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Ask HN: What are you working on?

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121–130 of 235 posts

Re: Ask HN: What are you working on?

#121
Wow. So noone here working on an IDE or text editor? Anyway I do :-)

Recently decided to give a break on my degree (physics) and finalize my neverending Python IDE (Windows only - sorry :-)) while making buck on Django gigs for the bills. I don't even remember when I actually started on that. Must be the beginning of 2002. Now is the time.

Re: Ask HN: What are you working on?

#122
Adding features to my MySpace application that turned out to be surprisingly popular (http://bit.ly/mDZYb). Specifically I want to let users see who lives near them, and maybe get some dating aspects going. Also playing some more with the Twitter API after our first failed project with it, let's see if I'll get something released this time.

Re: Ask HN: What are you working on?

#123
Academic start-up: Multicriteria Mapping.

I'm in Poulsbo, a Norwegian settlement just across Puget Sound from Seattle, WA, USA, working (remotely) with Andy Stirling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Stirling) at SPRU, University of Sussex, Brighton, England, on his Multicriteria Mapping (http://www.multicriteria-mapping.org/) methodology and related analysis software. MCM is a hybrid qualitative/quantitative multicriteria analysis technique, (over to our colleague Molly Morgan) "which through its novel approach to discussing different options in contested areas of technology policy might be up to the task of opening up decision making and engagement methods" (from Molly's article on the Science Progress site: http://ow.ly/h6hY).

Researchers use a small Java application (MC-Mapper, by another developer) to run two-hour long structured interviews with participants, and a larger Java/Python/Hibernate/MS Access/MS Excel mashup (more mish-mash, really), MCM-Analyst (by me) to prepare text reports and charts from results aggregated across the participants.

As I write I'm preparing a draft Marketing Plan as part of our bid for some funding for marketing and product development: we're a startup, someday hoping to spin off into a non-profit trust to oversee the development and application of the methodology and provide tools, support and consultancy services to support its use.

I'm finding David H. Bangs, Jr.'s "The Market Planning Guide" (http://ow.ly/h6hK) hugely useful: basically I'm working through it, piling it all into a ridiculously long Word document, with the next step being copying and pasting the necessary bits into what will become the Marketing Plan. This is my first time working on a proper marketing plan, having b*gger all experience in marketing beyond word-of-mouth, and this is all a... big emotional effort... I've been helped on that front by reading HN regularly.

The Jython/MS Office mish-mash has got to go: we're envisaging us gradually migrating to Eclipse/RCP/Jython. Hoping (with funding) to developing a web-based service to complement the existing not-yet-Internet-enabled desktop applications. We're envisaging doing that in Django: choosing that over eg RoR because of our investment in Python.

Oh, and some work here and in the UK doing web development in SilverStripe for small businesses.

I find many posts on HN a fantastic source of inspiration, energy, resources, and ideas. Just great. If I'm bored, this is where I go.

Re: Ask HN: What are you working on?

#124
post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry for the newb question, but are you saying that ANY app developed for the iPhone (including a custom app for a client) must go through the App Store before being installed on their phones? I'm asking because we have a web-based intranet app that we could create an iPhone-based version of, but it's only useful to the client. So, there's no reason to put in on the App Store. But it sounds like you're saying all ap…

There's a way to do it but you need to be an approved "enterprise" developer. Nobody I know has actually completed the process. This PDF has more info: http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/Enterprise_Deployment_Gu...

Thanks for the link. After reading the deployment notes, I'm kind of shocked that they make it so hard to deploy custom apps that you have no intention of selling via App Store. It sounds like a web-based app tailored to the iPhone is the way to go.

Re: Ask HN: What are you working on?

#128

Continuing on with my console editor ( http://purepistos.net/diakonos/ ). Aiming to get it to live up to being billed "A Linux editor for the masses". A recent version formalized an extension system (even though it has been extensible with Ruby for a long while now). Upcoming roadmap items: modes; window splitting; further development of the git extension; ...

Excuse me, but do I know you from somwhere? :-) In case you're wondering fcoury == _grepper

Re: Ask HN: What are you working on?

#129
post #63

I'm working on newer and better software for controlling stage and club lighting. It's still in the early stages, so the final form of the product(s) isn't clear to me yet. A likely initial release will be aimed at the club market, currently dominated by Martin LightJockey since a decent offering there won't require any custom hardware. I'm using Haskell and functional reactive programming. I intend to expose some so…

Wow, awesome to hear there are other people into lighting on here. I'm spending my weekend working on a Max/MSP patch that spits out patterns onto an LED grid controlled by a 4/4 time signature. I plan to tie these patterns to music clips within Ableton once Max for Live comes out later this year. The idea is to have layered patterns corresponding to my layered music clips (minimal techno) during my dj performances.

I think you may have just signed up to beta test... something. We'll see what it turns in to.

When I'm not coding for money, I'm a lighting designer - mostly live concerts, but I do some club stuff as well. I've found the options in that market very unsatisfactory. There are some good options starting in the $4000 range and up, but they all require a trained LD. The average DJ is unlikely to be willing to deal with the Emacs-like learning curve of a real lighting console.

I think the market needs something DJ-proof, high-quality and affordable, and I think my first product will be along those lines.

Re: Ask HN: What are you working on?

#130
post #113
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think B2B, for example. The iPhone (and the others - Android, Palm, Blackberry), combined with the app store model provide two things: 1) users effectively get a handheld computer which always has internet access, and 2) developers get much more access to these mobile devices than carriers have traditionally allowed. Pick an industry - what does this allow them to do that they couldn't before? (ideally, something tha…

Sorry for the newb question, but are you saying that ANY app developed for the iPhone (including a custom app for a client) must go through the App Store before being installed on their phones? I'm asking because we have a web-based intranet app that we could create an iPhone-based version of, but it's only useful to the client. So, there's no reason to put in on the App Store. But it sounds like you're saying all ap…

Wow, you can't even load your own apps onto iPhone? Damn, I knew Apple was closed-minded, but this takes the cake. If you spend that much money for that monstrosity, you ought to be able to put what you want onto it, you know, like all other phones i'm aware of. Holy Crap. Just another reason I'll never buy one. Can someone confirm this? I'm having trouble even believing that. If this were true, how do you test it, with only an emulator?
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