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ja27

3,187 karma · joined April 14, 2009

I'm a refugee from a small company building enterprise software for multiple Fortune 500 companies and government agencies.

Now I run Thinkamingo where we build fun educational mobile apps.

I'm helping build BioscanR where we're applying modern sensor technology and analysis in the healthcare space.

I help run Tampa Hackerspace where I mostly get to watch other people build neat stuff while I focus on building the hackerspace. But I get to dabble in electronics, microcontrollers, art, 3D printing, etc. when I can.

I coach FIRST robotics, teaching high school kids to build and program competitive robots.

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ja27··on Twitter was down
"This one API user has more calls than all the others combined."

"Disable them and see what happens."

ja27··on Tell HN: Gitlab Premium pricing increases incoming $19 to $29
And that you retain nearly 100% of those
ja27··on Ask HN: Has Apple abandoned Objective-C?
Apple's abandoned documentation more than Objective-C
ja27··on Ask HN: Why aren't laptops evaluated with a plot of performance vs. fan noise?
The last Intel MacBook was discontinued 16 months ago
ja27··on Ask HN: Where do people meet up socially at least once a week?
Makerspace / hackerspace. Mine does an open house every week and maybe 3-10 classes or other events most weeks.
ja27··on 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief
Probably good to mention that (at least on the trip I took), the coach seats have a leg rest you can pull up for almost a recliner-style experience.
ja27··on Star Trek Voyager Intro Was Created on Commodore Amiga
To close the Star Trek - Amiga loop, Wil Wheaton worked for NewTek (Amiga video hardware/software company) as a tester then evangelist ("Toaster Punk") in the same timeframe.

https://youtu.be/C_K8vnx2ZDc?t=111

ja27··on A Matchbox Game-Learning Machine (1991) [pdf]
Yes - I keep a copy of the Martin Gardner Scientific American article (which this link appears to be a re-print of) inside my copy of The Adolescence of P-1.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adolescence_of_P-1

ja27··on My best techniques for evaluating character
In Boy Scouts, there's the "oreo test" for potential leaders:

https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2014/02/26/try-this-identi...

ja27··on USB-C can hit 120Gbps with newly published USB4 Version 2.0 spec
It was retroactively renamed to "2023 Gen 1"
ja27··on MacBook Pro featuring M2 Pro and M2 Max
Yeah my 16" M1 Pro draws 10-12w a lot of the time even with Slack, browser, Docker, and more running.
ja27··on Barnes and Noble's surprising turnaround
They just ran a 50% off sale on boardgames (and hardcovers). The boardgame signs said something like "once it's gone, it's gone", making me wonder if they're cutting way back on boardgames.
ja27··on Barnes and Noble's surprising turnaround
Mine literally has a book on programming iOS 5. I think I read parts of that copy when iOS 5 came out 11 years ago.

Borders was always so much better for technical books :(

ja27··on Ask HN: What was being a software developer like about 30 years ago?
Yeah it was huge for me when books started to come with CD-ROM copies (c. 1997?) and I could fit more than one "book" in my laptop bag.
ja27··on iPad Pro M2
Seems pretty simple with iCloud for Windows.
ja27··on Longevity of Recordable CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays (2020)
I've oddly noticed zero issues reading CD-R's going back to 1999 as recently as last year. I could certainly have some unnoticed bitrot but compressed archives have restored fine.
ja27··on Senators introduce bill to thin out the 900k pieces of orbiting junk
Or 1977-78's Quark
ja27··on Can the American mall survive?
They dumped all of the malls they own here
ja27··on Ask HN: Is Inflation Affecting You?
Pepsi/Coke soft drink prices are insane here. Local grocery store chain is now as high as $2.99 for a 2L. Meanwhile 7-Eleven always has them on sale at 2/$3.50.

Anything that makes me drink less of them is better shrug.

ja27··on Amtrak's Viral Train Tweet Inspired Twitter to Get Super Succinct
Yeah I don't know what the true origin was but Theo seems to think he started at least this cycle back 2+ weeks ago:

https://twitter.com/pingdotgg/status/1558254879281332224

ja27··on App Store doesn't accept “too simple” apps
Been there. I have an iOS app that’s been a solid top 100 in it’s category and has been featured multiple times on the App Store. I decided to port it to macOS mostly as an experiment but a few reviews had asked for it. It was a big pain (pre-Catalyst or anything else). But I got it working well enough and thought it looked decent. I submitted it only to get it kicked back with the “too simple” rejection. Yeah, it’s simple, but people love it and use it. I didn’t even bother appealing.
ja27··on The many derivatives of CP/M
IBM's 4690 point-of-sale controllers ran an OS derived from CP/M, so even in the early 2000s, CP/M was running in a lot of Fortune 500 retail stores.
ja27··on I turned my iPad Pro into my main computer (2021)
Yeah I hit:

> It is quite pricey if you purchase it from the store

and stopped reading. A one-time payment of $19.99 for an app you use all day every day is not 'quite pricey'.

ja27··on Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
I know a few people that must make good money resin-casting RPG dice. Some are super-fancy with all kinds of embedded decorations but one is just a clone of original D&D Basic Set dice (aka "Holmes dice"). Can't keep them in stock.
ja27··on Best radios to use in an emergency (2021)
While I still prefer more expensive, weatherproof ham handhelds, the UV-5R is almost throw-away cheap, making it easy to keep a couple on hand to hand out. Also program in at least any local NOAA weather stations.

A bonus is FM broadcast reception. Was a real help keeping my mother-in-law occupied once we lost power and internet during a tropical storm.

ja27··on SpaceX launches three Falcon 9 rockets in 36 hours
You're counting flights instead of boosters. They have one (B1060) that's flown 13 flights and two (B1051 and B1058) that have flown 12 flights.
ja27··on Tell HN: Instagram requires you to enter birth date (and provide ID)
Relatedly, 9to5Mac got their Twitter account locked today for the same reason.

https://twitter.com/9to5Mac

ja27··on Tell HN: Instagram requires you to enter birth date (and provide ID)
To be safe, you also never want to pick an age so that you were under 13 when the account was originally created. Some services will lock you out for that too.
ja27··on Apple unveils all-new MacBook Air, supercharged by the new M2 chip
Anker Nano II is tiny and does 65 watts.

RavPower sells some dual-port models that will do 90W PD if you use one port or 45/45W or 60/30W using both ports. I ran my i9 MBP on the single port and it regularly drew 90W.

ja27··on Apple unveils all-new MacBook Air, supercharged by the new M2 chip
45W is likely plenty for almost any use.

I have the 16" M1 Pro MacBook Pro and regularly run it from a small 30W USB-C PD charger. That keeps up with the demand even running Photoshop, Minecraft, Xcode, etc.

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