5 Reasons to try a Standing Desk

Categories life, technology
You can only be as efficient as the tools around you allow you to be. The most recent change to my workstation is a standing desk. Standing 8+ hours / day is a big change. Aside from some exhaustion the first day, most of the changes have been positive so far. Here are some of the benefits: I'm strength training while I'm at work. You know that feeling when you're exhausted at the end of the Read the article >>

Know a kick-ass PHP developer in NYC? Ignighter is hiring!

Categories startups
Ignighter is hot off the heels of our Series A and is hiring part-time PHP developers in NYC. We're a Venture-funded team of 6. We're young, fun, we've got some rapid growth in our target market, but we've got a chip on our shoulders and a lot of work to do. We've been in the game for a few years, we earned our wings during Techstars Boulder 2008. Do I fit the profile? If you're young, hungry, Read the article >>

10 Internet Giants, 10 Years ago

Categories technology
I love using tools like the Internet Archive to see what websites looked like years ago. Just for fun, take a trip in internet history with me: Each of these businesses are top 100 sites in the USA and have "grown up" in the past 10 years. Each screenshot is half "retro" and half "current" (either left/right or top/bottom). Click on a screenshot to see the comparison full-screen. Apple: 2000 Read the article >>

On Systems

Categories essays, technology
One of the amazing things about our human mind is that it enables the capacity of abstract thought. As software developers, we are taught to program computer systems. Doing so, we are learning to disembody ourselves from the physical everyday world of our lives and speak the language of bits and bytes, 0s and 1s. We use our capacity for abstract thought to put ourselves into a world where statements Read the article >>

Truckin’

Categories startups
One of the most amazing about startup life is how fantastically high the highs are, how quickly they can turn to dreadful pitiful lows and back again. Your professional life is quite literally one big question mark when you are building it from scratch. The instant you crack some really tough problem you're a genius. The moment the shit hits the fan, you're the worlds biggest moron. The stakes Read the article >>

Privacy: People tell Google their deepest darkest secrets?

Categories politics, technology
I''m endlessly fascinated with how much people trust Google and other web services with their personal information. Given that the vast majority of google users don''t opt-out of the recording of their web history, and that the Justice department in the USA has subpoenaed millions of search results from Americans, I find the following Google search autocomplete endlessly fascinating. In each Read the article >>

5 Essential Tools for a New Startup CTO

Categories engineering, protips
Sometimes I get asked what tools I''d recommend to new lead developers. Many times, these developers are coming from mid-to-large size enterprise companies, where tools are proprietary and aimed towards the enterprise. The toolset for the open web is much different than the ones available in larger companies. Here we go: 1. Version control, and the tools to make sense of it. I can''t emphasize Read the article >>

How to fix INSERT DELAYED Delayed_errors in MySQL.

Categories php-mysql
I''m posting this because I had such a hard time fixing this (and Google didn''t seem to have any articles on how to fix it). If you are trying to add INSERT DELAYED queries to your application, and your rows are not getting inserted into your table, then you should check out your global status and variables: mysql> show status LIKE ''%Delay%''; +--------------------------+-------+ | Variable_name Read the article >>

Zen OS X: 5 easy steps to eliminate distractions on your Mac

Categories protips, technology, tools
I''ve been putting a lot of thought lately into simplifying my workspace to allow greater focus whatever task is current. Here are 5 easy wins I''ve made on my laptop (MBP 15" running Snow Leopard) in the past month to eliminate distractions and increase focus. 1. Cleanup the Desktop. There are two main things I''ve found really helpful to eliminate distractions on my desktop: Archive every Read the article >>

Make your Site”s Usage Data Visceral & Ambient

Categories protips, startups, technology
I love data. I love trying to compare it with more qualitative analyses of my product. I love finding trends in it. But I hate spreadsheets. I need to consume data viscerally. In traditional retail, visitors to a store are in the same physical space as the employees, allowing collection of more ambient data about store ''usage'', e.g. foot patterns, visitor reactions, etc. Not so on the web. Read the article >>