Here’s something crazy and pointless: did you know that LCD monitors draw single pixels by mixing three individual red, green and blue subpixels ? It’s true! In fact, some devices (like mobile phones and handheld gaming devices) actually use this to anti-alias text and make borders more distinct. Microsoft even use it…
Pádraig Brady taught me a great trick in a comment to a previous blog post and it was so neat I feel a need to highlight it further as it also makes it easier for me to find it again later! To simulate a far away server, add RTT time to the localhost device. For … Continue reading Add latency to localhost →
After reviewing several hundred startup pitches for Capital Factory, I found several extremely common problems. You're probably making the same mistakes -- I did have too ten years ago -- so let's get that fixed.
SQL is ugly but powerful, ORM is genuinely dumb, and "NoSQL" should really be called OMADS: Obviously More Appropriate Data Stores. Start every project with an RDBMS, add specialized stores where they fit, and stop apologizing for using SQL. Forty years on, nothing beats it for ad-hoc questions about your data.
Tidying up my messy corner in the basement I unearthed one of my older "ideas books" in which I write down the random ideas that flit throug...
The other day I saw the announcement for the new Chrome OS test laptop and decided to sign up on the off-chance that I might be able to snag one. In the request form I made it very clear that I would be attempting to use this laptop for development (easily my primary activity). Surprisingly the laptop arrived this…
REWORK, our new book on starting, building, and growing — or not growing — a business was released one week ago today. The book is selling out around the country and rocketed to #3 on Amazon.com’s bestseller list. Thanks to everyone who picked up a copy and spread the word. But…
O’Reilly just published Beautiful Code. I was invited to contribute, but I just could not go along with the premise. I disagree that beauty is a guiding principle of programming. Here is how …
Almost exactly a year ago, Google made one of the most remarkable press releases in the Web 2.0 era. Of course, by "press release", I actually mean keynote at their own conference, and by "remarkable" I mean potentially-transformative and groundbreaking. I am referring of course to the announcement of Google Wave , a…
Entrepreneurs crave information about successful startups, and they should. Most of the received wisdom about business and entrepreneurship ...
[tweetmeme source= ‘plamere’ only_single=false] One of my favorite hacks at last weekend’s Music Hack Day is Tristan’s Swinger. The Swinger is a bit of python code that tak…
Don't talk to the cops about any significant crime ...ESPECIALLY if you're innocent. Here's why.
I’ve read a hundred books a year for the past couple years. Last time I mentioned this, a couple people asked how I could read so many books. Do I read unusually quickly? Do I spend an unusual amount of time reading? I did a simple calculation: The average person spends 1704 hours a year watching TV. If the average…
Since its inception, Whereoscope has been an iPhone-only shop. The genesis of this iPhone-fetishism goes all the way back to the very first iPhone: in a way, it was the potential that device tantal…
Dan Grover is an engineer, designer, and product leader living between Portland and Oakland.
