February 2010
26 posts
1 tag
“I never said no one should USE Flash; I’m saying it’s a dying piece...”
– Merlin Mann
January 2010
22 posts
3 tags
The Future of the Desktop OS
Loren Brichter, creator of the popular Tweetie Twitter client for the Mac and iPhone, recently said of the iPad:
“It’s just a big iPod touch” is the new “less space than a nomad”. The Mac had a great run, but this is the end of the desktop OS.
The thought of iPhone OS replacing OS X as the dominant platform for Apple is a sad, disheartening thought. I, for one, do...
3 tags
Confessing to a Crowd
The most recent addition to my podcast subscription list is The Moth, featuring “true stories told live.” All of these stories are told in front of a live audience without notes, slides, or any other help. Some stories are funny, others are sad. None are stories for children, and the performances are not censored. I have been enjoying them for a few months now.
In a recent episode, a...
“Apple could release a device that makes consuming the media fun, is able to show...”
– Derek Powazek
3 tags
SublimeVideo HTML 5 Video Player →
Beautifully done. I eagerly await the end of Flash video on the web. Only works in Chrome or Safari for now. (via Sebastiaan de With)
2 tags
The Setup →
Notable personalities from around the Internet talk about their tools of choice and how they get their stuff done.
6 tags
Spare the Settings and Spoil the IDE
Jonathan “Wolf” Rentzsch wrote a post titled Spare the Rod and Spoil the Programmer in which he references a tweet by Tim Burks. Burks was amazed by the sheer number of import statements found at the beginning of this Java class.
In his post, Rentzsch examines the relative merit of explicitly listing every dependent class in independent import statements, as the Android class does,...
4 tags
Game Review: WordCrasher
The word search genre is a crowded one, especially on the iPhone. However, WordCrasher stands out with great graphics and sound, and a physics system that makes the whole thing feel somehow real.
The premise is simple: colorful lettered discs fall from the top of the screen and collect into a pile. Tap the letters to make words, destroying them with satisfying pops before your pile reaches the...
“Meerkat Cannon… Excellent band name.”
– Brad Rosenberg
It's the Dialogue
Among my group of friends and colleagues, I am in the minority in using Twitter but not Facebook. The general perception among those I talk to about it seems to be that Twitter is nothing but a verbal diarrhea of mundane status updates and descriptions of people’s meals.
Now, whether Facebook or any other service is better or worse in this regard, I don’t rightly know. What I do know,...
“The plural of “anecdote” is not “fact”.”
– Cory Doctorow
1 tag
3 tags
Go on, make my day (better)
I first became interested in Go, the ancient Chinese game of strategy, after moving to the Boston area about seven years ago. At that time I had recently graduated college with my degree in Computer Science right in the midst of the dot-com bust of the early 2000’s. While fruitlessly searching the web for job prospects, I noticed that there was a local Go club within walking distance of my...
3 tags
“(If you don’t fully understand tail recursion yet, see Section 8.9)”
– The last sentence of Section 8.9, titled Tail recursion from Programming in Scala
Via Zach Cox
“It’s kind of snizzling out there…”
– Maggie Furtak
3 tags
How do you look when merging fails? →
A clever Python programmer has created a script for use as a Mercurial hook. The goal: capture a picture of your face via your webcam at the exact moment you realize that your merge has failed.
Priceless.
Two Gentleman of Lebowski →
[They insert his head into the commode]
Blanche: What dreadful noise of waters in thine ears! Thou hast cooled thine head; think now upon drier matters.
Woo: Speak now on ducats else again we’ll thee duckest; whither the money, Lebowski?
The Knave: Faith, it awaits down there someplace; prithee let me glimpse again.
Woo: What, thou rash egg! Thus will we drown thine exclamations.
[They again...
Nexus One vs iPhone 3GS →
A look at the Nexus One (and Android thereon), detailing why it still has much to learn from last summer’s iPhone 3GS. Of particular note to me:
Apps are still limited to a small sliver of available storage
Still no consistent multitouch availability in applications
Blogito Ergo Sum
I just registered a personal web domain. Yes, this one. As a professional in the computer industry, I am ashamed to admit that I previously did not have one. It is not the first domain name I have owned, but it is the first one I will have used personally in five or more years.
I know. I’ll turn in my geek card at the counter on my way out.
It was time. It has become increasingly clear to...