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Why are web applications more popular than desktop applications with investors?
How often do you install a new desktop application? How often do you try out a new web application?
[... 36 words]Is it even possible to think of a new idea? Anything that I think of has either been done, or someone is doing it. How do you keep yourself motivated enough to pursue it?
A lot of the time it’s not just about the idea, it’s also about timing. There are plenty of ideas which have failed in the past but could succeed if tried again today. A few things to consider:
[... 180 words]What recommendations are there for conference venues in London for between 50-100 people?
The Magic Circle offer a small, intimate venue with some great history. They are just behind Euston Station. They can seat 150 people. http://themagiccirclevenue.co.uk/
[... 44 words]NoSQL: Whats the simplest on disk key-value storage?
Surprisingly there doesn’t seem to be an obvious answer to this. Here are a few options:
[... 164 words]What are some fun, interesting things to do or see in the Islington area?
There’s an awesome old post office building hidden behind the Almeida theatre. It’s an enormous, faded and broken multi-storey warehouse taking up a full city block. I’m fascinated by it—it’s such a huge, grand looking building and it’s clearly now deserted. I think there might be a project to turn it in to flats, but it’s absolutely worth taking a peek to catch it in its run-down glory: https://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=51...—best place to see it from is Almeida Street (here’s a glimpse of it on streetview, doesn’t really capture how grand it is though: https://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=51... )
[... 120 words]What is the scope, as a career, for a Python developer?
Don’t be an “X developer”. You’re selling yourself short if you define yourself by the technology you most frequently use.
[... 169 words]What are the differences between node.js and websockets?
This is like asking “what’s the difference between PHP and HTTP”. Node.js is a technology framework you write code in. WebSockets is a protocol which can be implemented using a technology framework. You can use Node.js to implement the server-side aspect of WebSockets.
[... 57 words]Is it bad practice to have a variable that has the same name as a function?
Yes, it’s definitely not a good idea. In Python functions and variables share the same namespace, so if you create a variable with the same name as a function you won’t be able to call that function.
[... 93 words]How do you convince your employer to pay your way to a conference and justify the cost without being able to show something tangible in return?
There are a few ways to approach this.
[... 210 words]How difficult is to to learn a language framework, like node.js?
The answer varies enormously depending on the language and the framework. Some frameworks are very easy to pick up, others are harder.
[... 162 words]Public Speaking: Where can I find someone to represent me as a speaker?
There are speaker agencies that specialise in this kind of thing, but they’re mainly targeted at larger events which expect to pay $5,000-$50,000 or even higher for speaker. They might not be as well suited to setting you up with gigs at startup events, which are less likely to pay enough money to make it worthwhile for an agent (most agents take a cut of the speaker fee).
[... 104 words]How do you organize the code in your Django project?
For http://lanyrd.com/ our layout looks something like this:
[... 214 words]Are there any good examples of ’large amounts of information being displayed simply and intuitively?’
Much of Edward Tufte’s career has been dedicated to documenting (and inventing) ways of handling these problems—his books are an absolute joy to browse through: http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/
[... 75 words]What are some fun things to do in Camden Town, London?
Check out Brew Dog http://www.brewdog.com/bars/camden—excellent craft beers and really good (and interesting) burgers.
[... 33 words]What are some creative programs to use for presentations?
Here’s a trick I’ve used with success in the past: set up your Mac to have 9 virtual desktops, then arrange your “slides” on each desktop using a combination of applications. I’ve done this with a title slide in keynote on the first desktop, a text editor with some sample code on the second, a terminal prompt set up for live coding on the third, a browser showing a demo on the fourth and so on. Learn the keyboard commands to switch between desktops and off you go.
[... 169 words]What are the ways to Convert Dynamic JSP pages to a Static HTML to Appear in Google search results?
You don’t have to do anything. You’re misunderstanding how dynamic server-side languages like JSP work.
[... 202 words]What are the top five items to pique interest in developers to join a startup?
It’s all about shipping.
[... 251 words]Why is everyone so obsessed with picking faults with Apple’s new maps on the iPhone?
Because this is actually a really big deal. For a lot of people (especially those who live in a big city like London or New York) the maps app is one of the most-used apps on their phone. The new iOS maps are a huge regression, not just in terms of map quality but also in terms of search results. On iOS 6 (at least here in the UK) you can’t even type in a simple address and trust that your phone will show you a pin in the right place.
[... 143 words]Why doesn’t the Django framework come with its own REST API out of the box?
I’d argue that it does. If you want to build a REST API you need to be able to map incoming HTTP requests to handler functions based on their URL, run some custom code and return an HTTP response containing JSON (or maybe XML). Django makes all of this really simple.
[... 330 words]What is a development framework?
The most useful distinction, in my opinion, is to think about the difference between a framework and a library.
[... 271 words]Which are the big Tech and Social Media events coming up from September onward (USA & Europe)?
Our site http://lanyrd.com/ is a good bet for answering this type of question. We operate a wikipedia-style index of professional events and conferences, a large portion of which are tech/social media related.
[... 262 words]What does attending academic talks give you that you can’t get out of skimming the latest articles in all of your field’s journals?
Conferences are all about the people. Sure, you can stay at home and read the journals or even watch videos of talks—but you’ll be missing out on the opportunity to get to know the other attendees. You can often learn more from conversations with other attendees than you can from listening to the speakers!
[... 85 words]Did Mark Zuckerberg have any knowledge on building scalable social networks prior to starting work on Facebook?
I’m going to bet he didn’t have this knowledge, simply because back when he launched Facebook in 2004 almost NO ONE had this knowledge—there simply weren’t enough “web scale” products around for the patterns needed to run them to be widely discussed.
[... 143 words]Scalability: What is the best way to store and serve hundreds of GB of images for a heavy traffic website?
If you’re not going to use a service like S3, your best bet is to run something like MogileFS (which was designed by LiveJournal for handling images) and stick Varnish (a screamingly fast HTTP caching server) in front of it.
[... 66 words]What happens at Amazon once I make an order?
Here’s a fascinating article about Amazon’s fulfilment center in Swansea, Wales which gives a glimpse behind the scenes: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/new...
[... 35 words]Seattle, what is a great prize to give away at a conference?
The LEGO Architecture model of the Space Needle. Everyone loves lego, and the architecture series is clearly not intended as a children’s toy so it’s ideal for a conference giveaway. http://shop.lego.com/en-GB/Seatt...
[... 50 words]How does a new Website that depends on content from users start?
The tried and tested way to solve this problem is with a closed alpha period. Launch the site as a private alpha, then invite a bunch of people you know and trust to start trying it out. Once you launch to the public you’ll already have some content and more importantly you’ll have set an example of how new users to the site should behave.
[... 121 words]Events (leisure): How can I get into presentations, mixers and meetups without paying the entry fee?
Speak to the organisers and volunteer to help out at the event. This works for all different sizes of events and is a very effective way of getting in to an event for free. As a volunteer you also get a great excuse to interact more with the attendees and speakers.
[... 73 words]What are some tips for giving a lightning talk at a conference?
Tips for general public speaking still hold for lightning talks. Here are some tips that might help:
[... 236 words]SXSW Interactive or An Event Apart?
I’ve been to both, and they are very different kinds of event.
[... 303 words]