July 2011
1 post
3 tags
Chrome extension with CoffeeScript
In this post I will describe how I worked with coffeescript for developing the chrome extension of appsflyer.
First of all, coffee-watcher is a must IMO. What it does is to watch .coffee files in a folder and compile them to javascript files as they are saved. At first I thought, what’s the point? One of the nice features of dynamic languages is the no need for compilation. With...
June 2011
2 posts
1 tag
iCard - Product suggestion for Apple
The introduction of the iCloud made me re-think a product idea I had before.
I once thought that it would be cool to have a product like the eye-fi that will send a photo from your high-quality camera to the iPhone, iPad or Android device for quick editing (instagram style) before sharing. Eye-fi has an mobile app that can do something like that however I don’t own a card so I never tested...
3 tags
iOS5 - The back button is all that's missing now...
I am an Android user.
I started with the Samsung Galaxy, moved to the Nexus One and moved on to the Samsung Galaxy S.
In between, I had an iPhone 3GS for a short while, hated every minute, and just wanted to go back to Android. It had nothing to do with multitasking and technical stuff like that. It was all about the basic stuff like user experience in the broader meaning.
The iPhone’s...
May 2011
1 post
2 tags
Developing working habits with Python
I recently left my job to try to bootstrap something on my own (http://appsflyer.com).
Originally I am a .net developer with extensive experience with server-side technologies but I decided to make a transition and move to Python since I felt that the innovation happens on the Python/Ruby side. Besides, I always want to remove the shackles of static languages and I felt the the .net community...
February 2011
3 posts
2 tags
Stardust - Movie bookmarking app
I want to share the idea of a pet project I currently work on.
As the title suggests, it is a site for bookmarking movies. Currently I code-named it Stardust.
Why?
Wandering through the internet (imdb for example), I encounter a lot of movies I know I would like to watch, however, when I want to watch a movie, all these movies just pop out of my head and I can’t seem to remember none!
...
1 tag
“Senior management is all about the innovation these days, but that’s only...”
2 tags
The future of online messaging
“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail”
Well apparently, email is the hammer of online messaging.
It is used for conversations, getting documents (from banks for example), file sharing, notifications and even advertising.
I recently expanded my toolbox to include tools such as Evernote and Dropbox. This made me reflect about the (ab)use of emails.
Evernote does...
January 2011
2 posts
4 tags
Sniptwit's source on bitbucket
About a year ago I created sniptwit, an educational pet project I that lets you share code snippets on twitter. I created it to learn google app engine and python.
I now open sourced its code and placed it on bitbucket.
Take a look here.
1 tag
The usability of the command line
There is no doubt that the graphic user experience is more usable and fun to work with than a terminal or a command line, however, as a developer I find the command line features of frameworks such as Django and Grails much more usable and simple than the graphical features of modern IDE’s.
October 2010
3 posts
1 tag
“… all software is designed by the arcane demands of programming languages...”
– The Inmates Are Running The Asylum
2 tags
Working with Waterfall
I am working on a Waterfall project again and being reminded of what’s wrong with it (a lot).
The gantt gave me 4 days to work on a feature however I am a little behind. Since the gantt said it will take 4 days (and it can’t be extended since it will impact other assignments) and I know that I have the testing phase of the QA ahead, I am not going to complete this feature and let the...
3 tags
I love micro web frameworks
I just love micro web frameworks. I am using bottle right now. In seconds you have an http server running and serving pages.
Setting up an ASP.NET site would take half a day and it can really kill motivation when starting to play with an idea.
May 2010
1 post
1 tag
How to find a SaaS idea
Just figured it out. Excel is massively violated.
Just find any usage of Excel that it was not intended for (not generating graphs or statistics calculation) and you got a good candidate for SaaS application.
Just a simple example from the top of my mind - expense reports.
April 2010
4 posts
The Kayak Framework: An easy way to speak HTTP... →
2 tags
YAGNINM
The ‘NM’ that complement YAGNI stands for No More.
Adding to the YAGNI principle which stands for You ain’t gonna need it, YAGNINM stands for cases when you only keep an existing feature for backward compatibility sake when it is clear that this feature is not required anymore.
You just fall in love with the fact that you have this feature and have hard time getting rid of it,...
1 tag
Books' forwards
Don’t really understand why books (usually computer books) have a forward written by a reviewer.
The reviewer is a friend of the author who always praises the author’s skills and the remarkable book he wrote.
Other than that you got an introduction, preafce, etc.
Just put all this stuff on the back cover.
When I open the book I want to get straight to business!
I have to mention...
1 tag
IT Commando teams and Internal start-ups
Beware of a team that describes itself as a “Commando team” or “Internal startup” inside a corporate.
Chances are that they expect you to work start-up crazy but you will have to fight corporate bureaucracy and procedures.
Not a good combination in my experience…
March 2010
5 posts
1 tag
Feel confident: Always have a plan B
I think this is the way to feel confident in your job. By having a plan B, you loose the fear of job insecurity.
For example, by having an idea for a business to start (such as a web initiative), you place yourself in a better position for a raise conversation in case you are not pleased with the results.
2 tags
2 tags
Rework advice - Avoid long term contarcts
I am reading the book Rework by 37 signals. One of the advices over there is to avoid long term contracts in order to reduce mass. I can uderstand the rational behind that but there is something that is not clear to me - there is no argue that you want to keep your customers happy, so shouldn’t you consider the first customer you have has a long term contract? You probably won’t tie...
stickybits →
Really liked the approach stickybits took to real world connection. They really managed give social value to real world objects.
The advantage barcodes has over real images that we use at http://xsights.com is their reveal-ability.
The downside is that it is harder to identify the barcode.
1 tag
Hello world!
Needed more space than twitter gives but not too much. Formal blogs are boring…