foresterh's comments

foresterh | 7 years ago | on: Apple is rebuilding Maps from the ground up

I don't see the article mentioning the Apple street view car I saw driving around my neighborhood in St Louis. I guess that's a different initiative....? Seems like a pretty big deal for them to try and have their own version of Google's street view.

foresterh | 11 years ago | on: The Worst Programming Interview Question

I really like the questions about programming languages. What's their favorite, just favorite language, features, etc. If the candidate says they've only ever used one, or they don't have any features they dis/like, that's a flag. If they point out a feature, you can use it to dive into a deeper discussion about something they say they know about.

foresterh | 12 years ago | on: Dear Facebook: You Suck

I don't understand why people are "friends" with people they don't care about seeing updates on. Or why they don't ignore them. But I don't really use Facebook anymore so maybe that's not an option?

Try Google+... You choose who you want to see, and they don't have to choose to see you. Such a better way to get information you want. And circles and communities make that so much more useful.

Of course it probably helps that most of the people that spam Facebook with games they play and emotions they describe don't use Google+. Or I should say most people don't use Google+.

foresterh | 12 years ago | on: 19 Groups Sue NSA Over Data Collection

"you can't put a corporation in jail but you can tell them that if they do something you will put their leadership in jail [an imperfect analogy])"

Does leadership, from a corporation either private or government (NSA, CIA, FTC, etc) ever end up going to jail though? It seems like after the banking industry was pretty much caught red-handed breaking all kinds of laws and/or causing all kinds of programs to end or start, none of them ended up behind bars. I have to think the NSA would be better at avoiding jailtime than bankers...

Maybe I'm just pessimistic but it seems more like the best this could hope for is the NSA stopping Prism and then finding out 5-10 years later (or never) that they started Diamond or some other program that does the same thing except doesn't record the first 5 seconds of phone calls, or something else that "obeys the new rules"...

foresterh | 12 years ago | on: 19 Groups Sue NSA Over Data Collection

In simple terms, what do the people in the lawsuit hope to gain from the lawsuit? If they won, would the NSA have to stop the program, or would the government have to pass laws saying it was allowed?

I'm just trying to figure out what the end-game is and/or if there is any way to stop something as powerful and uncontrollable as the NSA (government in general?) appears to be.

foresterh | 12 years ago | on: The Physics Behind Traffic Jams

They put up dynamic (digital) speed limit signs in Seattle (where this article is based) in the last year or do, and I've been wondering how effective they are. After reading this article I feel like this is the reason.

There is one speed limit over each lane when it's slower than the regular posted limit, which to me seems like if you see your lane slower than the one over from it, you'll merge, causing next lane to go slower.

Reading the article, and the comment above,I can now see the purpose of the dynamic signs. But unless drivers adapt a mentality that's best for the traffic and not themselves, this doesn't seem like it would work.

foresterh | 13 years ago | on: Visual Task Management for Individuals and Teams

I think this could be a great addition to the normal list view. Different people process things better or worse with pictures vs lists vs charts,etc.

I think this could be a great tool for planning or just looking at a snapshot of your day, developer, project, etc.But in order to be a full fledged issue tracker, you need to be able to filter, report,pivot,etc.

Just my two cents.I think it looks great and is promising.

foresterh | 13 years ago | on: Ask HN: Who Is Hiring? (November 2012)

Seattle, Full time.

IOS/Objective C Dev/Architect/Lead

Gratafy is seeking an expert iOS developer to lead iPhone app development and enhancements, and support our already established iPhone app. This role will directly interface with the founders, other developers, as well as business development and marketing functions. Gratafy is a highly collaborative, agile, and fast-paced environment -- your contributions will be visible and highly impactful.

Gratafy is a VC funded startup located in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood. We are a growing team, building a social gifting platform focused on giving and sharing experiences. Gratafy allows users to instantaneously send gifts to Facebook friends at a rapidly expanding list of partner local and national restaurants, nightlife establishments, and hotels. We launched at the end of October and have been featured on ABC, CNN, as well as other media outlets.

foresterh | 13 years ago | on: Azure CDN Down

The status says "an issue with CDN provisioning, however content delivery is not impacted" but all of my cdn images are not flowing through to my production website. I can browse the blob storage, just not the cdn. In case you needed a reason to not trust the azure CDN.

It's just so convenient I couldn't help but try...

foresterh | 13 years ago | on: Fred Wilson: My New Nexus 7"

I'm blown away by how good technical books look on Google Play Books on the Nexus 7 (and maybe all tablets?). I normally use a 2nd generation Kindle and can never read tech books on there because of the code wrapping lines and the monochrome text. But the difference between a tech book on the Kindle app and the Google Play Books app (both on the Nexus 7) is night and day. I highly recommend at least getting a sample of a book and trying it.

You can also zoom out far more than you can on Kindle, which probably helps it look so great.

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