

Ask HN: What are you working on over the winter break? - pshapiro


======
mindcrime
FWIW, there's already a thread on this topic:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2026716>

But to answer the question: I started out with a goal of integrating Apache
Shindig[1] into Quoddy[2] to enable OpenSocial[3] support. A very basic
version of that is up and working, so now I'm working on refining the account
/ profile "stuff" in Quoddy and factoring out some common code for use in
another project[4].

I'm also trying to get in a fair bit of reading. I had started _Googled_ [5]
before the break, and I finished that earlier today. I'd also started _Simply
Complexity_ [6], which I finished sometime in the last 24 hours or so (time is
starting to become a fuzzy concept to me here). Then I read _The Facebook
Effect_ [7] which I just finished up a few minutes ago, and now I'm starting
to re-read Bill Gates' _Business @ The Speed of Thought_ [8]. Once I finish
that, I'm hoping to find time to squeeze in _The Art of Enterprise Information
Architecture_ [9] and - if things go smashingly well - _Complexity - A Guided
Tour_ [10].

1: <http://shindig.apache.org>

2: <https://github.com/fogbeam/Quoddy>

3: <http://www.opensocial.org>

4: <https://github.com/fogbeam/Neddick>

5: [http://www.amazon.com/Googled-End-World-As-
Know/dp/014311804...](http://www.amazon.com/Googled-End-World-As-
Know/dp/0143118048/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293254079&sr=1-1)

6: [http://www.amazon.com/Simply-Complexity-Clear-Guide-
Theory/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Simply-Complexity-Clear-Guide-
Theory/dp/1851686304/)

7: [http://www.amazon.com/Facebook-Effect-Inside-Company-
Connect...](http://www.amazon.com/Facebook-Effect-Inside-Company-
Connecting/dp/1439102112/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293254183&sr=1-1)

8: [http://www.amazon.com/Business-Speed-Thought-Succeeding-
Digi...](http://www.amazon.com/Business-Speed-Thought-Succeeding-
Digital/dp/0446675962/)

9: [http://www.amazon.com/Art-Enterprise-Information-
Architectur...](http://www.amazon.com/Art-Enterprise-Information-Architecture-
Systems-Based/dp/0137035713)

10: [http://www.amazon.com/Complexity-Guided-Tour-Melanie-
Mitchel...](http://www.amazon.com/Complexity-Guided-Tour-Melanie-
Mitchell/dp/0195124413)

~~~
pshapiro
"FWIW, there's already a thread on this topic:"

Thanks for pointing that out. Had no idea.

You've quite an impressive list there!

~~~
mindcrime
Well, I don't go back to work at my $DAYJOB until the 4th of Jan., so I still
have quite a bit of time for reading / hacking in front of me. :-)

------
state_machine
1) Writing a little RTS (similar to Space Game or Harvest, starting from
creepsmash: <http://towerdefence.hft-stuttgart.de/> )

2) Finding a job

3) QR Code Wrapping Paper <https://github.com/tinystatemachine/QRapping-Paper>

4) Learning Lift

5) A little app which parses police incident blotter PDFs and renders
histograms, heatmaps, etc, of crime data

6) Arduino hacking with 802.15.4 (ZibBee) radios

------
raganwald
<http://github.com/unspace/faux>

and:

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasb/>

------
headsclouds
Excellent question, I referenced it in a
[post](<http://blog.sprawsm.com/post/2455825582/breaks>) on our blog.

In our case we will try our best to push out at least the private beta of a
Web app we have been working on for a couple of months in-house. We have a
working, semi-functional alpha already which we are using internally, but
we're really hoping for a more completed feature set for the private beta.

~~~
pshapiro
Thanks man!

Interesting -- that's actually very similar in process to what we're doing. :)

------
p01nd3xt3r
1) <http://digest.io> \- diet manager

2) <http://spotted.at> \- social search

------
benologist
I'm optimizing the background services that do all the real work on Playtomic,
and refining them a little. Two down, three to go.

Then I'm going to go and add error catching to one obsolete component of the
system that's used by some games and throws just enough exceptions to bug me
in the eventlog.

I sent my pitch off today too to a guy who wants to be a part of it, so I'm
mentally exploring that possibility too.

------
WillyF
My tan and my beach volleyball game. Working a couple of hours a day and
getting back at it in January.

------
sahillavingia
<http://letscrate.com/> \- file-sharing.

<http://rmmbr.com/> \- notes.

<http://digitfish.com/> \- ratings.

------
fmstephe
A Distributed Sat-Solver written in Java with networking in Erlang.

Fun but no $$$

------
bendmorris
Working on implementing an interpreter for a functional language I designed
called Scotch.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2037560>

------
kevinburke
Redesigning my website, designing a website for Seva Mandir USA (an NGO I
volunteered for), fixing RSS After 5, trying to implement Google Instant for
text fields as a chrome extension

------
JoshCole
One thing I'm finishing up is a bot written in C++ for a slightly popular chat
program. First thing I've ever written that I expect someone will purchase.

------
korussian
A customized Google search-engine for ESL, Expat, and Korea-related info:
<http://searchESLCafe.com>

------
lovskogen
Redesigning parts of the ux in one of our apps. I've sketched out the new
layout, now awaits Coda.

------
chipsy
Trying to revive the art style of Ultima 1-5, upres it, and generally make it
more "stylish."

------
YuriNiyazov
a dating site that treats men and women differently.

------
rphlx
Reading "Programming Collective Intelligence".

------
rick_2047
Nothing as glamorous as you guys. Working as an intern at Gridbots
Technologies[1] which is a robotics company. It has helped me expand my
knowledge about embedded systems and pushed me to try out new things (like the
LPC2148 which is an ARM7 based controller).

After that I will work on a handheld AtMega32 based Interactive Fiction
platform on which you can write and play your own interactive fiction stories
(a bit old school but there is atleast one user, ME!)

