Why You Should Work From A Coffee Shop, Even When You Have An Office - <AUTHOR> http://www.fastcompany.com/3005011/why-you-should-work-coffee-shop-even-when-you-have-office <comment><USER3> Fast Company seems to jump on all these memes pretty quickly for page views, would be interesting to hear any empirical evidence.

Also, please don't sit in cafes during peak times as that is when they make most of their money and need to turn over tables.

When it's quiet sit near a window to make the cafe look busier.

Ask BEFORE plugging in your laptop charger.

I know these are obvious to most people but I've seen people seemingly oblivious to it and most cafe owners are too nice to throw someone out.

<comment><USER4> Some cafe owners generally prefer long-term 'residents', so to speak, because they're much more lucrative. There's a reason Starbucks invests so heavily in their store's furniture and ambience: customers who spend more time there buy not only more coffee, but more food as well.

Though I completely agree that if a place is plumb full and you've been sitting their for four hours, it's only polite to offer your table to someone else.

<comment><USER5> > There's a reason Starbucks invests so heavily in their store's furniture and > ambience: customers who spend more time there buy not only more coffee, but > more food as well.

I'm not sure that's a 100% logical conclusion. Would one interpret that to mean that the ~50 people who spend all day sitting in the chairs generates more revenue than the many hundreds of take out customers that pass through each day? Sure, perhaps they make more revenue per individual person, but if you look at revenue per customer type per unit of time, the sit down in store customers are by far the worst revenue source.

I don't deny there's a reason they choose to have attractive interiors, but I doubt it is to encourage individuals to spend an entire day there, so Starbucks can reap the windfall of selling the same customer breakfast AND lunch.

<comment><USER6> The people who get their coffee to go and the ones who sit at the tables are different segments (although there is some overlap).

Also, the sitting customers can be segmented as well: most of them will sit down for 15-30 minutes and leave, but there are some who will stay longer. It would be difficult for someway staying 4 hours to spend as much as 8 people staying 30 minutes each, so that's why djt talks about the need to turn over tables.

<comment><USER5> I 100% agree with you. I was questioning jmduke's assertion that 4 hour sit down customers are more lucrative. As I see it, they are the least lucrative customer.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Trying to work with a laptop on a table in a coffee shop is either incredibly poor ergonomics or I'm doing it wrong, because it usually gives me back or neck ache.

I found the couches in some cafés work pretty well with a laptop, but they're always taken around London. Although there are quiet times outside of breakfast and lunch though.

I ultimately wish I could just work in a pub, but too many have been taken over by sports TV in my area.

</comment><comment><USER8> Even better idea: work at a library. These are buildings designed to be quiet, meditative places, and they _want_ you to be there all day. In addition, several libraries now allow coffee, and most have great Wifi.

Where do you find a library? If you are in the US, public libraries are a great downtown option. As a student at Stanford, I think great libraries are one of the biggest privileges. However, I think you don't need to be a Stanford student to get in! Like other universities, Stanford has a Federal Depository Service ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Depository_Library_Prog...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Depository_Library_Program)), which means the public has a right to enter and read federal publications at no cost (Strangely, I couldn't find a open-to-public library at Harvard though)

Hope this helps...

<comment><USER9> For about a year I worked from home and due to impending cabin fever I decided to give coffee shops a try. It was super loud and I always felt like I had to keep moving and buy something. It was just distracting.

I then rediscovered my local library and was amazed. Fast Wifi, Keurig machine, and private study rooms that I could take for the entire day. I was even more amazed at how many people use it as a 'co-working space', one guy would even come in everyday and even set up his VOIP office phone.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I work _a lot_ from a wonderful coffee shop in Stockport (UK). I find myself much more productive over there than at home; the change of environment clearly toggles a "brain switch". The place is big enough that owners don't mind if I hang around all day, and wifi is great (no "The Cloud" bullshit, just a fat pipe to the intertubes). Usually I end up buying coffee and water as I get there; sandwich, coffee and water at lunch; and again coffee and maybe a sweetie in the afternoon -- around £ 20 in total ($ 30), which seems to be enough, because I never got any bad word or stare from waiters, unlike in other places. I often end up bringing friends and coworkers as well, so I'd say I'm a "good" customer.

I'm not shameless enough to claim it on expenses, but I'm sure freelancers could offset most of it against taxes.

</comment><comment><USER11> Minority anti-social counter-point: For someone who enjoys a simple solitude while coding, this type of environment is anathema to everything that makes me productive. I admit that I struggle to find any appeal whatsoever in working in this manner, although I do love working remotely. Just not at a glorified fast-food joint... It's actually bewildering to me how you folks manage to get anything done. But I'm probably not their target market anyway. Just not for me :)

<comment><USER12> I find coding in a public, somewhat noisy place - like a coffee shop - <USER2> effective if you have a mundane but necessary task to do. The combination of ambient sounds to keep my brain busy while going through the boring parts, coupled with implicit social pressure of sticking to them ("Someone might have a glance at my screen, they better _not_ see me browsing Facebook") makes it much easier to accomplish the task, compared to cozy, distraction-free environment of typical (esp. home) workstation.

<comment><USER11> Interesting point about the ambient noise. I'll have to try it again when I have something a little more tedious to do and see if it works for me.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I think my local starbucks might have a problem or two with me hauling in three 24" monitors.

<comment><USER14> I will buy you a drink and food if you make this happen.

<comment><USER15> If you haven't seen the old Improv Everywhere prank, you might like to see this happen:

<http://improveverywhere.com/2008/02/25/mobile-desktop/>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Maybe occasionally. If you spend a lot of time hacking at a ergonomically-poor workstation (which coffee shops pretty much always are), you _will_ suffer as you get older.

<comment><USER17> I'm not entirely sure I believe this claim. Ergonomically poor surroundings typically force you to change your stance often, because you get uncomfortable quickly. And in the long term, moving around a lot is generally better than standing still.

I suppose if you always sat in the same café in exactly the same position and got used to it, you might eventully develop problems.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> I love doing this. I usually find that two hours working at a coffee shop is worth four at home or in the office.

It's also especially good when the place has no WiFi (a rarity these days) and I'm too lazy to tether my phone.

<comment><USER19> I've also found that adding these sorts of limitations to my work environment—no Wifi, for instance—can really boost my productivity.

I download local copies of documentation and APIs for reference and then set up at a coffee shop near me with no Wifi or power outlets. I find it's most useful at the start of a project when I have trouble just getting _something_ down, sort of like staring at a blank page when you have a paper to write in college.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> I have an ergonomic keyboard (maltron) and a standing table. Both are not exactly portable.

In any case, I highly recommend NOT to work on your laptop's keyboard. It's a sure recipe to screw up your hands.

<comment><USER21> Many years ago, when I was coding 16 hours a day with regularity, I suffered from horrible carpal tunnel pain on both wrists. My solution was two-fold.

First, I threw away the mouse and switched to a thumb-operated trackball (Logitech or Microsoft).

Second, I designed and fabricated my own desk. The easiest way to describe it is that this desk has a cavity into which the keyboard and trackball fit. With this design my wrists were fully supported and my hands drooped into the cavity to naturally make contact with the keyboard and trackball.

This worked wonders. I took a two week break from coding while designing and fabricating this desk (MIG welding and woodwork). By the time I was done the inflammation on my wrists was gone. I went back to coding long hours. The pain never came back and neither did the inflammation.

<comment><USER22> > coding 16 hours a day

I think you had bigger problems than with your wrists! We've all got to live life first. Work second. Everything in moderation my friend!

<comment><USER21> Different time, different place. I won't do that now. Haven't done it in years.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I think a lot of offices try to provide similar environments to coffee shops. Places you can go and work away from your desk, similar food and beverage etc. It's also worth noting that while you are able to focus more, great for a writer, it isn't necessarily better for teams of people trying to collaborate on a complex project.

</comment><comment><USER24> I really need to work from Coffee Shops more often, but I get really self- conscious while sitting there getting on with my work. Further, I tend to skype quite a bit, which puts me off going to the coffee shops in the first place, since i don't want to be disturbing others.

<comment><USER25> > Further, I tend to skype quite a bit, which puts me off going to the coffee > shops in the first place, since i don't want to be disturbing others.

And that's why the fascination with voice controls always confused me: the self-conscious aspect. That said, the population at large might care less about others overhearing them, if sites like <http://notalwaysright.com> offer any indication.

<comment><USER24> What in particular about the voice controls fascinates you?

<comment><USER25> Oh, I only really think about the "lower-touch" aspect of it, especially while walking or jogging. I was referring to the apparent interest of marketers and the population at large.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> I love working from the cafe at the local Barnes & Noble. We don't have office space yet anyway, so I have to work from either my home, or a coffee shop / bar / cafe / library / whatever... but even when we do eventually get proper offices, I'd still want to come work somewhere like that fairly often. I just enjoy being around people, having convenient access to tasty coffee beverages, and the overall vibe and bustle and activity.

That said, the downside is when you need to work as a group and actually need privacy. Or sometimes when you're doing something that requires deep concentration and extreme focus, then the noise and bustle can be distracting. But, by and large, I do like the "working from a coffee shop / cafe" thing.

</comment><comment><USER27> The biggest issue for me in working in a cafe is confidentiality - its very difficult to keep work-related calls and designs under wraps.

For example, in the UK a doctor was recently struck off for transcribing patient details on a train - not the most sensible thing to do, but highlights that there are some jobs that require privacy.

<comment><USER28> Agree, it's usually very hard to find a spot where your back is facing the wall. Especially as a single person. If you don't want to steal a 6-seater table the remaining option is usually the bar-window facing the street outside, meaning that everybody standing in line inside the cafe will have perfect view of your monitor.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> I really agree with commenters who mention ergonomics as a reason NOT to spend a lot of hours in a coffee shop over a long period of time (months/years). I spent almost every work day in cafes for a couple years and feel like it was part of the root cause behind the significant neck/shoulder issues I have now.

</comment><comment><USER30> I worked productively for a couple of hours in a kids play place at the weekend. The roar of kids acts like loud monotonous music. I also once wrote a key piece of a sofware system on a long flight. I agree with the author that variety is really important to keep you stimulated.

</comment><comment><USER31> Many coffee shops cracked down on computer campers a few years ago, mainly because of the recession. I wonder if that's changed. <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124950421033208823.html>

</comment><comment><USER32> This is another "remote-working" meme - which is a Good Thing.

If you can work from a coffeeshop securely and productively, you have abstracted enough of the deployment processes to work well anywhere.

</comment><comment><USER33> I love working from coffee shops occasionally, and find that I'm pretty productive.

As long as there isn't someone talking loudly about their personal problems. Or talking loudly about politics.

<comment><USER34> noise: this is why sealed rubber/noise cancelling headphones were invented. Only needed occasionally, but when they are, they're a lifesaver.

(My personal favourite for these is on a crowded tube ride after a long day - they allow me to zone out and stay relaxed!).

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> The one killer application of Google Glass will be using it as a second monitor in a cafe. That would be entirely worth looking ridiculous.

</comment><comment><USER36> Single monitor, laptop keyboard, no mouse, listening to that piercing conversation from that one really annoying person in the shop.

Who wouldn't love that?

</comment><comment><USER37> Its worth thinking about this choice:

souless, beige-grey cubicle

or

hip trendy cafe ?

>> how hard is it?

</comment><comment><USER38> I use coffee shop for meetings, yet I have not gone their alone, after reading this post and the comments I would love to try it out.</comment>


How do I roll my own multi-domain catch-all email server? - <AUTHOR> My hosting provider just emailed me and said that the catch-all email feature will be turned off in a couple months. Being able to make up email addresses that land at a catch-all account is essential to what I do on several of my domains for workflow management.  One thought is to set up an email relay at Digital Ocean but I've never set up an email server before.  Can someone recommend a good guide for doing this? <comment><USER2> Recent (last 12 months) discussions on running your own mail server.

* How to Run Your Own Mail Server (2017) [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16238937](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16238937)

* Is it possible to run your own mail server for personal use? [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12282231](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12282231)

And a bit older

* Tell HN: Digital Ocean IP addresses largely blacklisted by MIPSpace [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7324277](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7324277)

</comment><comment><USER3> I don't recommend setting up an email server. A quick Google will yield lots of stories on why this is a very bad idea. Although I have set up dozens of corporate email servers in the past, I didn't find the idea practical for myself.

My solution is to use a domain registrar who allows catch-all email address and forward emails to a GMail account. I set up MailGun with DKIM and SPIF records as required for my domain to send emails using SMTP. Once setup, I no longer need to do any routine sysadmin.

If you only need a single domain with lots of addresses, then Google Office might be an even simpler option.

<comment><AUTHOR> Perhaps I worded it wrong. I make liberal use of catch-all addresses but everything lands in -- and responses are sent from -- Gmail accounts. It's not so much a mail server I need but something which will accept and forward emails based on the forwarding rules I set up.</comment></comment>


Seven steps to overcoming procrastination - <AUTHOR> http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,27753,24995008-5017672,00.html <comment><USER2> 0: stop reading HN :)</comment>


Ask HN: Crafting a better general purpose programming language? - <AUTHOR> I have been crafting a new coding style which reduce code clutter, and have in mind of combined some of the good features from mainstream programming languages in C, Java, Rust, Go, Ruby, Python, etc.
The shortcoming being not well versed in writing compiler. I'm curious if there are interest in  open source collaboration from the community at large?
Ideally, it could be useful for Web development, System programming, Scientific and Networking. <comment><USER2> Why not write a transpiler first? Like something that converts your code to Rust</comment>


Ask HN: Material Design graphing libraries (javascript)? - <AUTHOR> Can anyone recommend a JavaScript graphing library that follows material design guidelines?<p>The only one I can find is http://www.chartjs.org/ <comment><USER2> [https://gionkunz.github.io/chartist-js/](https://gionkunz.github.io/chartist- js/) \- Doesn't exactly follow material guidelines out-of-the-box, but super hackable and easy to theme, looks pretty decent by default, and probably the most straightforward js charting library I've ever come across.

</comment><comment><USER3> checkout [http://highcharts.com/demo/pie- basic](http://highcharts.com/demo/pie-basic) very customizable.</comment>


Israel Systematically Hides Evidence of 1948 Expulsion of Arabs - <AUTHOR> https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-how-israel-systematically-hides-evidence-of-1948-expulsion-of-arabs-1.7435103 <comment><USER2> My ancestors lived in Israel since 1880, and the Arabs raided their villages, burned their fields, and massacred them in riots. Before Israel they lived in Yemen, where they faced pogroms and blood libel. What the West cannot understand about the Arab-Israeli conflict is that it's not just a political war, it's also a race war and a holy war. What's happening in Israel is biblical, and reducing it to politics cannot possibly capture its complexity.

<comment><USER3> > My ancestors lived in Israel since 1880

No, they lived in Palestine.

In hindsight, having been the Palestinians pushed away from their lands, first through mass immigration, then by the generous gift made by Europe of those lands to the immigrants, and finally through ethnic cleansing and land grabbing, in hindsight their violence towards the newcomers was perfectly justified. How can you blame them if they saw in advance what was happening?

<comment><USER4> There never was a Palestinian people or a Palestinian contry.

After last time the Jews (Israeli) lived there those areas went from being Roman to Turkish to British to being split into mostly Jordan and Israel. Jordan was the big part - for the Palestinian Arabs - and Israel was about the about 30 % that was left for Palestinian Jews.

At no point in time however before the Oslo process has there been a Palestinian country, only Arabs and Jews living in Palestine, better known as Israel until that massive propaganda effort last century.

<comment><USER5> You're being disingenuous; if we call them not just Palestinians, but Philistines or the Peleset, then they are mentioned in multiple histories of the region. While the region passed through Roman, Turkish, and British control, the only time when there was a large influx of foreign folks was during the Islamic expansion, when many Arabs moved into Palestine. Other than that, they've been there since around the Bronze Age Collapse; their history traces through the Iron Age just like Israelite/Jewish history.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Ben gurion. Arthur Ruppin. Golda Meir. Kleizmer, eugenics and pathos. Israel did a fantastic job of milking the world's empathy while committing horrible crimes. Also, nothing to do with Zionism. Hertzl, a proud ethnic Jew (Sephardi), despised the Eastern European mob that would eventually take Zionism over and Judaism and turn it into a farce.

</comment><comment><USER7> Tens of thousands killed, millions forced to flee their ancestral lands overnight, guess who I am talking about: Germans Post WW2. They too loved their lands which they too had lived in for millennia. How many Germans do you see blowing up cafes in Warsaw or Prague asking for their land back?

How about the 12 Million South Asians displaced in the partition of India & Pakistan? How many Hindus/Sikhs do you see asking for their lands back? the Indus Valley (modern day Pakistan) is the cradle of Indian civilization.

Mind you, both these events happened at the same time (1945-50) as the founding of Israel. Somehow they all seem to have moved on with their lives, and yet the Palestinians seem to be the only one fixated on "our lands" and indulging in self-flagellation.

IMHO the The Palestinians just need to get over it and move on with building a new life in some Arab countries. This idea of condemning generations to oppression and racism, and living in that hell hole of Gaza/West Bank, in the vain hope of winning it all back, is utter insanity.

</comment><comment><USER8> Really appalling. But I'll just point out this is being reported by an Israeli newspaper. I look forward to the day a report this critical of its government can be freely published in Arab nations.

<comment><USER9> I don't believe Arabs are under the illusion that their government is non- tyrannical. I live in Egypt and there's not a single person I've met that doesn't think their government is corrupt, oppressive and inept. So there's really nothing revealing or surprising that a newspaper could report.

"BREAKING: Egyptian government is corrupt. In other news, water is wet."

On the other hand, there are perhaps many Israelis who believe the false narrative that the Palestinians sold their lands and left, but changed their minds and started the aggression.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> An Israeli friend told me that after the Shoah her countrymen faced a choice. They could say "never again" or "never again to us."

</comment><comment><USER11> [https://archive.org/details/AlbertEinsteinLetterToTheNewYork...](https://archive.org/details/AlbertEinsteinLetterToTheNewYorkTimes.December41948)

</comment><comment><USER12> Malmab personnel interviewed at the end of the article:

> But isn't concealing documents based on footnotes in books an attempt to > lock the barn door after the horses have bolted?

> "I gave you an example that this needn't be the case. If someone writes that > the horse is black, if the horse isn't outside the barn, you can't prove > that it's really black."

For additional context, this is with regards to the scholarship of Benny Morris[0]. Plenty of liberal democracies use and abuse the concept of state secrets, but to abuse it in such a petty and transparent way feels...counterproductive?

[0][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Morris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Morris)

</comment><comment><USER4> Could be useful to mention at the same time how many jews were thrown out from neighboring countries.

This somehow slips everyones minds as those were successfully integrated and not set aside in refugee camps to be played as a pawn in the western media guilt and shame game.</comment>


If Chinese Were Phonetic - <AUTHOR> http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/05/16/if-chinese-were-phonetic <comment><USER2> The author failed to fully investigate input methods. The iPhone has handwriting input instead of a keyboard. The iPhone character matches what is handwritten and provides a pick list of potential matches.

If you don't like the handwriting input style, there is a stroke entry method, that has no dependency on sound for input. So if I want to write 本, I can tap horizontal stroke, downstroke, slanted stroke and this character is 6th option in the pick list.

Then there is the Canjie input method. Plus endless others.

</comment><comment><USER3> They already have this. Please see books printed in Taiwan. They have use a phonetic alphabet next to each Chinese character.

</comment><comment><USER4> Japanese has basically the same problem obviously.</comment>