I tried to show how the onslaught of visitors from my Hacker News link last week had an effect on both the server (as shown in all of the 7 day munin graphs), and the project (how I'm responding to feedback and planning the course of NewsBlur for the next few months).
I'm just so close to NewsBlur being profitable. I am 35 premium user accounts away (for a total of 80 accounts). Once NewsBlur goes profitable, that's when the real hard work starts. I would then have support issues, broken features in edge case browser/OS configs, and the headaches of keeping a server running for high availabaility, while on a shoe string budget and working super-part-time. (I write most of NewsBlur on the A train, 35 minutes each way from Brooklyn to midtown).
Wait! How the hell do you code in the A train? Actually this is worthy of a blog post - "How to code during the NYC subway commute". But seriously, I am curious what you do when there is no place to sit or when u r tired (its easy to fall asleep in trains)or what kind of laptop you use!
I have a 15" MacBook Pro. It's the width of my legs.
The hardest part about coding on the A train is when dancers/singers come on. I love watching performance theatre, especially on a train. I just stop coding, put the lid down, and enjoy the show. And if you know the A train, you know this happens once a week.
Otherwise, I am just so in love with coding NewsBlur that I can focus. I talk to myself a little (quietly), drawing in the air with my finger, and am just a little NYC crazy that nobody questions me.
I get a seat 19/20 times. (That's once per two weeks that I have no place to sit). I bring a small book, just in case, so that I at least have something to do on the train.
I've missed my stop a few times. It happens, but it gives me an extra 5 minutes to work, so I don't sweat it.
Hmm, coding on the subway as a blog post. Brilliant! Ok, next week it is.
Somebody asked what I am using to generate those server graphs. The answer is munin. I love munin so much. I use it to monitor both the server and any custom numbers I have.
Thanks for the postmortem, it was very inspiring (especially the image in my head of someone hacking on the subway)! The idea of an intelligent aggregator is something that I have thought about often so I find the idea of NewsBlur to be very interesting. I'm going to check it out.
I got the idea from Paul Ford, also known as @ftrain. He wrote a substantial piece of work entirely on the F train, which makes me think he lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and commutes to somewhere along 6th Ave in Manhattan.
I take the A train because it's closest to my apartment, but also because of Ella Fitzgerald singing "Take the A train." Now, if you're form NYC, you'll know that the A train is an express train, so when I see the C train, which is a local train, I'll take it to squeeze 5 more minutes out of my commute. The other benefit is that when folks see both the A and the C pull into the station, they all run to the express train, leaving me a greater chance for a free seat on the local train.
(I write most of NewsBlur on the A train, 35 minutes each way from Brooklyn to midtown)
Maybe its just me, but, there's something nice about working on a train. There's no wifi (at least, on trains run by the MTA) and the train sounds make for nice white noise.
I used to have a ride on the LIRR from Nassau into Penn for an internship. I'd bring my laptop with me and get a good hour's worth of coding, per direction. At least, when I got a seat.
I am unclear on how 80*12 dollars is profitable, altho, I guess if you only worked on this 70 mins a day for a year, I guess that comes out to 4 dollars an hour, but you must have worked on this on the weekends as well...
I guess you are only factoring the cost of servers, not your own time.
I'm impressed you could do this sort of work on a train. In trains/airplanes my working capacity seems to be limited to emails, reading, and brainstorming. Sketching designs is the closest I can get to coding.
I'm just so close to NewsBlur being profitable. I am 35 premium user accounts away (for a total of 80 accounts). Once NewsBlur goes profitable, that's when the real hard work starts. I would then have support issues, broken features in edge case browser/OS configs, and the headaches of keeping a server running for high availabaility, while on a shoe string budget and working super-part-time. (I write most of NewsBlur on the A train, 35 minutes each way from Brooklyn to midtown).