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DanielN | 12 years ago | on: Build Your Own Lockitron With Twilio, Arduino, and Node.js

I've been building a lockitron clone using a raspberry pi. The key functionality selling point for me was being able to lock/unlock the door base on proximity like lockitron's "sense" feature.

Turns out this is much more difficult than it sounds because bluetooth le rssi is pretty unreliable. I've figured how to get it working for my particular case but I would be curious how lockitron configures it to work consistently for a wider range of locations and devices.

On a separate note, the servo can be attached to the door without duct tape or modifying the door if you have a door like [1]. I simply bought a piece of rubber tubing that fits over the knob and then configured a smaller piece of rubber to fit the servo arm to the lock piece on the knob. This design is also nice in that if the device malfunctions a key can override it.

1 - http://www.happynews.com/living/livingimages/remove-door-kno...

DanielN | 12 years ago | on: Teaching Someone To Code Is Partly A Hardware Problem

This. I often tutor beginners wanting to learn to code and environment setup is by far the biggest hurdle. Frankly, think about the last time you started learning a new language, it's usually the biggest hurdle for experienced programmers as well.

The next biggest hurdle for beginners is usually grasping basic design patterns or the request response pattern of client server interaction. This is usually difficult because a lot of the nomenclature isn't there yet. But that is nothing in comparison to the struggle it is to walk someone through basic environment setup for RoR even node.

DanielN | 13 years ago | on: Making the travel site people want, even if it’s impossible

Guys there is an easy way around your problem. if your results are as good as you say they are then its just a matter of tweaking your ux. offload the result delivery to email and pubsub the actual search. If you have thought of this I would be interested in hearing why it doesn't work. If not then please at least include it as an option.

DanielN | 13 years ago | on: Firefox Will Soon Block Third-Party Cookies

There is plenty of third party javascript that is not at all predatory. Pretty much all analytics services, Olark and other similar customer outreach services, A/B testing suites. There is far more of a push to create new more secure avenues for third party js (namely cors and websockets) to exist than there are efforts to eliminate it.

I'm curious how this change will effect services like optimizely that rely on third party cookies to prevent tests being run on the same users multiple times.

DanielN | 13 years ago | on: Ask HN: what is the most stupid line of code you saw?

My personal favorite:

  $array = array('z'=>12, 'o'=>43, 't'=>32, 'th'=>85, 'f'=>91, 'fi'=>42);
Take a minute look at that and tell me what the keys stand for. When you figure it out you'll realize why this is the worst piece of code you've ever seen.

DanielN | 13 years ago | on: Rejection Therapy: A Hundred Days of 'No'

Slightly off topic but I enjoyed this and it is a great example of self promotion, something a lot of people here are interested in:

The most recent video on Jia's site is of him asking to race someone. He walks up to a high schooler and his personal trainer explains himself and asks to race one of them. As soon as Jia mentions he is a blogger the trainer without making a direct reference to it casually unzips his jacket to reveal a sweatshirt with the name and logo of his company on it.

It tickled me and made me strangely proud that now because of this man's quick opportune thinking and the happenstance that someone decided to write an article about Jia, likely thousands more people than have ever before will click through and visit http://rwa-texas.com/ .

DanielN | 13 years ago | on: Midwest tech where are you?

http://www.siliconprairienews.com/ is a good starting point. KC, Chicago, Minneapolis, Columbus, Madison, Detroit and Omaha all have great tight knit entrepreneurial communities, as do most of the college towns in the midwest.

I guarantee you there is at least one thriving developer meetup in your area.

Also, it has already happened this year but checkout http://cincinnati.startupweekend.org/ and other startup weekend events in cities near you. They are a great way to meet fellow entrepreneurs and hackers.

DanielN | 13 years ago | on: Ask HN: Do you write unit testing when creating a new product?

The testing rules I code by:

- will someone else be touching the code? If yes then I TDD

- Am I likely to be touching the code six months from now? If yes then I at least document with tests.

- Is it a crucial piece of code who's specs I want documented? If yes then I document with tests.

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