Harry Wolff

Groupon and LivingSocial: My E-mail Friends

Harry — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:53:44 +0000

I just unsubscribed from my Groupon and LivingSocial coupon e-mails. I’m sad to say that in recent memory none of the deals have been appropriate for me. More often than not the e-mails head straight to my trash bin. A few deals I let sit in my inbox for a few hours, giving myself some time to decide if I should trash it or buy it. However in the past 2-3 months all those deals end up going straight to the trash.

Throughout the entire time that I’ve subscribed to Groupon & LivingSocial I’ve purchased around 5 deals. Those 5 deals were purchased on 5 separate occasions. That means that from all the daily e-mails I’ve received only 5 have piqued my interest enough to buy. The ratio of e-mails received to deals purchased is incredibly poor.

I won’t lie that waking up to 2-3 e-mails each morning is somewhat of a comfort. I find it mildly depressing when I wake up to an empty inbox. I feel somehow neglected and forgotten. That’s one reason why I was never eager to unsubscribe from the Groupon and LivingSocial e-mails. It was nice waking up to those daily deals each day.

For a while I would welcome those e-mails, curious and eager to see if there was a deal waiting in my inbox that was perfect for me. However as the weeks have passed and the seasons have changed I’ve increasingly found myself beginning a new routine. I now see how fast I can delete the daily deals from my inbox. I hate the clutter the e-mails add to my inbox and how none of them interest me in the slightest.

So today I unsubscribed from all of my Groupon and LivingSocial subscriptions. I will not miss the weight they added to my morning e-mail clean-up. I also do not fear that I’ll miss a deal that is right for me. Usually the deals that are truly good people talk about online and share. I know that’s what I did. Whenever I found a pearl I would share it with my Facebook and Twitter friends. I just hope that they’ll do the same for me now that I’m out of the loop.

So long Groupon & LivingSocial, and thanks for all the (cheap) fish!

Novel Craigslist Scammer

Apple Scotland’s Funny Siri Ad

Harry — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:47:32 +0000

Sure, it may not be the real thing but this hypothetical ad for Apple Scotland’s version of Siri is very funny. 10 points for you if you can make out every word he says.

Mesmerizing Video of a Washing Machine Destruction

Harry — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:10:35 +0000

I’m not sure why I felt so uncomfortable while watching this video. Perhaps it was due to the somewhat human face of the washing machine. I couldn’t look away as it slowly destroyed itself, at times proud, at times scared. The machines are alive I tell ya.

Former Fleet Foxes Drummer’s New Music Video

Harry — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:59:15 +0000

Former Fleet Foxes drummer J. Tillman just released his first music video off his band’s upcoming album. His band’s name is Father John Misty and the album is called ‘Fear Fun`. It’s not out till later this year however. Until then enjoy this music video starring Aubrey Plaza (of Parks and Recreation fame).

The Best Mac Git Gui

Harry — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:51:43 +0000

Git is one of the most powerful and effective revision control systems available. It’s lightweight and highly configurable, complimenting almost anyone’s programming workflow. Predominately you interact with git from the command line, inputting commands such as `git status` or `git commit` to manipulate your repository.

When you first learn git the CLI can be daunting and confusing. Browsing through your history of commits with `git log` is not efficient. Even after you learn a few tricks such as `git log –graph –oneline –all` it remains difficult to really explore your history.

This is why a git GUI can put the joy back into using git.

This article is focused on git GUIs for Mac OS X running 10.5 or greater. As I find new git GUIs I will add them to this list, hopefully making a canonical collection of Mac git GUIs.

GitX

GitX is one of the most popular open-sourced Git GUI for the Mac. Subsequently it has been the source of numerous forks. Here’s three of the best forks I know about.

GitX – Pieter

The first GitX version released was created by pieter on his GitHub account. This version is highly stable however it lacks two very important things: features and active development. The last time this version of GitX was updated was on Oct 2nd, 2009. Due to the lack of a development cycle the UI has begun to show its age. To toggle between viewing your history and staging a commit isn’t as intuitive as other git GUI clients. This version is quite minimal in that regard: you can view your history, stage commits, and commit.

Pros
–
Stable
Free

Cons
–
No active development
Non-intuitive UI

GitX (L)

This is one of the more popular GitX forks available. It was my client of choice until I discovered one big problem this fork has: it runs very slow with large repos. When I first began using GitX (L) my repos were small enough that it ran fine. However as soon as my repo grew this fork couldn’t keep up. Every time I’d refresh my history of commits I’d have to wait upwards of 30 seconds for it to finish scanning my log history.

Aside from the performance issues on large git projects this fork brings a lot of nice UI improvements. The overall usability of this GitX client is great. The screens are clearly laid out, easy to navigate, and the GUI doesn’t get in the way should you want to drop into a CLI and directly type in some git commands.

Pros
—
Free
Easy commit history view
Shows how far ahead/behind your branch is with a remote branch
Staging commits is easy and fast
Easy to view and checkout tags, branches, and stashes

Cons
—
Very slow on large repositories

GitX – Rowanj

This GitX version is forked off of GitX (L). As such it has all the pro’s of GitX with some noticeable differences. The best difference is its performance on large repos: it’s fast. It’s able to load commits just as fast as the native git client. As noted on the GitHub page there are other fixes in this version which I’m sure help with its stability as I have been using this GitX client for a while without any crashes. My only negative about this fork is it removed from the UI how many commits you were ahead or behind of a remote branch.

Pros
—
Free
All the pros of GitX (L)
Very fast loading of large repos

Cons
—
Removed UI view of how many ahead or behind your branch is of a remote branch

Gitbox

Gitbox prides itself on its minimalism. The UI is calm but plain, with few buttons available to push, allowing you to focus on your commit history and staging. It doesn’t have a built in diff app so by default it makes use of FileMerge but is compatible with a range of 3rd-party diff applications. Most of what you see in Gitbox is fairly easy to do in a CLI, however if you must have a GUI for those tasks then Gitbox is the GUI for you.

Pros
—
Free for 1 repo
Minimalistic
Fairly fast

Cons
—
Paid for more than 2 repos
Un-intuitive UI for staging
Features hidden in dropdown boxes
Not enough UI features to justify GUI

Tower

Tower is one of the more full-featured git GUI clients available. Nearly everything that you would want to do with git you can do with Tower. This makes for a very powerful GUI however one that can be intimidating on first blush. Each screen has a lot going on as it seems that the creators of Tower tried to implement nearly everything you could do with git in the CL with a GUI. This makes for screens bursting with buttons and tabs and tables of information. If you really don’t like the CL then Tower is a suitable choice for you.

Pros
–
Full-featured – can do nearly everything via GUI
Pretty UI
Adopts OS X UI standards

Cons
–
Paid, $59 for a license
Crowded UI
Lots of buttons

SourceTree

This GUI is another full-featured one that rivals Tower. Where it differs significantly is the price: SourceTree is freely available in the Mac App store. That’s a nice convenience that makes installing this GUI a breeze. Another nice feature of SourceTree is it is able to load Mercurial repositories alongside git repositories. Like Tower you can do almost anything through SourceTree that you can do through the git CL client. SourceTree also has a lot of buttons in its UI however I found these UI elements to be more intuitive than Tower’s. SourceTree makes a lot of things automatic and easy to use, making it one of the best choices for a git newbie.

Pros
—
Freely available in Mac App Store
Full-featured
Fast

Cons
—
Lots of buttons
Some tasks easier to perform via CL

Conclusion

And that wraps up all the git GUIs that I know of! It should go without saying but your mileage may vary so pick the GUI that best suits you. What I might not like about Gitbox might be what you love about it, and that’s ok.

I will warn that using a git GUI exclusively is a bad idea. You should learn how and why git works the way it does. Inevitably you will run into some weird problem and solely relying on a GUI to help you could lead to even more problems. Learn the git command line client. When you know it then enjoy the benefits of a GUI to speed up your workflow.

I personally use GitX – Rowanj to stage my commits and search my commit history. I use the command line for almost everything else. I push, merge, and rebase exclusively through the command line, giving myself complete control over my git commits.

Whatever GUI you pick just make sure it works for you and you aren’t working for it. With that said, get coding!

Social Folders, a Dropbox for your Social Content

Harry — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:22:17 +0000

This is one of those ideas that after I saw it in action I was surprised it hasn’t been thought of sooner. Social Folders is program that you download to your computer and connect to your social networks, like Facebook or Instagram. It’ll then create a folder on your computer – like Dropbox – and fill it with all of your files that you’ve put on your Facebook account or Instagram account. They just created a video that shows the program in action. Really smart idea. Definitely check it out if you’re a big user of social websites.

More iPhone 5 Rumors

Harry — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:01:18 +0000

I know I shouldn’t let rumors go to my head but I seriously cannot wait for the inevitable iPhone 5. Hey, a fan can dream, right?

A Squirrel Dancing To Michael Jackson

Harry — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:17:55 +0000

Everyone can use a little more Michael Jackson in their life. That’s why you need to watch these two videos of first a squirrel dancing to Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough and then a traffic cop dancing to Billie Jean. Just don’t watch them at work as you’ll burst out laughing.

Apple Reports Spectacular First Quarter Results

Harry — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:49:53 +0000

This is Apple’s Press release for their first quarter results. And here is some reactions to it. In sum: Apple did good, Apple did very good.

Color: A Game To Test Your Matching Skills

Harry — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:51:05 +0000

This is really cool. Built entirely with native browser technology Color — Method of Action is a game that tests your ability to match colors based on hue, saturation, complementary, analogous, ternary, and quaternary. Fun. Related posts: Free.fr Has The … Continue reading → Related posts:

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