February 2012
4 posts
1 tag
What happens when the Mafia goes home?
I have just been following a Twitter conversation by two of my friends - Semil Shah & Jason Putorti…
@semil …and don’t forget when Facebook vesting cliff hits. Explosion of new companies and talent on the market.
@putorti yep, w/ Quora, Path, Asana + all the angels/VCs already in place, that mafia will just grow & grow in power.
In Silicon Valley, there are mafias-...
How to learn absolutely anything
1. Find a tutorial
2. Do everything in the tutorial. Don’t just watch or read. Do.
3. Go back to step 1
1 tag
2 Inspirational Links
Evolution of Louis CK
14 years ago: the day Teller gave me the secret to my career in magic
December 2011
1 post
2 tags
I did a #juicefast. The results & why I'll do it...
Two weeks ago I watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. The gist is an overweight guy juiced himself back to health after an extensive juicefast. While I was not overweight (210 lbs), I have gained a few pounds since my rowing days when I was 195lbs. My goal was to go for an entire week - but after 3 days I decided to stop.
From my crew days -
More recently after filling out a bit-
An...
October 2011
1 post
4 tags
Editing online courses like modern browser...
After watching the first videos released for Stanford’s AI Course, it is clear the course is still quite rough. Traditional problems both in Academia & online courses are pervasive throughout the short clips. However by just following modern browser development, like Google Chrome’s release strategy, I think the AI course can remedy most of these issues.
Here are the problems as...
August 2011
4 posts
3 tags
How to use Git branching →
For the last few months, I have been pushing code to github just hacking on the master branch, and committing changes as I get them done. The problem with this is your code is cluttered with unfinished features and basically a mess (even for a solo developer). As I move everything to EC2, this will be the process I adopt moving forward.
4 tags
Why do tickets to tech company conferences cost so...
F8 was just announced, and the tickets are priced at $400 a pop. I don’t know about you guys, but for an individual developer (who would love to go), $400 is crazy money. Why do tech company conferences cost so much?!?
Facebook is charging the people who expand their ecosystem to attend an event which will result in Facebook growing further. This doesn’t make sense to me. I understand...
2 tags
Google+ Study Hall #idea
Recently I became interested in Google+ Hangouts as a platform - tons of uses for a group video chat. Tonight, I had one idea that seems really easy & useful for procrastinators.
Google+ Hangout Study Hall.
Join the group, put your audio on mute, and learn whatever you need to learn. Maybe someone else in the room can help out when you have a question - but the core is to get people...
How to install the Facebook Like Button
Instead of pointing the like button at your domain, point it to your Facebook Page.
With Housefed, I set up the Like Button to http://housefed.com. The problem this presents is your Facebook page will then have a different number of likes from your website. Therefore your social credibility within Facebook is different than your website.
To kill two birds with one stone- put a Fb Like Button to...
July 2011
1 post
3 tags
1 year since I quit my job to learn how to code
It has been 1 year since I left my job to learn how to code full-time. While I loved every minute of it, here is a final post on the transition, the lessons I’ve learned & the risks I took to get it done. (Note- I do not recommend everyone to go a year without health insurance. Just throwing that out upfront. If I didn’t, my mother would kill me.)
Do you have enough $...
June 2011
13 posts
What's wrong with being wrong? →
Housefed Blog: The web has forgotten something →
housefed:
On my way to Watermelon beer on the beach (which got detoured by the freezing SF weather which changes every 1000 meters), I ran into Craig Newmark. Well I didn’t run into him - he was on the same train as me, and I saw him as he exited. In a moment of geeky excitement, I tweeted, “…
Housefed Blog: Delete your homepage →
housefed:
Traditional advice on Homepage design would be, “Have a clear message with a more than obvious call to action.” Then A/B test it till you are blue in the face. I think this is wrong. Instead of worrying about the effectiveness of your homepage, delete it, and worry about building a great…
Your Startup Sucks: How to (Fucking) Hire... →
startupsucks:
This is a fairly coarse article. There’s a gentler version posted here.
This is a topic that has really gotten out of hand. There are all sorts weighing in these days — along with far too much jowl waggling by middle managers and idealist super hackers.
So let’s cut the shit and get…
3 tags
Is your site addicting?
There are two sites which have gotten a lot of traction in the last few weeks: Turntable.fm & Fitocracy. Turntable.fm lets you DJ & listen to music. Fitocracy lets you log your workouts for social recognition & rewards. Both are growing like crazy, and good barometers for how quickly a smart site can grow.
Why are these sites growing so quickly?
Answer- the instant benefit seen by new...
Conan O'Brien's 2011 Dartmouth College... →
Housefed Blog: Launch your site too soon →
housefed:
Housefed has been live for a little more than 2 months without the core functionality. On March 28th - with only a few days of testing, I posted ‘Review my startup: Housefed.com - Airbnb for Food’ to get feedback on the idea, and my execution so far. Because I launched it before I was…
Grabbing Facebook user's photo using Graph API
If you have a Facebook user’s id or username, you can actually grab their photo in 4 different sizes using the Graph API.
The url is: http://graph.facebook.com/{{username or user.id}}/picture?type={{size}}
The four sizes are : small, normal, large, and square.
Examples-
Small (33px height)- http://graph.facebook.com/emilep/picture?type=small
Normal (67px height)-...
Lesson One
OH “No one knows the best way to do anything”
How I Failed, Failed, and Finally Succeeded at... →
You may not know where you are headed...
…just keep the boat pointed in the right direction. You’ll get there eventually.
Get Better →
Want to learn how to code? Just listen to this... →
May 2011
4 posts
What do you guys think about this article?... →
“Energy and persistence conquer all things.”
– Benjamin Franklin
1 tag
Proudn00b is coming back!
It has been forever since I wrote a post (mainly because I’ve been focused on Housefed). Sorry about that! For a while I wanted to distance myself from the title of “proud n00b” - but I think Housefed has proved I’ve graduated from that title. So time to just write, and speak my mind. I am still learning how to code. However, after 10 months, I’m no longer trying to...
Housefed is on Techcrunch! →
“Will services like Housefed, which provides a personal meal service, create a welcome alternative to nuking frozen food for dinner? ”- From “The P2P Evolution”
April 2011
1 post
Housefed hit 500 users!!
housefed:
This week we passed 500 users! 1 month down - 500 users. So awesome! We have a long road to go, but thanks for all of the support! This is just the beginning :)
Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I’ve been super busy with Housefed & getting the site ready for meal booking. If you haven’t signed up, check it out!
The main lesson is to continuously iterate. I get...
March 2011
6 posts
Another proudn00b - Follow @freshfey !!
Feyyaz has been one of my strongest supporters, and I’m happy to say he is starting an internship tomorrow to also become a hacker. Show him some love & support!
You can learn how to code too!
freshfey:
Tomorrow I’ll start an internship with a really cool company in Zurich (offices in NYC as well). I’ll work with a great hacker together to turn myself into a hacker as well. Let’s...
8 months later - Make Mistakes
For the last two days, I have been working on CropZoom, a jQuery plugin, for Housefed. If you read the post before this one, you’ll see I was looking for a Python library to handle the image resizing. I was able to find a Python solution, but it wasn’t the best fit for the problem, so I did a U turn and looked at jQuery.
This simple story epitomizes the last 8 months that I’ve...
2 tags
Python library to handle photo uploads /resizing
For Housefed, I am looking for a python library / module to allow the user to :
1. Upload an image
2. Resize/crop it to fit 300px X 400px box
3. Save the image
Currently I am using a simple python hack that uploads the image, crops, and ultimately distorts the image. This worked initially to make sure the system works, but I need a more sophisticated system that allows the user to control...
Lessons from Front-end Dev Interviews
I recently got an email asking for a post on the lessons learned from my recent interviews. You ask and you shall receive…
——
A few weeks back I was in the hunt from a Front-end Developer job at Zappos. There were three rounds that I went through before being sent the dreaded rejection email.
First Round was a phone screen with the recruiter. Basically answer questions about...
3 tags
Using Django Comments with a Redirect
One problem I’ve had with Django Comments is redirecting the user after submitting a comment. The default is to render a confirmation page (which seems weird to me). In the Django form, there is a next variable you can define.
Because I’m using the comments for both Photos & Meals in Housefed, I needed a solution for defining next in both cases. If you want to use the default...
2 tags
Are your friends on Housefed?
Since going through that process to get Facebook Oauth2 built into Housefed, I have been really excited about the opportunities it provides.
User’s having a photo at registration
Pulling the user’s location
One click sign-in
However tonight I found another awesome plugin- Facepile.
Facepile lets a visitor see if any of their friends have already connected to your site BEFORE they...
February 2011
14 posts
What does AirBnB think of Housefed?
Boo ya!
1 tag
Hey Apple, this is what I want
13in MacBookPro
i5 processor
4GB RAM
No optical drive
“Retina display” (what’s up with keeping the old display?!)
10hr battery (for reals) - yeah you can dump “Thunderbolt” if you need to
Audio line in & Audio line out (whats up with 1 outlet for both?)
4 USB ports (4..its like 3 but 1 more…)
Comes with updated OSX (or free update within 1 year)
...
Day 2: Rescued! Follow @richardtalens
After much toil and trouble, @richardtalens figured it out!
A rogue FB JS file was getting listed twice- once with my other js files, the other with the login. Removed the file in the base- and BAM worked!
So follow @richardtalens!
PS the module used is Django socialregistration
2 tags
Day 2: Facebook Permissions & Django Battle Royale
Day 2: Spirits were running low. The absurdity of the situation has set in. Now it is just laughable…
Facebook seriously is a pain in the A$$ is to integrate with Django. Yesterday, I got the login to work, but not the permissions. Today, I used django socialregistration, a module another friend has working, and one that worked once for me- until it broke. I had to click the button 10+...
4 tags
Ask Proudn00b: Adding Fb Connect Oath2 to Django
In preparation for Launch and SxSW, I am integrating Fb Connect to the site. There are two modules you can get pyfacebook & django-facebookconnect that will get you most of the way.
The one bug you’ll run into is how to test the authentication from your local machine. With Facebook, you add your URL in the application settings- that is different from your localhost. To trick it, follow...
Housefed is going to SxSW!!!
Just got an invite on @TheStartupBus to SxSW! Cram a bunch of people on a bus from Silicon Valley, 48 hrs later, arrive in Austin with a new startup. Super stoked!
That also gives me 2.5 weeks to get Housefed rocking for a killer Austin unveiling.
The question is:
How can I find a ton of foodies/hosts in Austin to join Housefed?
1 tag
I'm headed to LAUNCH!
…as a developer (got a free Dev ticket), but I’m going none-the-less!
Thanks again guys for your help!
Housefed is getting stronger by the day, so I promise to not let you down.
2 tags
How Housefed.com Will Get into LAUNCH
Tomorrow will be the 7 month anniversary since I quit my job to learn how to code. Every day since, I’ve been learning Python, CSS, JS, and HTML- building little projects along the way, but learning none the less. The culmination of all this work is my new site which I’m super stoked about - Housefed. But you are wondering, how will I get into LAUNCH?
It started back on July 16. I had...
Egypt
If Egypt doesn’t get you excited about the power of the web, I don’t know what will.
5 tags
Subclasses & the Source Code
Last week I hit a bug I knew I could fix - but I couldn’t. After a day of banging my head against the wall, I came to one conclusion. I needed to reread ‘Learning Python’ to get a better handle on the language.
One of my talents I just recognized is the ability to find patterns. I can see the repetition in Django docs for views or forms, and basically riff off that to hack...
1 tag
How do you handle outside feedback?
Housefed has gone through 3 iterations in about 2 weeks - and it is still an Alpha. So what has changed in that time period? Well I changed the site to fit Plan B, but am now concerned, and think I should have just focused on Plan A.
When I have an idea, I go through a cycle - a cycle that I’ve gotten fairly familiar with.
Inspiration strikes - Eureka! A killer idea!
Plan A - sketches,...
1 tag
For ordinary people with extraordinary dreams
Watch this video. For some reason the embed isn’t working :/
1 tag
It's 3:26am...Are you an Alpha Tester?
My new site, Housefed.com, needs some awesome testers. Are you signed up?
If you are any of the following, please go to Housefed.com and drop me your email!
A foodie
Outside the US
Want to be the Housefed Mayor of your city (working on the name)
A techie who wants to meet other techies
Oh and why is Emile up at, now, 3:30am writing this? Because I think this site is going to rock :)
Thanks...
2 tags
Simplicity is Hard
As I’m opening up Housefed.com to the public, the site has gone through 3 versions in the last three days. Yes, 3 dramatic iterations.
Version 1: Pretty Good, but will be really hard to get traction
Version 2: Much Better, but a mix of V1 with new ideas -> Confusing
Version 3: Simplified V2, dropping V1 ideas all together (but those will come back down the road)
I realize this is all...
January 2011
14 posts
1 tag
Alpha Testing this Weekend
I will be opening the new site for testing this weekend. If you would like to help out, please leave a comment on this post.
Some people left comments on the first post, that works fine too :)
If you love food & cooking (and outside the US), then I would really appreciate your help!