Working at a still-feels-new-to-me job as Graphics Director for Opinion at The New York Times. Our small team publishes arguments and guest essays supported by visual evidence, like these:
But I'm a believer in asking for help in order to cast a wider net. If you happen to stumble across an obscure-yet-newsworthy dataset, or have a strong feeling about a particular guest essayist that we should be approaching, or can't stop thinking about an argument that's itching you — pitches and tips are always welcome: [my hn username]@nytimes.com
This kind of interactive, bespoke content is one of the main reasons I subscribe to the Times. It feels like NYT truly embraced the concept of being able to tell stories and convey information in a completely novel and exciting format, and I find myself really immersed in these pieces all the damn time. It feels very much like you guys are _leading_ rather than following, which is damn impressive for such an old institution.
Hell, I remember last year's Christmas Cookies piece, which was just this lovely immersive slideshow of tight high resolution videos of different stages of the cookie making process and just thinking "this is just _good_ content."
But this stuff is also powerful because of its ability to inform people in a way visually that more traditional text and even older illustrative modalities would've fallen short with. This deep-dive, guided tour, expando-driven approach is just... awesome. Keep up the great work!
Just in case you happen to know the answer: How does taking tree samples (as in your third link) not harm the tree? It seems inevitable that it would do so, at least intuitively.
and how Alan Greenspan went from writing 'Gold and Economic Freedom'[0] to pushing low interest rates that would be rad.
I'm not actually a gold-standard supporter, but given the huge shift what average people can expect economically it would be nice to have this addressed by someone other than the conspiracy crowd.
I work in tech for public media and am it's almost disheartening to know what kind of resources other publications have. We have people spread across everything at once. Do you work for the technology department or for the editorial department?
Thank you for making JavaScript a somewhat palatable language. Countless millions of us have to write JavaScript to accomplish the daily drudgery and it's in part to your contributions and impeccable sense of style that it's at least somewhat enjoyable.
People probably think my praise is overblown, but if it wasn't for you I'd probably be using wasm to escape JS and the fight against flash would have been for naught.
I'm sick of having to decide between using cloud software and using local software. Cloud software so often needs subscriptions, and if the company dies I lose access to my data. Local software isn't collaborative. I don't want to email files around to myself, or think about versions.
So I'm building a software platform for local first applications on top of CRDTs. Its called Replica, though we haven't talked much about it yet. I want to be able to:
- Edit any data from one device in my house and have it just show up on any other device
- Share items with other people, and collaboratively edit with them
- Support lots of different applications - including multiple different applications live editing the same data. Like a universal plugin model.
Linux can't compete with cloud software like google docs because anyone running hosted platforms gets punished if the platform is successful. Ideally I'd love to get replica embedded in linux, as an alternative for desktop applications to use to store their state. Then users could open up the same app from different computers and have all their data there, and collaborative editing and things like that would just seamlessly work. I want to be able to open the same file in two different editors and have typing in one show up live in the other as I type.
I want to opensource the whole thing, but we'll probably go with some sort of open core model and charge for our official hosted version (which you want for backup and delivery). I want this project to be financially self sustaining - otherwise I don't think it'll survive. But still opensource enough that people can self host if they want to.
My goal is similar to Joseph's (a platform for local first applications using CRDTs), but the approach is slightly different, as I'm building it based on SQLite synchronization using its session extension (https://www.sqlite.org/sessionintro.html) as the encoding mechanism. I plan to incorporate this sync functionality into my web framework (https://github.com/pkulchenko/fullmoon) to allow any application built with it to become "sync-enabled" with just a couple of additional lines of code.
It's a Collaborative "Second Brain" or Zettelkasten, it's local by default but you can sync your brain with other people. Still in aplha. The local version is free and the collaborative one will cost per sync. So if you only want to use the local version then its ok.
Really cool. I have with git-bug[0] similar properties (offline first, identities, generic "crdt like" base data structure... ). Maybe you'd like to have a look and improve each other's design.
Your idea sounds awesome and I hope I'll hear more about it soon.
> I'm sick of having to decide between using cloud software and using local software
However, I want to point out there's an additional option that is becoming more and more accessible in recent years and that is self-hosting, either on a local server or a rented VPS. Most cloud based applications have several self hosted equivalents at various stages of development.
I really like your idea. Might I suggest monetizing it via a marketplace approach? You completely release your product for free as an Open-source offering. Then you create a hosted marketplace for plugins where you take a commission for each purchase there. (I've written a bit about it on my newsletter https://unzip.dev/0x00d-open-source-business-models/#forecas... - last point)
I really share your thought and sentiment on this matter.
I think an example of successful local-first is email and I'm still using email as my main messaging software. The fact that you can receive and send email seamlessly between different companies and organizations is just amazing. Sadly, however, now most of the people do not have their own domain and their emails are mostly managed by big corporations.
All the best for your Replica application, will keep track on the progress.
I love this approach. I'm trying to bake it in https://acreom.com - a local-first md. editor with sync and real-time collaboration(WIP) + plugin system in future.
This is something I wanted. I found remotestorage.io which seems like a cool idea but I am not sure it has moved much in the last couple of years in terms of adoption.
I am not sure if this applies, but is the concept similar to blockchain... All the data is with everyone and still within your machine as well. Meanwhile, if the machine is disconnected then reconnect and update with other users.
I'm starting a 100% Worker Owned For-Profit residential Trash and Recycling Co-operative
All profits go into the neighborhoods we serve and our bylaws are based on the US Constitution. No investors or different class shares. Management term limits, workers vote for CEO and a cooperative ombudsman (termed) for representation during yearly plan/budget proposal.
The CEO proposes a yearly plan/budget to the collective of ombudsman representatives, which vote to approve or amend. The yearly plan includes all P&L numbers for previous years, open balance sheet, salaries, as well as hiring, growth, acquisition plans for the following year(s)
I'm leaving out a lot of details of course, but the overall gist is that: incentives are aligned across the co-op such that management is incentivized to care for their employees above all, and there is no pressure from investors to grow more quickly than our company can sustain. Basically will not pursue increased margins at any cost.
We will provide the best service at a price that ensures we can fully take care of our employees such that they have a great life and can provide amazing service because they have the time, and trust to care about how we serve each other and our residential communities everyday.
would be interested how this works out. I was working with people this way but it turned out people don't do logical decisions, they decide basic on assumptions which may not be true. somebody with a charismatic personally was always better to sell ideas and decision was not based on evidence.
The same constitution that consistently puts a the party that gets fewer votes into power? If I were to every start a business, that's the last place I'd look for inspiration.
Over the summer I got into genealogy — my partner tasked me with finding her biological parents. I did, and afterward, I took a DNA test of my own only to discover that my mom failed to tell me something (she passed away a few years ago): who my biological father is.
This was a surprise to me, my dad, and many others. Some of her girlfriends knew this situation existed, but never got a name.
And so I spent my summer in what I call "old lady Facebook groups" and learned the tricks and the trades to investigative genetic genealogy. One of the useful tips you can apply to your DNA matches called DNA color clustering — it's incredibly useful: https://www.danaleeds.com/dna-color-clustering-the-leeds-met...
Of course, I didn't want to do this by hand. There were some tools out there that existed but they were "old school" software packages: you know, you install it on your own device! "Worse" yet, I'd have to give it my raw password — no thanks! It started there, and morphed into a lot more, and now it's used by "search genies" and consumers alike: https://sherlockdna.com
There's a lot more that can be done in this realm by both providers and hackers. There's a niche for these "pro tools" that exist but the typical DNA test taker is not after any sort of genealogical exploration that requires substantial effort. There is a very sizable group of people who do, though, and those people, I have found, are very pleasant, kind, and nice to be around. I like surrounding myself with good people, so I'm happy to help them while I scratch my own itch.
All this, and I am yet to find the guy I'm looking for despite having invested over 1,000 hours into finding him. I have, though, found over two dozen "wanted" individuals (not in the criminal sense) and united them with their searcher — at least that part is satisfying.
Since the start of the summer I have been building a SaaS for companies doing inspections and maintenance on separators, a certain kind of device for cleaning water used in gas stations, restaurants, garages etc.
I have been dreaming of living on my own product since I started as a developer 10 years ago and tried a lot of different ideas out but it just wasn't happening.
When I found out that my girlfriend was pregnant with twins in spring 2022 there was this now or never moment. I thought there would never again be enough time available in my life to do something like that.
I decided to quit my job to put a gun against my head. Then I contacted hundreds of people on LinkedIn and other places asking them if they had an idea on a product to build. One guy responded telling me about how far behind in digitalization his industry is and that we could potentially do something here.
I went with it and have been building it since.
As the product starts to mature we have showed it to potential customers and the response has been amazing. We have been promised around $8000 / month from 8-9 companies as soon as we finish a couple of more features and we estimate that there are at least 100 potential customers in our country.
This autumn has been so intense since I'm doing this while doing 40h/week consultation do get money plus having 2 newborn kids at home. I feel very lucky though that I finally got an opportunity to go all in on my own product.
One thing I have learned:
There are so many software developers with both the skills and drive to create a business, but what is super hard is to just come up with an idea. The key is to connect with people outside of our community. The whole world is waiting to be digitalized and our skills are in short supply. The further away from the normal dev community you go, the less crowded will it be and the easier for you to find an opportunity to add value.
Very nice. Having walked down this path: get the signature under the contract or an advance before you build "one more feature".
In my experience "one more feature" is usually a very polite way to say "no", and it can be a sign that you haven't identified the proper solution to their "hair-on-fire" problem yet.
(I've built the exact features prospects requested, and after showing the built feature I usually got another excuse, i.e. "I would also need feature y first", or "not right now", "no budget ATM",... )
If you nail the hair-on-fire problem people should be considering how to finance it or start asking "by when can we use it".
Having been a developer first, I also hugely underestimated the importance of a proper ICP, value proposition etc. Your messaging might be a big part of the reason that people are saying no or yes on the spot.
My old video game from 2004 [1] is now older than I was when I wrote it, and I recently found the C++ source and sprites in one of my archives, so I'm rewriting it in TypeScript as a personal challenge.
The C++ code no longer builds (it's missing proprietary dependencies), and I no longer have the binaries or even the hardware needed to run them (it's a PocketPC game).
If I manage to finish the rewrite, I'll get in touch with the rest of the team, to ask if they'll let me upload it somewhere public.
So far, I'm surprised by how readable my C++ code is. :-)
I'm continuing work on the No Bullshit Guide to Statistics, which is an introductory book on statistics that includes all necessary prerequisites (practical data analysis using Pandas and probability theory math using the computer models from scipy.stats). It's been a many-year project (because STATS IS TOUGH!), but I've had very good progress in the last couple of months of 2022 (finished first few chapters) and now keeping the momentum going into 2023.
It's really hard to explain statistical concepts without bullshit... there are all kinds of formulas and rules of thumb, so it sometimes takes me 2x or 3x rewrites before I find an explanation that is simple enough and free of unnecessary historical baggage. One thing that I have going for me is the ability to use computer simulations to check all the equations, and generate nice visualizations. Seeing the equations + graphs + code in parallel makes stats concepts finally click... at least for the author, I hope for the readers too ;)
If you're interested in checking this out, I maintain a continuously-updated book outline here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fwep23-95U-w1QMPU31nOvUn... I also have a mailing list where I send chapter preview PDFs as they become ready (see the end of the gdoc).
My mom departed when I was 19. My oldest son is almost 6. I had a moment last week where I realized that if I applied that scenario, I’m about 1/3 through the time I have with my kids. Obviously it doesn’t work that way, but it was a moment that brought shock then clarity.
Life is fleeting.
So I’m working on “working” as little as I need to.
In 1997 I played my first online multiplayer game. It was QuakeWorld Team Fortress. It was incredible, janky, fast, ugly, complicated and absorbing. I found a community of other players through IRC and devoted 8 hours a day to playing this treasure.
By 2005 (a very decent shelf life), the game was all but dead. This was a significant part of my life gone.
In 2018 I found the source, forked it and began FortressOne, a modern port of this classic game.
There are now a thousand people on our discord channel and daily games in four continents. I’m over the moon but more work needs to be done. This year my goal is to get it on steam.
My oldest daughter will turn 8 this year. These days I'm planning which would be best computer/software/OS for her (if any), but nothing in the market fits my requirements as a father. There is so much noise, distraction and overall bullshit in today's computers that I don't think it is healthy or appropriate for her.
So I'm planning to make a custom (software) solution. A small set of focused, minimal, productive and interesting apps in a controlled, noise-free environment. I want her to use the computer as a TOOL to enhance and complement her daily activities, not as a toy, an addiction or an entertainment.
(Think a PICO-8 high-res system for general usage, not only for making games.)
(And yes, she would be able to alternatively watch cartoons and play videogames, but not in this "work/learn" computer)
So if I have to build all this myself on my little spare time, it will probably take me the whole year.. :sweat-laugh:
I wish you a healthy and joyful 2023, dear reader.
I'm working on changing careers. After 10 years of struggling to find the right role/company/environment in software dev or product management, I realized that I just don't like making software. Period. Made some good friends, enjoyed some of the work, learned a lot, got pretty decent at the whole SaaS thing, but I just don't like it.
That realization over the last couple weeks has been a huge relief. I'd like to explore some things I'm naturally curious about such as agricultural waste management.
I’ve been starting and growing a live theater venue in San Francisco for the past couple years, taking a break from the tech world. It’s finally starting to build some good momentum and I’ve even got some paid employees now. This year I’m hoping to get it self-sustaining enough that I can leave it largely in the hands of capable management and start dabbling on the tech ideas I’ve been kicking around.
I’m especially excited about harnessing some of the recent advances in ML. There’s been a ton of exciting advances that haven’t been fully productized yet. And maybe ActivityPub has some cool things that could be built now that people are starting to actually get the value of federation. The last few years have been frustrating, with most of the smart tech builders I know wasting their time on crypto. But finally it seems like people’s eyes are clearing a bit. Lots of exciting times ahead.
But I’ve got to get the theater to a good enough spot first.
After two years of teaching Haskell to highschoolers, I will complete my notes and release them as a proper web book. While working on content I also wrote (in Haskell ofc) a compiler for custom markup (something like Pandoc). The book will defiantly not go deep as some other books, but I hope it will be the best resource on Serbian for starting with Haskell.
Also, now when I have my dream tool for publishing, I am thinking of my next web book project (probably on Complex Analysis).
I'm working on NoisyCamp (https://noisycamp.com), a platform that helps Musicians finding and booking spaces to rehearse.
I mostly implemented all the features I wanted, and I'm now focusing on getting more studios on the platform.
I'm still working part time, and as a software engineer, it's a little bit harder to get motivated doing sales things than it was when programming the web app.
I'm working on a website to track the progress of bonsai trees. I like the bonsai sub reddit, the way people share their trees, but there is no good way to see the trees over time.
I don't do a lot of coding any more, so it is nice to keep my hand in. I was feeling pretty rusty. I also suck at front end dev so pushing my comfort zone. I don't know where I'm headed with it, but I am hoping I will find it useful, and some of my friends will too. I suppose I will keep adding features and see how it goes!
If anyone here likes bonsai then maybe take a look at bonsai-garden.com where you will find how far I got over Christmas!
I'm hoping this will be a nice distraction from my career for a while!
My project for the year is to design and produce an open source amateur radio transceiver (HF QRP SSB, for the hams) that anyone can build by schematic. I'll also provide Gerber files for the PCB's if I produce on (not sure...) and a complete online manual for building, testing, and operating.
The other thing: Travel. I've never travelled beyond the western US. I hope to get my passport and fly to one country outside of North America.
For work, focusing on keeping my support team amazing and helping the startup I work at scale significantly.
- I'm pretty gung-ho to finish the first draft of my novel.
- I'll make as much progress as I can on my text adventure.
- I would love to update my Pico-8 z-machine "Status Line" to v3.0 to support said text adventure (add .z5, .z7, .z8 support). Then I can finally stop thinking about that project and mark it officially "done," bug-fixes notwithstanding. (https://christopherdrum.itch.io/statusline)
- If the Jai programming language releases, I'll definitely put time into it and that would likely supercede the below projects entirely.
- Continue with my C studies. My problem to date is I just haven't had anything I wanted to build. Now though, I think I'd like to take a stab at making a text adventure language/system just to deconstruct and understand how that process works. Inform6 is tethered to the past too much; Inform7 is simply not my cup of tea. I haven't been smitten by the other options (TADS, et al). This would more likely happen in 2024, if I'm honest with myself.
I'm working on a notes taking service [0] that behaves the way I want. All notes are organized in the (potentially nested) streams, messages can also have metadata attached which makes it easy and natural to keep track of any observations, be it travel notes, reading notes or exercises tracking. The big idea is to make it a place that would accommodate for any types of notes and any steaming messages in general, e.g. data from your smart home weather station.
Public streams have RSS, you can follow my dev and product streams if you like.
Landing page is rubbish, api is not there, but I hope it's good enough to present the idea. I've recorded a video [1] to showcase the features
I'm finally getting around to writing a couple of games. I started my career because I wanted to make games when I was a kid, but took a wrong turn into embedded medical devices, databases, the web... so I figure this will be the year I have time to make some fun software and worry about FPS instead of TPS.
I'll be working on refining my pitch about how bad everything is and why the system needs to change... And posting that into the void where nobody will ever read it due to big tech algorithm censorship... While working a day job which allows me to profit from the root of all system flaws which I keep complaining about because it's the only one I could find which pays the bills... A kind of forced hypocrisy.
[+] [-] jashkenas|3 years ago|reply
- https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/10/29/opinion/scien...
- https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/09/08/opinion/urban...
- https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/07/20/opinion/ancie...
But I'm a believer in asking for help in order to cast a wider net. If you happen to stumble across an obscure-yet-newsworthy dataset, or have a strong feeling about a particular guest essayist that we should be approaching, or can't stop thinking about an argument that's itching you — pitches and tips are always welcome: [my hn username]@nytimes.com
[+] [-] disillusioned|3 years ago|reply
Hell, I remember last year's Christmas Cookies piece, which was just this lovely immersive slideshow of tight high resolution videos of different stages of the cookie making process and just thinking "this is just _good_ content."
But this stuff is also powerful because of its ability to inform people in a way visually that more traditional text and even older illustrative modalities would've fallen short with. This deep-dive, guided tour, expando-driven approach is just... awesome. Keep up the great work!
[+] [-] BlackjackCF|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tylerneylon|3 years ago|reply
Just in case you happen to know the answer: How does taking tree samples (as in your third link) not harm the tree? It seems inevitable that it would do so, at least intuitively.
[+] [-] boppo1|3 years ago|reply
and how Alan Greenspan went from writing 'Gold and Economic Freedom'[0] to pushing low interest rates that would be rad.
I'm not actually a gold-standard supporter, but given the huge shift what average people can expect economically it would be nice to have this addressed by someone other than the conspiracy crowd.
[0]https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https:/...
[+] [-] tootie|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tinco|3 years ago|reply
People probably think my praise is overblown, but if it wasn't for you I'd probably be using wasm to escape JS and the fight against flash would have been for naught.
Just a feather in your cap for the new year!
[+] [-] thomastjeffery|3 years ago|reply
I can see that this isn't your personal design decision, but there is a literal paywall preventing you from communicating with me. This is absurd.
[+] [-] josephg|3 years ago|reply
So I'm building a software platform for local first applications on top of CRDTs. Its called Replica, though we haven't talked much about it yet. I want to be able to:
- Edit any data from one device in my house and have it just show up on any other device
- Share items with other people, and collaboratively edit with them
- Support lots of different applications - including multiple different applications live editing the same data. Like a universal plugin model.
Linux can't compete with cloud software like google docs because anyone running hosted platforms gets punished if the platform is successful. Ideally I'd love to get replica embedded in linux, as an alternative for desktop applications to use to store their state. Then users could open up the same app from different computers and have all their data there, and collaborative editing and things like that would just seamlessly work. I want to be able to open the same file in two different editors and have typing in one show up live in the other as I type.
I want to opensource the whole thing, but we'll probably go with some sort of open core model and charge for our official hosted version (which you want for backup and delivery). I want this project to be financially self sustaining - otherwise I don't think it'll survive. But still opensource enough that people can self host if they want to.
[+] [-] paulclinger|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gigel82|3 years ago|reply
I think the first product they're building on it is Loop: https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-introduces-loop-a-ne...
[+] [-] examplary_cable|3 years ago|reply
It's a Collaborative "Second Brain" or Zettelkasten, it's local by default but you can sync your brain with other people. Still in aplha. The local version is free and the collaborative one will cost per sync. So if you only want to use the local version then its ok.
https://github.com/ilse-langnar/notebook/
[+] [-] michaelmure|3 years ago|reply
[0]: https://github.com/MichaelMure/git-bug
[+] [-] aatd86|3 years ago|reply
Upspin: https://upspin.io/
Perkeep:https://perkeep.org/
[+] [-] esperent|3 years ago|reply
> I'm sick of having to decide between using cloud software and using local software
However, I want to point out there's an additional option that is becoming more and more accessible in recent years and that is self-hosting, either on a local server or a rented VPS. Most cloud based applications have several self hosted equivalents at various stages of development.
Check out this list:
https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted
Possibly your project falls into the self hosted category in some way?
[+] [-] funerr|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lexandstuff|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] teleforce|3 years ago|reply
I really share your thought and sentiment on this matter.
I think an example of successful local-first is email and I'm still using email as my main messaging software. The fact that you can receive and send email seamlessly between different companies and organizations is just amazing. Sadly, however, now most of the people do not have their own domain and their emails are mostly managed by big corporations.
All the best for your Replica application, will keep track on the progress.
[+] [-] jpineman|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] inferense|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] quickthrower2|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] networkimprov|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tb84|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Wrustan|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] AndrewKemendo|3 years ago|reply
All profits go into the neighborhoods we serve and our bylaws are based on the US Constitution. No investors or different class shares. Management term limits, workers vote for CEO and a cooperative ombudsman (termed) for representation during yearly plan/budget proposal.
The CEO proposes a yearly plan/budget to the collective of ombudsman representatives, which vote to approve or amend. The yearly plan includes all P&L numbers for previous years, open balance sheet, salaries, as well as hiring, growth, acquisition plans for the following year(s)
I'm leaving out a lot of details of course, but the overall gist is that: incentives are aligned across the co-op such that management is incentivized to care for their employees above all, and there is no pressure from investors to grow more quickly than our company can sustain. Basically will not pursue increased margins at any cost.
We will provide the best service at a price that ensures we can fully take care of our employees such that they have a great life and can provide amazing service because they have the time, and trust to care about how we serve each other and our residential communities everyday.
[+] [-] tibu|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pjc50|3 years ago|reply
What does this actually mean? (Could you link the bylaws?)
I find co-ops fascinating and wish you every success. And that the idea might percolate wider.
[+] [-] gomizari|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wildrhythms|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] QIYGT|3 years ago|reply
The same constitution that consistently puts a the party that gets fewer votes into power? If I were to every start a business, that's the last place I'd look for inspiration.
[+] [-] joshmn|3 years ago|reply
This was a surprise to me, my dad, and many others. Some of her girlfriends knew this situation existed, but never got a name.
And so I spent my summer in what I call "old lady Facebook groups" and learned the tricks and the trades to investigative genetic genealogy. One of the useful tips you can apply to your DNA matches called DNA color clustering — it's incredibly useful: https://www.danaleeds.com/dna-color-clustering-the-leeds-met...
Of course, I didn't want to do this by hand. There were some tools out there that existed but they were "old school" software packages: you know, you install it on your own device! "Worse" yet, I'd have to give it my raw password — no thanks! It started there, and morphed into a lot more, and now it's used by "search genies" and consumers alike: https://sherlockdna.com
There's a lot more that can be done in this realm by both providers and hackers. There's a niche for these "pro tools" that exist but the typical DNA test taker is not after any sort of genealogical exploration that requires substantial effort. There is a very sizable group of people who do, though, and those people, I have found, are very pleasant, kind, and nice to be around. I like surrounding myself with good people, so I'm happy to help them while I scratch my own itch.
All this, and I am yet to find the guy I'm looking for despite having invested over 1,000 hours into finding him. I have, though, found over two dozen "wanted" individuals (not in the criminal sense) and united them with their searcher — at least that part is satisfying.
[+] [-] cambaceres|3 years ago|reply
I have been dreaming of living on my own product since I started as a developer 10 years ago and tried a lot of different ideas out but it just wasn't happening. When I found out that my girlfriend was pregnant with twins in spring 2022 there was this now or never moment. I thought there would never again be enough time available in my life to do something like that. I decided to quit my job to put a gun against my head. Then I contacted hundreds of people on LinkedIn and other places asking them if they had an idea on a product to build. One guy responded telling me about how far behind in digitalization his industry is and that we could potentially do something here. I went with it and have been building it since.
As the product starts to mature we have showed it to potential customers and the response has been amazing. We have been promised around $8000 / month from 8-9 companies as soon as we finish a couple of more features and we estimate that there are at least 100 potential customers in our country.
This autumn has been so intense since I'm doing this while doing 40h/week consultation do get money plus having 2 newborn kids at home. I feel very lucky though that I finally got an opportunity to go all in on my own product.
One thing I have learned: There are so many software developers with both the skills and drive to create a business, but what is super hard is to just come up with an idea. The key is to connect with people outside of our community. The whole world is waiting to be digitalized and our skills are in short supply. The further away from the normal dev community you go, the less crowded will it be and the easier for you to find an opportunity to add value.
[+] [-] ToJans|3 years ago|reply
In my experience "one more feature" is usually a very polite way to say "no", and it can be a sign that you haven't identified the proper solution to their "hair-on-fire" problem yet.
(I've built the exact features prospects requested, and after showing the built feature I usually got another excuse, i.e. "I would also need feature y first", or "not right now", "no budget ATM",... )
If you nail the hair-on-fire problem people should be considering how to finance it or start asking "by when can we use it".
Having been a developer first, I also hugely underestimated the importance of a proper ICP, value proposition etc. Your messaging might be a big part of the reason that people are saying no or yes on the spot.
May everything work in your favor in 2023!
[+] [-] loandbehold|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] victorNicollet|3 years ago|reply
The C++ code no longer builds (it's missing proprietary dependencies), and I no longer have the binaries or even the hardware needed to run them (it's a PocketPC game).
If I manage to finish the rewrite, I'll get in touch with the rest of the team, to ask if they'll let me upload it somewhere public.
So far, I'm surprised by how readable my C++ code is. :-)
[1]: https://nicollet.net/blog/darklaga.html
[+] [-] ivansavz|3 years ago|reply
It's really hard to explain statistical concepts without bullshit... there are all kinds of formulas and rules of thumb, so it sometimes takes me 2x or 3x rewrites before I find an explanation that is simple enough and free of unnecessary historical baggage. One thing that I have going for me is the ability to use computer simulations to check all the equations, and generate nice visualizations. Seeing the equations + graphs + code in parallel makes stats concepts finally click... at least for the author, I hope for the readers too ;)
If you're interested in checking this out, I maintain a continuously-updated book outline here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fwep23-95U-w1QMPU31nOvUn... I also have a mailing list where I send chapter preview PDFs as they become ready (see the end of the gdoc).
[+] [-] Waterluvian|3 years ago|reply
Life is fleeting.
So I’m working on “working” as little as I need to.
[+] [-] drzel|3 years ago|reply
By 2005 (a very decent shelf life), the game was all but dead. This was a significant part of my life gone.
In 2018 I found the source, forked it and began FortressOne, a modern port of this classic game.
There are now a thousand people on our discord channel and daily games in four continents. I’m over the moon but more work needs to be done. This year my goal is to get it on steam.
[+] [-] feiss|3 years ago|reply
So I'm planning to make a custom (software) solution. A small set of focused, minimal, productive and interesting apps in a controlled, noise-free environment. I want her to use the computer as a TOOL to enhance and complement her daily activities, not as a toy, an addiction or an entertainment.
(Think a PICO-8 high-res system for general usage, not only for making games.)
(And yes, she would be able to alternatively watch cartoons and play videogames, but not in this "work/learn" computer)
So if I have to build all this myself on my little spare time, it will probably take me the whole year.. :sweat-laugh:
I wish you a healthy and joyful 2023, dear reader.
[+] [-] lowlander|3 years ago|reply
That realization over the last couple weeks has been a huge relief. I'd like to explore some things I'm naturally curious about such as agricultural waste management.
[+] [-] OkGoDoIt|3 years ago|reply
I’m especially excited about harnessing some of the recent advances in ML. There’s been a ton of exciting advances that haven’t been fully productized yet. And maybe ActivityPub has some cool things that could be built now that people are starting to actually get the value of federation. The last few years have been frustrating, with most of the smart tech builders I know wasting their time on crypto. But finally it seems like people’s eyes are clearing a bit. Lots of exciting times ahead.
But I’ve got to get the theater to a good enough spot first.
[+] [-] ubavic|3 years ago|reply
Also, now when I have my dream tool for publishing, I am thinking of my next web book project (probably on Complex Analysis).
[+] [-] kinow|3 years ago|reply
If you ever have something in English, post on reddit to r/functionalprogramming o/
[+] [-] raphaelj|3 years ago|reply
I mostly implemented all the features I wanted, and I'm now focusing on getting more studios on the platform.
I'm still working part time, and as a software engineer, it's a little bit harder to get motivated doing sales things than it was when programming the web app.
[+] [-] jimnotgym|3 years ago|reply
I don't do a lot of coding any more, so it is nice to keep my hand in. I was feeling pretty rusty. I also suck at front end dev so pushing my comfort zone. I don't know where I'm headed with it, but I am hoping I will find it useful, and some of my friends will too. I suppose I will keep adding features and see how it goes!
If anyone here likes bonsai then maybe take a look at bonsai-garden.com where you will find how far I got over Christmas!
I'm hoping this will be a nice distraction from my career for a while!
[+] [-] geocrasher|3 years ago|reply
The other thing: Travel. I've never travelled beyond the western US. I hope to get my passport and fly to one country outside of North America.
For work, focusing on keeping my support team amazing and helping the startup I work at scale significantly.
[+] [-] ChristopherDrum|3 years ago|reply
- I'll make as much progress as I can on my text adventure.
- I would love to update my Pico-8 z-machine "Status Line" to v3.0 to support said text adventure (add .z5, .z7, .z8 support). Then I can finally stop thinking about that project and mark it officially "done," bug-fixes notwithstanding. (https://christopherdrum.itch.io/statusline)
- If the Jai programming language releases, I'll definitely put time into it and that would likely supercede the below projects entirely.
- As a Pico-8 lover who is frustrated by some of its limitations, I'll tinker with Picotron now that "Picotron Playground" has launched. (https://www.lexaloffle.com/picotron.php?page=playground)
- Continue with my C studies. My problem to date is I just haven't had anything I wanted to build. Now though, I think I'd like to take a stab at making a text adventure language/system just to deconstruct and understand how that process works. Inform6 is tethered to the past too much; Inform7 is simply not my cup of tea. I haven't been smitten by the other options (TADS, et al). This would more likely happen in 2024, if I'm honest with myself.
[+] [-] can3p|3 years ago|reply
Public streams have RSS, you can follow my dev and product streams if you like.
Landing page is rubbish, api is not there, but I hope it's good enough to present the idea. I've recorded a video [1] to showcase the features
[0]: https://dabdab.org [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJURq8PH_d4
[+] [-] indymike|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jongjong|3 years ago|reply
Happy new year.