Hacker news reader for iPhone • Hacker News Board

Re: Hacker news reader for iPhone

#21

Post by nirmal » Thu, Oct 08, 2009, 12:52 PM UTC

ique wrote: post #9

nirmal wrote: post #2

See http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=809181 for a discussion about other HN on the iPhone solutions. My version is at http://mobilehackernews.appspot.com/ It uses iUI for the list and if you click on a story link it uses arc90's Readability to make the site you visit easier to read. The Readability script also puts a button in the top left corner of the page to revert to the original version. http://lab.arc90.com/…

That actually seemed awesome until i started getting this on pretty much every page: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/base/python_lib/versions/1/google/appengine/ext/webapp/__init__.py", line 507, in __call__ handler.get(*groups) File "/base/data/home/apps/mobilehackernews /1.336829969607358575/main.py", line 137, in get html.head.append(cssCode) AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'append'

Odd, I saw that few times just now. But I can't reproduce it. The error suggests that when BeautifulSoup parsed to the contents of the posted article, it found a page with no head node in the HTML.

Re: Hacker news reader for iPhone

#22

Post by towndrunk » Thu, Oct 08, 2009, 12:55 PM UTC

Oompa wrote: post #8

http://www.icombinator.net/ works great for me, and costs nothing. Also has nifty instapaper functionality which I've grown to live on.

Very cool. Thanks for the link!

Re: Hacker news reader for iPhone

#23

Post by rbanffy » Thu, Oct 08, 2009, 1:00 PM UTC

brk wrote: post #13

rbanffy wrote: post #6

You know... Not everybody has iTunes on the computer... Or even a computer where iTunes is willing to run.

In that case then, this app probably isn't targeted at you.

I do, however, have an iPod and an iMac. I just happen to use Linux for work.

Re: Hacker news reader for iPhone

#24

Post by bvttf » Thu, Oct 08, 2009, 1:01 PM UTC

gcv wrote: post #17

vibhavs wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, I couldn't tell from the screenshots if the app allowed users to view comments on a submission. As we all know, the discussions can be as good as, if not better, than the articles.

Indeed. I'd buy this instantly if it provided an iPhone-friendly interface for reading the discussion, but I can't tell from the screenshots. Also, if there is a story view --- reasonably sized up-down voting arrows alone would make it worth paying for.

It doesn't even seem to have a way to log in, getting to comments is awkward, and threads are flattened to an iPhone list.

Re: Hacker news reader for iPhone

#25

Post by stse » Thu, Oct 08, 2009, 1:09 PM UTC

javery wrote: post #18

shabda wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it funny that a community of people who make their living off selling software are so averse to paying for it. How much of your hourly rate is the cost of buying this? How much time do you spend on HN daily? How much percent better does reading HN does this app need to make, for you to be ROI positive in a week?

It's not the problem of spending $2, it's the question of if that $2 is going to the right people.

One might think that the developer of the application is the right person to pay for the application.

Re: Hacker news reader for iPhone

#26

Post by shabda » Thu, Oct 08, 2009, 1:15 PM UTC

javery wrote: post #18

shabda wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it funny that a community of people who make their living off selling software are so averse to paying for it. How much of your hourly rate is the cost of buying this? How much time do you spend on HN daily? How much percent better does reading HN does this app need to make, for you to be ROI positive in a week?

It's not the problem of spending $2, it's the question of if that $2 is going to the right people.

Why is $2 going to some ppl who made something which provides you with value >2 everyday,(or some random value), the wrong people?

Extend the analogy only a little, "I dont buy anything on the internet as I want some of it to go to Tim Barnes Lee."

Re: Hacker news reader for iPhone

#27

Post by brk » Thu, Oct 08, 2009, 1:23 PM UTC

rbanffy wrote: post #23

brk wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In that case then, this app probably isn't targeted at you.

I do, however, have an iPod and an iMac. I just happen to use Linux for work.

Seriously, I'm not sure what the point of your comments are.

Based on the devices you stated and your presence here, it would seem you are astute enough to recognize that not every app is going to be applicable for all people. This app especially seems to target a niche of a niche (iPhone users reading HN), and is not even 100% necessary within that niche.

Most people would recognize that certain criteria must be met to be able to download and use an App from iTunes.

I don't mean to be harsh, your comments just sort of seemed like statements of the obvious.

Re: Hacker news reader for iPhone

#28

Post by mildweed » Thu, Oct 08, 2009, 1:35 PM UTC

javery wrote: post #18

shabda wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it funny that a community of people who make their living off selling software are so averse to paying for it. How much of your hourly rate is the cost of buying this? How much time do you spend on HN daily? How much percent better does reading HN does this app need to make, for you to be ROI positive in a week?

It's not the problem of spending $2, it's the question of if that $2 is going to the right people.

Indeed. This is the crux of our news organizations' current crisis. They create and organize the content, yet everybody else is using the content for profit. I choose to reward those who create and organize the content.

The delivery of content is extremely easy, especially for me since I'm a developer myself.

Re: Hacker news reader for iPhone

#29

Post by davidivins » Thu, Oct 08, 2009, 1:54 PM UTC

i installed it. i think it's pretty nice but still needs some work. for example, i don't like that it opens the links in safari. i'd rather stay within the application (like the reddit app). if i'm going to end up in safari every time i want to read something, i'll probably just use http://www.icombinator.net/ instead:(

Re: Hacker news reader for iPhone

#30

Post by chitchcock » Thu, Oct 08, 2009, 2:15 PM UTC

brk wrote: post #27

rbanffy wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do, however, have an iPod and an iMac. I just happen to use Linux for work.

Seriously, I'm not sure what the point of your comments are. Based on the devices you stated and your presence here, it would seem you are astute enough to recognize that not every app is going to be applicable for all people. This app especially seems to target a niche of a niche (iPhone users reading HN), and is not even 100% necessary within that niche. Most people would recognize that certain criteria must be met…

I'm guessing he would have rather had a link to the website about the app instead of the iTunes link.