Jack Reichert

Fullstack Philosopher

The Privacy / Convenience Polarity is a Myth

There is a myth, that if you want to have privacy, it will be at the expense of convenience; and if you want convenience, it will be at the expense of privacy. They say that is the way things have to be, but it really doesn’t have to be this way. Open up your iPhone…

May 16, 2016
SUPER Simple React webpack Tutorial, so you can start ‘Getting Started’

Update: This was written before create react app came out. Use that, it’s awesome. I was annoyed by how many people are trying to sound smart in their tutorials, and thus not really helping anything. I wanted a simple “Here is what you need to get started” tutorial and lost a day chasing rabbits down…

May 12, 2016
Say: “Alexa, turn on the living room lights”

Update: It’s creepy, don’t do it. Say it. No, really. Say it aloud. You might feel silly the first time. But the second time it feels great. Especially because Amazon Echo actually works. We were sold the hype of Siri. Sadly, Siri just doesn’t have the knowledge to understand conversational requests, nor the power to…

May 8, 2016
Pondering Sam Harris’ thoughts on digital backdoors

Since my last post about encryption vs. security the public debate has exploded due to Tim Cook’s response to the request by the FBI to create a back door in an Apple device. In his most recent podcast Sam Harris weighed in as well. I always look forward to Harris’ perspective on a topic. He…

February 23, 2016
On Encryption VS Security

There has been a debate going on behind the scenes, or not so behind the scenes: the political legislatures vs. technologists pertaining to encryption. There are bad people in the world, communicating to plan bad things. Law enforcement used to be able to get warrants and peer into those communications, safe-houses, or property. Today, when…

February 7, 2016
How to Back up Your Database on Vagrant Halt

I’ve been exploring Vagrant lately. At work we need a better development workflow, and at home I’ve been reaping the benefits as well. One of the nice aspects of Vagrant is the ephemeral nature it gives to your environment. You can spin up a development box quickly and easily with a single command vagrant up…

January 3, 2016
My 2015 Weekly Book Project

A little over a year ago I embarked on a journey. I noticed that I was listening to a LOT of podcasts: on my commute, at work, on the treadmill, cooking. I really couldn’t stop. What made me notice the frequency was the fact that I had finished the backlog of This Week in Startups and saw that…

December 29, 2015
Watch the video of my WordCampNYC talk!

WordPress: YOUR World, YOUR Data Watch it on WordPress.tv The slides

December 20, 2015
Example #2: How WordPress Assets Manager Replaced Our Sharefile

Two weeks ago I spoke at WordCamp NYC and demonstrated various ways you can augment your site by replacing or just importing various services you use. I brought three examples, last week I wrote about the first, Twitter. The second service on the chopping block was ShareFile. At the company I work at we were using ShareFile, which is…

November 15, 2015
Example #1: Augmenting Ozh’s Twitter Archiver

Last week I spoke at WordCamp NYC and demonstrated various ways you can augment your site by replacing or just importing various services you use. The first service on the chopping block was Twitter. “I’m not about to delete my account, but wouldn’t I wouldn’t want to lose the thousands of witticisms I’ve tweeted over the years, if…

November 8, 2015