ejain

Natural language interfaces can be very frustrating when they (inevitably) don't recognize (or worse, misinterpret) your input... I'd rather have commands that are easy to remember (i.e. simple and consist).

I've learned to not hold my breath when companies talk about releasing stuff (e.g. an API), especially when they say they're "working hard" on it...

I wonder about that bike track to the summit of Mt Rainier...

Burying the URL makes it less likely that a beginner will ever advance to be a power user.

I've had this for months now? It's useful, but I don't think it's going to put anyone out of business... Also, I still can't register my https-only website for ad analytics, what's up with that?

Before resorting to Fixing It, I might first Report It.

Your integration tests should count as one client?

Fine, but you can't provide clients for all languages and frameworks, so make sure your REST API is simple enough for those who need to make do without an official client library.

Too bad the terms of the deal aren't public, because that would tell us if this is just another talent acquisition, or if Facebook has an interest in the app (or data)...

I've been using the Moves app to add important context to my "quantified self" data on zenobase.com. The Saga app is an alternative in case Moves languishes--at least until they get acquired by someone, too :-)

CHF 3 = USD 3.40

Discussion of flawed statistical methods in 3... 2... 1...

I'm guessing Nike isn't abandoning the FuelBand (or Nike+), just their in-house hardware team. Wristbands are commodities now, so someone in management might have decided to outsource.

Too many homeless people on the sidewalks?

They were going to build a proper site, but then one of their key employees was poached...

I'm also thinking about doing some freelance work right now.

One thing I'm unsure about is if it's wise to do consulting in the same space my startup is in (fitness & health data aggregation and analysis), or if I should stick to unrelated technical work (java, elasticsearch, angularjs), to avoid potential trouble with non-compete agreements and such.

Maybe; but Zuckerberg didn't buy the company, Facebook did.

Or perhaps it's the massive infusion of funding that makes the US defense industry breathtakingly inefficient? :-)

Still not breaking even after two years (full-time!). But I'm getting there, and it's an exciting space to be in (zenobase.com).

How about these "features":

* Your insurer can decide not to cover a treatment because, after digging through your medical history, they find something that lets them claim it's a preexisting condition.

* Your insurer can cancel your plan, and not let you sign up for a new one.

Other examples of visualizations and tools for this kind of data?

I'd love to see this work, but I'm not going to hold my breath (or my glucose levels), either...

If you are going to be paid (even just in part) with stock options, you are investing, so do your "due diligence"!

Pretty much all ToS have a clause that states that the terms can change any time. Where services differ is whether they'll provide you with advance notice (or if you're expected to check for changes yourself!), and if you are able to close your account and have your data removed (I believe this is required in the EU).

Looking at http://www.whatsapp.com/legal/, it appears that WhatsApp falls into the "we can change our terms without letting you know" category, and I don't see anything about their data retention policy :-(

Hard to argue with this logic:

1. Poorly designed unit tests are a waste.

2. Most code is poorly designed.

3. Therefore most unit tests are a waste.

To be fair, there's no shortage of high level advice on how to write good tests (e.g. "each change in the code should break just one test"), but it's hard to find examples of how to do so in practice (unless you're writing yet another calculator app)...

Researchers do studies that show e.g. that drinking coffee in the afternoon has a significant effect on sleep (let's say it results in an average of 15 minutes less sleep, p < 0.05).

This is valuable information, but people are different, so the question is, to what extent does this apply to me?

Genetics might help predict this (rs762551 ?), but in practice I'll just need to test this for myself.

The notion that there aren't always one-size-fits-all solutions is well accepted (though often still not well implemented) in medicine (a.k.a. personalized medicine).

The best use of this data isn't for finding problems, but for evaluating solutions:

- Do I sleep better if I don't listen to techno music before going to bed?

- Does not exercising late in the evening help?

- How about not drinking coffee in the afternoon?

- Lowering the room temperature?

Sometimes the effects are obvious, but often they are subtle, and it's easy to delude yourself (for a while at least) that a solution is helping when in fact it isn't.

If you prefer "confirmatory analysis" over the "correlate all the things" approach then check out zenobase.com (I'm the founder). The answers you get are as smart as the questions you ask :-)

That said, I also just signed up for for Exist.io; the screenshots look great, and I'm curious to see where this leads!

Touch screens in cars are a great idea... in places with smooth, pothole-free roads :-)

I wonder if Google is regretting making the camera a fixed, non-detachable part of Google Glass?

In browsers, yes, but what about apps? Search StackOverflow for e.g. "ssl ignore server certificate" and despair...