February 2008 – Page 3

Microsoft gives away Development tools

From the Associated Press: Microsoft Corp. is giving students free access to its most sophisticated tools for writing software and making media-rich Web sites, a move that intensifies its competition with Adobe Systems Inc. and could challenge open source software’s popularity. The Redmond-based software maker said late Monday it will let students download Visual Studio … Continue reading “Microsoft gives away Development tools”

From the Associated Press:

Microsoft Corp. is giving students free access to its most sophisticated tools for writing software and making media-rich Web sites, a move that intensifies its competition with Adobe Systems Inc. and could challenge open source software’s popularity.

The Redmond-based software maker said late Monday it will let students download Visual Studio Professional Edition, a software development environment; Expression Studio, which includes graphic design and Web site and hybrid Web-desktop programming tools; and XNA Game Studio 2.0, a video game development program.

The company will also give away SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition and Windows Server Standard Edition.

Very smart.

Now, Apple, about the non-Java version of WebObjects and the Enterprise Objects Framework….

…and the iPhone SDK?

Seriously though, this stuff should probably have been free a long time ago and it’s something that Apple should consider as well. Getting people using Windows Server early, or XNA Game development tools will undoubtedly bolster mindshare.

When I was teaching in the local college, the only tools available for “web” development were Word and Powerpoint (yes, I know!!!!!), though later we were provided with Frontpage. We weren’t given a test server. We didn’t have access to a public web folder.

My solution was to provide them with a MAMP setup, each with their own account and get them to use FTP and Notepad.

So, come on Apple. Come on….people who…like…Linux – find a way to compete.

BBC shows air on iTunes.

Ars technica has a petulant headline: iTunes UK welcomes BBC shows while rest of world waits. Only a media-hungry spoiled brat could entertain a headline like that when you see the content available on the US store. Are we to assume the writer, Jacqui Cheng, has already purchased everything off the US iTunes store? Er, … Continue reading “BBC shows air on iTunes.”

Ars technica has a petulant headline: iTunes UK welcomes BBC shows while rest of world waits. Only a media-hungry spoiled brat could entertain a headline like that when you see the content available on the US store. Are we to assume the writer, Jacqui Cheng, has already purchased everything off the US iTunes store?

Er, tough shit. How about the fact that we in the UK still can’t buy movies through iTunes? You forget that? That’s the problem with bloggers and journalists – because you put finger to keyboard you develop a sense of entitlement.

The comments as usual, make my day:

At the risk of sounding sour, but in future please add the phrase “while the rest of the world waits” to all posting about iTunes content that is available only in the USA.

Tell you what- you vote in a Democrat, you get the Beeb’s shows on iTunes. Fair?

With the greatest possible respect, you guys wouldnâ€™t know what to do with The Mighty Boosh. You fear the lack of rules, the lack of boundaries. Itâ€™s all just chaos, shapes, primal. â€œOoh Iâ€™m lostâ€”it’s a fence, no itâ€™s soft!â€

20/100 Twitter Jaiku Pownce Facebook- And Then What

Far away in some coffee shop there are three guys sitting, taking gulps of their frappes and writing an insanely great idea on the back of a napkin. They’re going to blow apart the world of social network and provide the basis for the next great revolution. Internet/Web 1.0 seemed mostly to be about discovering … Continue reading “20/100 Twitter Jaiku Pownce Facebook- And Then What”

Internet/Web 1.0 seemed mostly to be about discovering how to sell things online – dog food, books, videos and content. We discovered that food was a bad thing to sell online unless you were local to your customer. We discovered that books and videos can be compelling if you have a great supply chain and a few huge warehouses. We discovered that people don’t like paying for online content but if it’s a reasonable price, they’ll part with their readies.

Web 2.0 was hyped as being about the conversation but it really continued the idea that content should be free. Not just free to the consumer but also free to the provider. That’s why YouTube, Flickr, Twitter and Facebook are all doing so well. They chewed through investor money and then were either acquired or got huge investments from massive companies. What’s paying for these services? Eyeballs. Companies seem convinced that online advertising is worth billions.

Our three entreprenerds are working on inventing Web 3.0.

I see it as being some of the following (inspired by the Web 3.0 article on Wikipedia)

ubiquitous mobile connectivity
open identity, portable reputation
semantic web and service oriented architecture
distributed databases
intelligent ‘pro-active’ web (building on intelligent applications)
more open access to data and services
cloud, as opposed to grid, computing
persistent statement-based datastores
expansion beyond the vanilla web

I’m expecting better and more intelligent heuristics in my mobile applications. I think SaaS/SOA only works with properly ubiquitous networking, something which we do not have yet and it will be a while before we do. So we need storage and processing power locally – not a lot though more than ever before. A rich client accessing web services is obviously the way to go as evidenced by the Google Maps application on the iPhone. The experience is much better than the vanilla web

I’ve used that term twice now, vanilla web. That’s the web we access every day using a web browser. It’s a lot better than it was, with all this AJAXy goodness but it’s hard to beat a dedicated client. That’s why I prefer an RSS reader app compared to Google Reader. Why I prefer Maps on the iPhone to maps in my browser. Why I want an IM application rather than using web-based IM clients.

I think Web 3.0 will be the start of the end for the Vanilla Web.

What do you think?

[Chris Brogan’s 100 topics]

tonight

on my tod tonight. brisk walk. bought a magazine. ‘Word’ went to the cinema to see ‘Jumper’ – not bad went for an espresso and a cookie went to the cinema to see ‘cloverfield’ its about to start i’ll let you know (My reviews of these films will be over on lategaming) Related posts: Jonathan … Continue reading “tonight”

on my tod tonight.
brisk walk.
bought a magazine. ‘Word’
went to the cinema to see ‘Jumper’ – not bad
went for an espresso and a cookie
went to the cinema to see ‘cloverfield’
its about to start
i’ll let you know
(My reviews of these films will be over on lategaming)

MacBook Air.

John Gruber writes: Given that Apple still charges a $125 premium for black MacBooks, itâ€™s hard to take seriously any argument that people arenâ€™t willing to pay for style. The Airâ€™s technical deficiencies are irrelevant to a large swath of users, and its aesthetic appeal is undeniable. As is the way with computers, the car … Continue reading “MacBook Air.”

John Gruber writes:

Given that Apple still charges a $125 premium for black MacBooks, itâ€™s hard to take seriously any argument that people arenâ€™t willing to pay for style. The Airâ€™s technical deficiencies are irrelevant to a large swath of users, and its aesthetic appeal is undeniable.

As is the way with computers, the car comparison is made. The MacBook Air being a sporty coupÃ© or a modern Mini. Not a lot of room inside and not the best choice for everything but then not everyone needs 5 seats and a cavernous boot/trunk. The Macbook Air does make some performance compromises but it’s got the same dual-core CPU as in my “POWER” Desktop at the day job. Sure, the disk will be slower but there’s no way the performance could be worse considering the extra “POWER” in that machine.

People never learn that numbers are not enough. Her indoors opines that my car wasn’t “fast”. That car, and the current one, can both exceed 70 mph which is the fastest you’re permitted to drive in this country. Some people want PCs for the cavernous cases you can get so they can install dozens of cards and drives. Most, on the other hand, don’t install anything like that. It just sits empty.

I’ve broken with the “lust” of computers. My laptop (a current generation 17″ MacBook Pro) is a desktop replacement. It has compromises but then everything has compromises. It doesn’t do a lot of work these days due to it being a communications machine rather than a processing machine. My needs have changed.

The MacBook Air appeals to me but it falls short on some specifications I require. I use FireWire for one thing. And that, along with the need for an actual graphics card, makes all the difference to me.

But it’d be perfect for Her Indoors.

Sighs: how email apnea can be bad for you

I sigh a lot. It’s not because I’m sad or annoyed, but because I don’t breathe properly. If I’m concentrating on something, I forget to breathe. No bad thing. Robert Scoble highlights Linda Stone’s work. She noticed that most people stop breathing when doing email. She explained to me today that that behavior is fascinating … Continue reading “Sighs: how email apnea can be bad for you”

I sigh a lot. It’s not because I’m sad or annoyed, but because I don’t breathe properly. If I’m concentrating on something, I forget to breathe. No bad thing.

Robert Scoble highlights Linda Stone’s work.

She noticed that most people stop breathing when doing email. She explained to me today that that behavior is fascinating her and that sheâ€™s theorizing that it causes stress, among other things.

She suggested a few things to try.

1. Change your posture. She said that people who compute while standing up breath more often.
2. Get exercise. She said that those who exercise seem to breath better in stressful situations.
3. Be aware and check in with yourself to see if youâ€™re breathing normally. She said there are some devices coming soon where you can play a game with yourself to keep your breathing up to a normal rate.

She is now writing for the Huffington Post and in her post about email apnea rambled out a bunch of bad things that can happen to you due to not breathing well.

Okay. Seems it is bad. Oops.

I’m not sure I agree that it’s a stress response. Seems to me more likely to be a focus response. Of course, that takes some of the “auto” out of autonomic. We control our breathing of course, though when we lose consciousness there’s a system that takes over. I’m wondering that with some sort of self-training, a pavlovian response to a metronome maybe, we might be able to beat this. Are there seats which offer better posture for this? Does music play a part? Does the ‘business casual’ dress make a difference? Is my belt too tight? Collar too stiff?

It’s true though, even though I was trying, I held my breath for most of this blog post.

John Donne was full of shit.

No man is an island, entire of itself every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were … Continue reading “John Donne was full of shit.”

No man is an island, entire of itself
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main
if a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were
any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
it tolls for thee.

— John Donne

Looking for a good Host

I’m looking for a hosting provider in the same timezone as me. I’m tired of racking up large telephone bills at odd hours of the night. Anyone know a hosting provider who’s willing to take on a couple of new companies as well as a slew of my other clients? Email me or leave a … Continue reading “Looking for a good Host”

I’m looking for a hosting provider in the same timezone as me. I’m tired of racking up large telephone bills at odd hours of the night.

Anyone know a hosting provider who’s willing to take on a couple of new companies as well as a slew of my other clients?

Email me or leave a comment. Left my phone at home so if you phone, leave a voicemail.

Rickshaw. Golly, Oh Gosh, Oh Wow.

Okay, tonight I sent out a document to a few friends. 1.6 MB sent out to my email server. Whoosh. Some of my friends have very limited mailboxes from their ISP. Some only 30 MB, some as high as 50 MB. Very few are unlimited. I used to be worried about emailing out attachments because … Continue reading “Rickshaw. Golly, Oh Gosh, Oh Wow.”

But the message I sent didn’t just go to my email server. The email was sent, but the attachment was sent to my file server. This meant the document didn’t actually leave my network. In it’s place, there was a URL to my file server. The 1.6 MB didn’t go anywhere near my mail server and it only left the file server when the recipients clicked on the URL. As the file server was on my LAN, the transfer was quick and seamless.

For me, my file server is public so the files were sent out of my network eventually. If you’re part of an internal team and would never send attachments externally, then this would mean you could more easily secure your files as they never leave the network!

Anyway. I’m now addicted to Rickshaw.

Rickshaw began life as an idea to help some of Mac-Sys’s customers who were in need of a method of sending large attachments. Sadly the local broadband and email providers put hard limits on the amount you can send in a single email. This made life very difficult for some. The original name of the app was going to be “UnfURL” which, as you can tell, is incredibly unwieldy and would only really reach out to geeks like me. And what the heck would the icon be like?

Yes, this is a solution built to resolve a problem. How to send email attachments without clogging up email servers.

Health care: a basic human right

Neil Gaiman writes about healthcare: I was born and spent the first 2/3rds of my life in the UK, in a world in which health care was simply a human right. You got it, like an education, by virtue of being alive. And then I came to America and simply it isn’t that way here, … Continue reading “Health care: a basic human right”

Neil Gaiman writes about healthcare:

I was born and spent the first 2/3rds of my life in the UK, in a world in which health care was simply a human right. You got it, like an education, by virtue of being alive. And then I came to America and simply it isn’t that way here, and, even after 16 years, that still keeps surprising me.

He also sends a link to CaitlÃn R. Kiernan‘s blog. She’s not very well.