Twisted tales of Buffy meets Donnie

This is not a review, but some musings that I wrote down after watching Southland tales - definetly on my top ten mental movies list. But still a must see. In a way. 

IMDB says people who liked it also liked Brazil and Bladerunner. Which makes a twisted kind of sense. My summary is simple;

Summer reading - comic; Looking for Group

That’s right boys and girls, we are pleased to announce that LFG Volume 5 (in beautiful hardcover action) is now available for pre-order.

For the last books (vol 3 and 4) I re-read the previous collections before diving in. This time I've just left it a bit to really enjoy it during what will hopefully be some leisurely summer days. Have pre-ordered all five as they became available, so a signed collection

If you are new to Looking For Group, it is a webcomic, available to read for free - or you can pick up an omnibus edition for a mere $40 and support the artists. It is an epic fantasy comedy / parody / slightly twisted telling - and often "laugh out loud" funny, in a literal sense, not just LOL tweet.

Repost: instant book-lovin'

Found this while cleaning up my posterous "space" - from way back in October 2010 - and really the only thing worth calling a "post" over there. 


But the points are still valid - even if the tech reading has slowed down a bit in terms of books - got a bit o.d'ed there for a while - too much reading compared to coding or use of the materials.


Just (28.10.10) bought and starter reading JS patterns, and one small thing (or three) struck me as a good sign of the times in publishing;

RT @OReillyMedia #Ebook Deal/Day: JavaScript Patterns - $11.99 (Save 50%) Code DDJPT #pdc10 http://oreil.ly/da1HrC
— Tim O'Reilly (@timoreilly) oktober 28, 2010

First off, I bought it directly from O'reilly - via a promotional tweet. Forwarded by Tim O'reilly - direct relationships works really well in defined niches or areas of interest, social curation at its best, and serendipity in effect as I had just read some comments regarding the book (@rmurphy and the pubsub hubbub )

Secondly, the acknowledgments features not only bloglinks but twitter names for users such as @rem (not only html5 mad skillz) - sign of the times in terms of discovery and dialogue globally, weaving between timezones and cultures. And out in the open, not behind closed doors or sites, but on blogs and open streams available for all.

And finally I logged on and started reading the pdf version in Safari on the iPad because the laptop ran out of juice before I got around to syncing out the epub (or emailing myself the pdf) - instant gratification triggered the purchase right now rather than getting the kindle version at some later date when I really have the time to read it properly.


Going digital means less bad vibes for picking up more books - but that also actually leads to reading more because they are available, and I don't have to lug them around.

Splat!

Planning on digging into some more Dexter over the weekend - so it was fun to see a story on new equations for blood spatter in Wired (20-05 issue, story not online, apps only)

Illustration, trajectories Wikipedia

There is, however, a Wikipedia article on "bloodstain pattern analysis" - with a solid assortment of images and animations (like the one linked on the left) explaining some of the maths and science behind it.

Also came across "Introduction to Blood Spatter Analysis"- a full on handout with excersises and tasks, taking you through the very basics of measuring and identifying patterns. It is from back in 2003, but the basics should still apply pretty well.

Dropping single drops from assorted heights, then onto multiple drops from same height, assorted surfaces and so on. #Science


Sometimes the smallest things can make a huge difference.

And thus we reach the end of 2011. Or at least the bottom of the stack of Wired from last year. Still got a solid dose of 2009 prepped for future ideas. But it feels good to be blogging, having cleared out the draft pile and move the last issues from 19- into the basement.

Had a post on Hunch. And how they had ended up. This time it is Quora. The profile talked about the influx of users, the money raised and the addictability of pushing answers out there. And to loop it back Quara has some answers on Wired as well.

My take? A fun playground, mainly for friends of friends of friends - and for those that want a bit more opinionated 'facts' than they can get on Wikipedia, but without reading a handful blogg post to get it.

There is still a lot of start up, and by extension tech topics covered. But there is also a lot of "long tail" content, like where to get biltong in Amsterdam.

Not my first place to go to for information, but would and could probably be included when doing a bit more general research. Possibly also because it hasn't gotten any google love for the subjects I've needed additional details on lately. Blogs, groups or Wikipedia tends to cover the results.


(this is also the last "back dated" post - filling in the gap week and making June-12 a truly all time high in terms of posts, 22 and counting - passing October of 2004)

The insights of Khan

Another back issue of Wired, another post based loosely on a theme explored.

Education - and how we can change it using digital tools.

Nothing less is the driving force for Khan Academy, featured in 19-08 (link added):

Khan’s videos are anything but sophisticated. He recorded many of them in a closet at home, his voice sounding muffled on his $25 Logitech headset

The piece also had an overview of some other edu sites, on the second page online. But with John Resig aboard the Khan team I can't help but but hope for and expect (more) great things from them in the years ahead.

It must be exhilarating going into school now - knowing that if you don't really get things the way the teacher tries to explain it, there is Wikipedia, Youtube and dedicated sites for most things to give you a second shot. And most of them for free (well, provided you have a computer and internet connection - or can access one at school, the library or similar)


see video in context and with links to the "rest" of Art History collection

Aside; noticed now that the piece was written by Clive Thompson. No wonder it resonated, love the writing style, even if a few of the regular columns seems a bit rehashed. Guess it comes with the turf, and is the reason I try not to reread to much of my own old stuff.

Magazines go web?

Several concepts and developments so far this year, in bringing a more flexible set of tools for presenting content on the web, in the browser.

Adobe is really pushing the boundaries and working hard to maitain a position as both tech and thought leader. Issue #3 of Appliness just came out, and as both a tech demo and a reference the first two were solid. (Even if the site has bugs in the archive links on the blog, and lacks links for the authors listed...)

And the work on text flow inside containers first released as a special version of webkit? Stunning. Took some time but it made it into a few builds.

Looking forward to hear if there is any further enhancement in the iOS 6 package. It is listed as "partailly" supported in the upcoming Safari 5.2. Thankfully the specs are moving ahead independently of the test cases.

Shame can't get the demo to run properly now in v19 [woops - forgot the about:flag - has to be enabled manually for now...] - here is the  announcement and link from back in november 2011:

Corlan provides a demo page that enables you to see text reflow in action (assuming you've the latest release of Chrome, naturally)

Netmag piece on Chrome support

- ...and the sun is fading in the sky as this is written - had to pump up both the screen and the backlight from 1 to 3. Still not putting on the lights. Summertime. When the living is easy...

Lost in time

An assorted braindump for Wired 17.12 - so pushing this one backwards in time, more to come, more to go.

www.fora.tv - TED talks for the masses...? Seems like a sort of dumping post for mid-list conferences that want something more than their own blog and vimeo posting for attention. Mixing premium (500) with free (10000+) content. But since this is the first time I've re-heard about it since then mayhap the need just isn't there? More than easy enough to embed from vimeo or youtube and then use social media to promote it yourself - or have the attendees and presenters do it.

Bussing away - tap tap tap

Photojojo - iPhone lenses @ $40 ?

 I'm still planning on getting a small "pocket lens", now with being back on iOS and a 4s it makes even more sense. Sort of.

Apps like Instagram makes for a different scope of photos. And while it isn't true macro, it can go pretty close for that weird urban, industrial too real look.

Guess it would make an ideal impulse buy, but haven't seen them in the local "almost" Apple Store. Guess not official enough to carry. Or too slim margins.


Snap on the right is from my "Android stint" - found the new "from you phone" option in Blogger. Actually cool. But short codes like WP would wow me more.

(sidenote; just put a macro-band in the shopping cart, just for a few fun shots. Chance of completing purchase? 60%...)



Ads noted; 2 * QR codes, google Goggles ad - is it really smarter, simpler than a code url or sms txt call to action? Especially with pretty custom short url available; jr.ly/FORD11 ? Or is it about being "innovative" in print? Expanding boundaries because url or text didn't track well enough (or perform?) Guess it comes from reading the paper and most magazines at home - don't really feel the need to read more on a tiny screen, when I can just google or type my way towards the full picture.

Everyday magic that we are to busy to really enjoy?

LaCie - MosKeyTO - 8gb usb MINI drive - $19 list price now, should be around NOK 200? It is almost too small not to use. As a quick backup, drop box sync or just keylogger ;) In fact they've even added in matching cloud storage from something called 'wuala'.



Also had a short post in the Start section on Competitive coding - using Pascal and C++ as the languages. No java. So in a way basics still rule? Pascal was the first 'real' language I was thought at uni, then we moved on to C++. While those a year later got a new class with java as intro.

Thinking back to a world where Java was the new hotness, that today is ObjectiveC and Apps. Back then it was Applets to rule them all. Same concept really. Make some dedicated code, play on top of a set of API's and a runtime. And distribute the file across purely digital channels.

That failed - at least compared to the hype and the potential. While the iPhone that initially touted web apps broke the bank and then some in terms of full on apps. Chance, planning, maturity or something more?




Blasting out tunes from the past in iTunes - jumping around in the grunge, heavy and punk genre buckets. 
Right now "Moonchild".....

Neuro-pattern-light

I hate the new blogger. It killed the original version of this post as I hit save. Then I tested a new blank post and it failed again. Could somebody please tell Google that there is this thing called iPad, and if their solutions continue to work as poorly a lot of users are up for grabs. I have already stopped most my newsletters to gmail because the use is a hassle (yeah, could add it as account, but with work email that was a hassle in the first iteration at least)


And now tumblr looks really good, why even wordpress is starting to come around to ios as a platform of choice with the app growing stronger every incremental release..




On to the recreation, thankfully only two paras in before hit the save, but still two too many...

Neuro-pattern-light...or why I love william gibsons writing.

I think it has a lot to do with growing up alongside his three trilogies.

Read neuromancer et al in early teens at school, when computers consisted of commodore 64 (or a 128 as I had), used mainly for games and the occasional demo. A friends father had a Mac that we got to use for a few school projects - typing up the report and putting in some pictures.

Then picked up the bridge books more or less at university, where dot com was becoming a phrase, but a bit before the boom/bust really started. Back when Fast Company was still mostly about business trends.

And pattern rec is one of the last printed books I bought (fiction and regular non fiction at least) - spook country and zero history were delivered directly to a kindle or the kindle app on iPad. Read digitally and instantly on release. No time lag for cross Atlantic distribution or priorities.

My teens, my twenties, my thirties. As the world has gone digital and then some, so has my life. as the future has become today, so his books have merged into "reality", blurring the lines more with each passing chapter.


For books and background, check the Amazon author page

INTERVIEWER: For someone who so often writes about the future of technology, you seem to have a real romance for artifacts of earlier eras.
GIBSON: It’s harder to imagine the past that went away than it is to imagine the future. What we were prior to our latest batch of technology is, in a way, unknowable.... very, very difficult to conceive of a world in which there is no possibility of audio recording at all. Some people were extremely upset by the first Edison recordings. ... It sounded like the devil, they said

 - Paris Review

The magic of not having. So good quote - had to brutally trim it down a bit, because you really should go over there and read the whole thing. Now. Come back afterwards. More to come here as well...






Because it is easy to add in the blanks, merge things (like a mobile phone and a mp3 player... Or a pc and a phone), but close to impossible to even remember back five or ten years, how much of a leap a simple innovation like the Palm Pilot was. An actual digital assistant in your hand. And it could do other things. Small games. Like magic.

Emergent technologies were irreversibly altering their landscape. Bleak House is a quintessential Victorian text, but it is also probably the best steam­punk landscape that will ever be. Dickens really nailed it, especially in those proto-Ballardian passages in which everything in nature has been damaged by heavy industry.

More of Dickens is definitely on my too read list, inspired this time by a piece on new bio on him. The British televised versions are great, and the podcast librivox version of two cities is killer. Like Stackpole, I firmly believe that the model he used to serialize his fiction is finding a new life in terms of shorter ebooks, faster turnaround for stories and generally more adaptability to reader expectations. 

... I remember walking past a video arcade,... seeing kids playing those old-fashioned console-style plywood video games... were so physically involved, it seemed to me that what they wanted was to be inside the games

...one day, I walked by a bus stop and there was an Apple poster. ... holding a life-size representation of a real-life computer that was not much bigger than a laptop is today. Everyone is going to have one of these, I thought, and everyone is going to want to live inside them. 

Woot! Loop in time. Arcade games as the driver, then apple as the trigger for seeing it "everywhere". Merging insights and intuition, that's what makes the book so much more than just a cool story. 


Today Apple is slowly moving us away from the PC age, into mobile and tactile  with the iOS touch interface. And once more games are actively taking a huge part in both pushing the hardware (thereby feeding the need for upgrades and rapid development) and the user interface - Angry Birds as touch training. Speed, precision and flexibility. 


The best way to get someone comfortable with a mouse back in the win 3 age was Solitare or Minesweeper. Sit them down, show them some serious stuff, then give them a ten minute "break" - after opening the program. We learn when we want to learn, when there is a clear reward rather than just an obligation. 

I’ve always been taken aback by the assumption that my vision is fundamentally dystopian. I suspect that the people who say I’m dystopian must be living completely sheltered and fortunate lives. The world is filled with much nastier places than my inventions, places that the denizens of the Sprawl would find it punishment to be relocated to, and a lot of those places seem to be steadily getting worse.

Putting things in perspective? How to compare to Dickens? Is he dystopian or simply telling of the underbelly of the dressed up pig? 


I for one didn't really think of Neuromancer as dark at the time, compared to something like Alien it was a happy place all around, with cool tech and the chance of making it big. 


That is one thing that is changed with the latest novels - or perhaps as much with my reading and views - sure there is a potential big score, but you get the feeling that just getting out or onwards is as much of a goal for the characters. 


The settings are more "glamour" compared to the first books, but in many ways it still feels more empty and forsaken. The art hidden from view, giving only a select few the enjoyment or the experience. The secret clips and the chase for just a little bit more.






First read about the interview care of one of the @greatdismal musing, but at that time the only online version was via a sub to P.R, so that was $5 lost revenue for them, as I'd have gladly paid for just the issue or the article (more or less the cost of a single copy newspaper here, so comparable value)

But then I saw it rt and checked the link - lo and behold, the full version is up. So it seemed a great test for iOs 5 reader mode, and also for the new +style blogger. First is OK, but lacks page jump/pagination (skip full screen height down). 


The other is another crappy google conversion. As a blog writer, the original blogger was as good as or better than any seen since. New might be ok on pc, but today that is close to irrelevant. Same reason can't really care about plus itself. Plain sucks compared to any twitter app.

The challenges of (geek) parenting

This is just pure genius. "We have to have the talk"
Need to get a "Han shot first" tee for junior soon.

My couch or your?

Wired [19.03] - finally getting rid of the stack, both the digital one in terms of drafts from (oh yeah) last year, and the paper one of old issues of Wired mag, saved for a post or two.


Main topic was a mention of couchsurfing - and the founder Casey Fenton.
The concept sounds really appealing, get around the world by hooking up with other (presumably) geeky people for a few days at a time. Even so, I think I'd personally feel more comfortable using something like aribnb - at least as a main solution, it just feels more right to spend a bit of money on the transaction.

I do love having friends over, and a spare room for those that either live out of town, or have to leave the car for a few hours. And I'd probably lend it to a friend of a friend as well, without any reservations. But beyond that? Not so sure. How about you? Where do you draw the line "in the sand"? Who and how long is OK for a house guest? Should they help with chores, do some shopping, or are they guest first and foremost?


ad for; Eee Slate Ep121 - windows7 !!??!! seriously? and a stylus to boot? Nice that it has usb, hdmi and then some, but since it is in all but name a laptop sans the keyboard I'm not really impressed. Sort of makes sense as a second device for the C-level and consultant lifestyle - if it supports MS Office fully, that is.

But I'll give Asus one thing, they keep pushing assorted form factors into the market, looking to either give the consumers a lot of choice, or just hoping to find one that sticks. But seriously - the Eee Pad range? Right ho'.



I'll be scheduling these old post up for the week ahead at the time of writing, so June of 2012 will be the most posted month for quite some time. Maybe a revival of sorts as we enter the final ten months of the first ten years (!!!).  Today it is 3-6-12, and so a good magic number for doubling up on content and ideas. in the early evening sun.

- ...and the sun shines bright enough to open the windows wide...

Hunch'ed up

Do you remember what you read last summer?

Well, here are some things from Wired 18.08 to jog the memories... even if by now that is the summer before last. Just goes to show, digital is almost forever.

First just a quick note - on the major piece regarding infrastructure: Iphone use 15 times more data than other subs? Even other smart phones? ATT numbers: $37 + $13.5 bn used to build the infrastructure needed. Wonder how much more it is now in 2012. And how much they've made up for it in terms of overall revenues, which will keep on coming after the network is in place.


The, the main topic:


HUNCH - was mentioned as a major part in the profile of Caterina Fake (gotta love that last name for verified online profiles).  I was planning on making some snaps from my profile, but it seems I've gone and gotten it all lost (or better, I had used Twitter initially, but probably revoked access at some time, so after reallowing I got in, but to a more Pintrest looking site. Guessing they've had time for a pivot or two in four years - even ended up as part of ebay I discovered in the Faq). So the old reflections will have to serve as a basis for now.

The main key here is social insights - the same thing that Facebook is betting the farm and then some on in terms of ads and like-mining the graph. And it is a difficult challenge to tackle, since most of the time we don't really know how or why we make our own choices.

My impressions of Hunch was that it was fun to build the basic profile, real nice use of gamification to get the answers flowing quickly. But a lot of them were very US centric in terms of topics, be it TV shows that never made it across the seas, or rituals like dances. So the overall feeling was a bit narrow in terms of recommendations, even after 182 questions answered. Heard the same about a year later from someone else.

Overall it seemed a pretty decent hit in terms of TV and magazines that I might want to look at.
Book? Not so much. Frankly hopeless compared to Amazon, and even they tend to get distracted and have a one track mind unless you go digging a bit across a set of tabs. Stuffing a large number of books onto four different wish lists has helped a bit with that.
The London TODO suggestions was abysmal - no Lonely Planet competitor to be sure. Not even on par with the free give away guidebooks from the local tourist office.

Perhaps the had some of the issues facing Wolphram Alfa going in - need a lot more raw data and basic information to populate the profiles. Either that or be bought by Facebook and assimilated - they might just have the raw data in terms of certain areas, and could quickly incentivize for more - ebay and paypal not so much, might help for discovering auctions and sellers you could connect to.


(man I miss the word count in WP... make progress so much more measurable and rewarding, even now when just dumping in the drafts to go)

Revisiting mind over matter

So it would appear that a monkey won't make all the difference.

Looking back to 2005, and the post "mind over matter" - on using sensors for tracking brain activity. And then fast forward to Wired issues 20.04 - with the telling title of the feature; "A True Bionic Limb Remains Far Out of Reach"

Turns out that the complexities involved in both measuring and responding to signals is still significant. In addition it turns out that we may have been "barking up the wrong tree" - with the brain handing off some of the signal processing and response to the spinal cord.

Keep dreaming of electric sheep...


- ...and the sun wants to break through the clouds, but is settling for less...

the book as poster

The power of visualization:

Data is not useful until it becomes information, and that's because data is hard for human beings to digest.

Brilliant idea by Godin, and a whole new set of options for pushing information in a visual way, taking it beyond a small infographic that is skimmed in twenty seconds.

- and lo and behold, somehow the g reader to blogger works again, or perhaps just for this link with this version chrome. Fingers crossed that the actual posting will work as well!
-...and the sun don't shine...

Manhattan state of mind

One of the few comics I have on close to pre-order at Amazon is DMZ by Brian Wood, following the trials and tribulations of journalistic-hopeful Matthew Roth inside the hot-zone of Manhattan (the DMZ - civil war more or less rages in and across the US)

So reading the interviews over at Live from the DMZ is both great and a little sad, since it is in a way counting down to the end of the series (issue 72 in december). Volume ten of the trades just came out (and is making it way in my direction really soon), and if you haven't read any the first trade used is less than a latte at $3.35 right now in the affiliate box ;D

Interesting concept as well - a DVD style commentary to supplement each trade, giving room for more in depth than the normal page or two of intro in the printed edition.


The other mainstay of my comic diet, Freakangels, is also winding down - just a few more 'issues' to go. Being a webcomic has made the interaction and commentary directly available, with the Whitechapel Forum "to discuss this week's installment." creating a community along the way.


Side note of the post; the site is based on tumblr - a really good alternative for small and quick set-ups. Just like here on blogger you can adjust the template and add inn additionally custom html and css, but the post-types, dashboard, app and tablet (iPad) use takes things to another level.

Also the API looks like a real 'killer' for reusing tumblr content in a larger editorial setting (such as a full scale CMS)... just saying (and playing for now)

How to build Falling Water? With bricks.

Another dual header - but this one is from all the back in WIRED issues 17.11 and 17.12 (there were several other links, but they've mainly been surfed and tweeted, whilst these two need a bit more of a writeup)

I'm sure I'll be docked some geek points for admitting it, but I have yet to actually see Avatar, but it is on my list of likely short term BluRay purchases. The Wired piece mentioned that in order to boost the world of Pandora into the geekdom status it needs, James Cameron and the crew was putting out a lot of background information into the "pandorapedia". It has a bit to go in terms of matching Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki in terms of user involvement, or the official Lucasfilm Vault in terms of depth of content - but as a brand new property wanting to be taken seriously, I find it refreshing and inspirational.


The other tidbit for now (as the self  imposed deadline flies even further away, at least the post will be out by EOD US time?!) relates to the Lego Architecture series. So far they have put out three sets in the "architecture" branch, and seven in the "landmark" branch (with a new set for July "unveiling")

Frank Gehry is the man behind two of the three sets - both his Bilbao Guggenheim, and Falling Water (image on right/above from Lego.com) - it is only available online for $99 inside the US (the much smaller and simpler landmark sets go for $19 each). I must admit that it is almost tempting enough to go for something like JetCarrier to ship it over here, or trying out some friendly connections across the pond... if you've seen Twilight (movie) you've seen something like it with Hoke House

Paint me a picture, cut me a film

Riffing off of "the other" Chris Anderson, and his TED talk on video as the great enabler for new innovation in a broad sense, "the wired" Chris Anderson promoted the maker-agenda in issue 19.04 of Wired;

"There are also so many really great websites where people can share their projects. We have Instructables and iFixit and Etsy and Make and Hack a Day and our own Adafruit. So people who used to do this stuff alone now have even more community. It used to be just freaks in garages; now it’s freaks in garages working together." - Limor Fried of Adafruit

It is the same in web development - with new bite-sized video tutorials popping up every day, from the to the point experimentation of jQuery for Designers, to the slightly more quirky Rails for ZOmbies. With the ability to chose or mix and match between the written word (and most importantly copy the code) and the video presenting it gradually and immersively (not a word, but mayhap it should be?), learning picks up pace.

The video in and of itself is also good, because it can be consumed in a more "leisurely" way that a written tutorial, giving more room for reflection since you are listening rather than reading, often leaning back rather than forward. iPad and tablet based reading slightly excluded - whilst it is a more relaxed setting and mode, for code related tutorials it is less useful since jumping into JS Bin to test is a slight hassle compared to cmd-tab'ing or even ctrl-tabbing within the browser.


"We’re a tutorial company. We’re a project company. We do video shows and tutorials and teach people, and then there’s a gift shop at the end" [p2]

The sentiment in many ways mirrors some of the discussion regarding books and authors in the digital economy; you buy the e-version of a story for $4.99 - but if you really love it and want to display it (or simply support the author, be a patron of the arts), you get the $29.99 special edition hardcover with bonus short story and illustrations. I subscribe to this view, as promoted/explained by amongst others Michael Stackpole in his blog - and as 'lived' by both up and coming authors such as Scott Sigler with his Galactic Football League series, and truly established authors such as Tracy Hickman, doing a subscription based book with his wife.

On a side note I'm still a bit peeved with Mike&Mike at the Dragonpage for not pushing the guest authors about lack of digital version (like a Kindle version of Song of the Dragon, I'd have bought it last July, and pre-ordered vol2 by now!) - especially when talking so much about new models as they did with Tracy



- ...and the sun shines brightly, 'tis a feeling of summer in the embrace of May ...

Easter hacking nights

this is an extended draft and sort of placeholder posting - it started off with just getting the basic points in before chrome did a belly up, or the mbp gets a reboot for system updates - still to come is a bit of background and some meta

So, now that Easter is coming to a close here in Norway as well (yes, we all take monday off as well - another public holiday to tide us over after winter, and part of the reason we have no official breaks between summer and xmas) - it is time to finish off this post on the subject of easter hacking.

I've spent a couple of hours some days over the last week trying out some different techs, sort of an extended but split up hackday. I guess that is part of the reason I enjoy working in my current job as much as the previous consulting gigs - spend my days doing and learning things that really get the juices flowing.

Another part of the 'goal' for my part, was the same as during the official company hackday #2 earlier this spring; getting to know the Macbook Pro a bit better as a working tool - outside of testing and learning a bit about iOS development that is. So setting up things like homebrew, finding out how to play nicely with Terminal, getting !# working in textwrangler and discovering the outliner in xcode were as important as the coding in and of itself.


The most direct inspiration for actually exerting some mental energy over the holiday, was the latest "manifesto" from the Domino Project - "Do the Work", which is basically a short and intense version of "War of Art" also by Steven Pressfield (and finally available as a kindle digital version - need to get one and replicate my highlights to store them, so I can relend the book)

Have been doing quite a bit of Java work lately, but with a solid dose of jQuery and CSS thrown in. But being raised 'multilingual' - started off with Pascal and C++, later spent quite some time with both VBA and Java - the allure of jumping into something new was strong. And with so much talk about both server side javascript (node) and jQuery coming to Rails 3.1, the scene was set.

There are some long planned wired posts coming up as well - several small stacks of back issues just waiting to be 'processed' so they can head down into storage.



First off;

some server side javascript - node.js

Experimenting With Node.js And Server-Side Javascript post from Ben, I ran through the basic set-up from another tutorial, then re-wrote his code to work for node 0.46 version -had to make some minor changes to the code to get it running on node version .46 (response.writeHead and .end rather than -close)

possible next steps include looking into more framework type solutions, like geddy, and getting npm up (after reading up a bit on the brew 'controversy' background)


then on to a long planned excursion

testing nosql style database solutions - couchDB

This kicked off with the Nettuts tutotial and some background info, got the system up and running quite easily, before getting sidetracked into organizing and cleaning up my iTunes library. Thus ended trip the second a bit on the early side, but the iPad still has the O'reilly book all prepped and ready to go. Planning to do some small jQuery based test before calling it good, but we'll see what comes first.


the final lap was,

traversing the maze of information to get Ruby and Rails on track

The best info seems to be the 2008 mac dev article, even if rails 3 differs in some ways (action script/server no good, had to use /rails and server as option), it was a nice read. Really useful advice for using xcode as well. It gives you syntax highlighting, but also quick access to basic rails commands along the way including DB migrate.

So now the expense app is taking shape, planning on taking some time for webcasts later - and maybe even read up a bit on ruby in and of itself... not so much learning these tools to use them right now, but more to understand a bit better how the work, and get a glimpse into what it would take to learn them more fully for everyday use.

One thing I really enjoyed was the ease of switching output formats - sure the scaffolding puts up default html output, and includes an xml option. But one single simple line of code got me full json export. Not such a big deal in and of itself, but it sure makes it easier to see how we could plug a small rails app into a bigger java/jsp based site - care of a simple jQuery call. Sweet!



All in all I'd say it had been a productive easter so far. Probably helped a bit to be out of it for the days leading up to the holiday, thereby cleaning out the mind in terms of daily tasks (pushing the task list back a bit once more, but only one real task from my planning board that is still open going into the next sprint)


NOTE; lots of localhost links - for my own reference, remembering what goes where in terms of ports, but if you follow the tutorials they should work in part along the way


...and the sun feels great in the afternoon, almost like summer already...

Learning? No so fast

Picked up a NYT piece a while ago from a tweet by Tim O'Reilly;

Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits, By Benedict Carey from September 6, 2010

Summed up; a disconnect between science findings and popular opinions (no! say it ain't so....)
But there is more; it is better to vary - both in terms of content/subject and place of study. And repeat.

Seems to match up pretty good with the way my own studies were set up - doing four or five different courses at a time, each with a mix of lecture, assignments and projects - spanning roughly four months and then a month of deep diving before final exams. Preparing for the exams by doing the previous exams - thereby mixing up the types of tasks and focus.

But still a nice read and good to know now that junior is in kindergarten, looking ahead to "learning games" and other boost to give him a solid foundation

- ...and the sun hasn't been out in view over the weekend, fall is here and the storms are making themselves known...

Make it or code it?

Fair overview piece from the Economist, on the webversion / extension of the Intelligent Life Magazine; Whats with Steampunk

A bit shallow on the analysis compared to what I recall from the print side, haven't read lately so it could have changed...
Would have live to read a bit more on the digital vs real angle, linker up to sites like boingboing and the Make direction. Steampunk is cyberpunk brought back to something you can (imagine / visualize) being able to create yourself. While cyberpunk gives you a bit of ressonance if you program, most webusers really don't. So steampunk mixes in the tangible rather than a complex and encompassing digital realm, whilst still retaining the flair of the fantastic.

steampunk is clearly not just a look, but an embrace of a nearly mythical era of mad science and weird contraptions

The visual style and the golden age (1920'ies careless or carefree...) has been used to great effect both for movies like Sherlock Holmes (pre-steam...) and games such as Bioshock.

Is it the feeling that everything was simpler, understandable yet still outside your control?
Sure you could fit together the pieces of a diving suit, but the dark waters were still scary. But now it is close to magic, packages flying at literally the speed of light around the world with thousands of servers, switches and cables involved in the simpelst act of wathcing a video or writing a text.

...and the sun has probably set behind the grey clouds...