small startup?

Can't say I'm looking for a ton of acceptance before making the switch. Just looking to get some general advice. Figured this community would be able to provide some interesting insight.

loeschgon Ask HN: Given these circumstances, would you switch to a small startup?

Thanks! By all means I understand this is my decision. Just wondered if anyone could see some other things that I don't see.

Yeah, as a developer for a consulting company, you use your one skill and the company is pretty much satisfied with that. Try to encourage the use of another technology, and you're met with "ask Joe about it" who will tell you, "Ask Jim" and so on. I have a lot of surface knowledge (in addition to an area or two of reasonable depth) that I'd love to be able to leverage in a work place.

Those are good starting point questions. The overall concept itself is not something I'm overly passionate about, I'll admit. The work - technologies used, day to day tasks, environment - sounds like what I'd like though. Gotcha. Yeah, I figured funding was a good start but wasn't sure that meant they'd "made it."

loeschgon Google Cloud SQL (MySQL)

Is this brand spankin' new? Can't say I'm terribly familiar with all of Google's dev offerings.

loeschgon The humans who outrun horses

That's awesome!

I may have looked at my calendar during a moment of non-clarity of thought to make sure today wasn't April Fool's day. In case you're wondering, it's not. It's August 31.

loeschgon Everything you know about China is wrong

I fully expected this article to say pretty much the exact opposite. That our view of China is "too weak."

loeschgon Ask HN: What kit/add-ons should I get for Rasberry Pi?

Sweet. I'll take a look. I was looking for something along this line.

loeschgon Was Godaddy Caught Registering Domains Names After Availability Lookup?

I could have sworn this happened to me. I looked up my own name (.com) one day, and it was available. I checked back a week or so later, and it was taken.

I monitored the domain for a year and saw no activity. At the end of a year it became available, and I snagged it at a base price. Seemed like too much of a coincidence. I don't have that common of a name. I can't prove anything though.

loeschgon Please turn on two-factor authentication

I used two-factor authentication for about a year, and I just got so sick of it. I had no issue with the whole logging in and using the time-sensitive code from my Android phone. It was the support for all the other Google apps that drove me crazy. I got really tired of needing to generate new temporary passwords for access through iCal, Mail, and I think even sites like StackOverflow. Perhaps I was at a point in life where I had too many new devices and changes going on.

It's the typical security vs accessibility trade-offs. Accessibility won.

loeschgon What I Hate About Git

Translation: “It’s easy, Granny. Just rev to 6000, dump the clutch, and use wheel spin to get round the first corner. Up to third, then trail brake onto the freeway, late apexing but watch the marbles on the inside. Hard up to fifth, then handbrake turn to make the exit.”

Haha!

loeschgon Seven Days With a Nexus 7

Q: So would you recommend the Nexus 7 overall? A: For straight Apple households, probably not.

Haha, I'd say I'm in a pure Apple household (though I run a personal Ubuntu server... perhaps I'm disqualified). I'm still considering the Nexus 7 even with the iPad "mini" on the horizon. I think there's something to be said from having familiarity with the different devices/eco-systems (especially as a developer). The reviews are also hard to ignore.

loeschgon Apple iPhone 5 and iPad mini release date set for September 21

Gotcha, thanks. Yeah, I've heard a lot about a 7" iPad. Just didn't think it had been confirmed enough to be so concretely stated.

loeschgon Apple iPhone 5 and iPad mini release date set for September 21

This speaks with authority about things I didn't think were confirmed (iPad mini). I don't know much about imore... reliable site?

loeschgon Being a Developer Makes You Valuable. Learning How to Market Makes You Dangerous

Thanks for that. Maybe he doesn't want uncultured people subscribing via email. If so, it's working :)

loeschgon Being a Developer Makes You Valuable. Learning How to Market Makes You Dangerous

Feel free to call me a n00b or uncultured, but I don't get your anti-spam measures to subscribe to your posts via email.

Prove humanity by completing the lyric: "Blame..." huh?

loeschgon WP Engine launches git deployment for WordPress

That would be some tricky git work. I'm fairly sure some sort of separate database configuration would still be needed (such as modifying the wp-config file). Jump down to step 7 here (http://wp.tutsplus.com/tutorials/hosting/wordpress-developme...).

loeschgon WP Engine launches git deployment for WordPress

Taking a look back on all technologies and related configurations I touched (Apache, MySQL, Wordpress, Git), I'd agree it was worth the time. I'm pretty familiar with the basic Git functions (typical pull, push, merge, rebase, etc), though it was my first hands on experience with Git hooks. Git hooks rock.