As a former Amiga user, I've long been a fan of full screen apps. This is also an area where Windows and Linux have outshined Mac with its not-really-even-a-maximize-button user interface. So this new plan full screen apps plan for Lion is really interesting to me.
Sadly, I fear the Mac App Store is just the first step toward completely eliminating traditional application distribution on the Mac. We'll see where they are in 10 years.
On a side note, I do still need to pardon Apple since they removed the draconian anti-Flash clause for iPhone app development. Can't ignore them, though. They'll likely be back at things along those lines (or other troubles of similar magnitude) before too long.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Wishing for TextPad bookmarks in Eclipse ...
There's one feature of TextPad that's just wonderfully convenient and helpful. It's called bookmarked lines.
You can mark lines by search (meaning by regexes), you can cut or copy marked lines, go forward/backward to next marked line, see them visually of course, and do other similar things.
What's the point? It means you don't need to drop down to a shell for things like grep or such like. They're really nice, actually. I used them just constantly when I was regularly on TextPad. I can't say enough nice things about them, really.
Please, please, please, please, please could someone put them in Eclipse? (Sorry for being a beggar rather than a helper.)
If Eclipse weren't already too complicated, I'd recommend an easy swap technique between different bookmark categories. Sometimes I would want to remember certain markings when temporarily moving to others. One option is to open the same contents multiple times (such as by copy and paste to a new document), but that was a pain really. But I'm afraid that anyone in Eclipse land would make a horror out of trying to manage multiple marker categories. So just one would be great for now.
And as another point, current Eclipse bookmarks are _nowhere_ near as good as TextPad's, despite a superficial similarity. But they could perhaps be improved to provide real service.
Thanks in advance!
You can mark lines by search (meaning by regexes), you can cut or copy marked lines, go forward/backward to next marked line, see them visually of course, and do other similar things.
What's the point? It means you don't need to drop down to a shell for things like grep or such like. They're really nice, actually. I used them just constantly when I was regularly on TextPad. I can't say enough nice things about them, really.
Please, please, please, please, please could someone put them in Eclipse? (Sorry for being a beggar rather than a helper.)
If Eclipse weren't already too complicated, I'd recommend an easy swap technique between different bookmark categories. Sometimes I would want to remember certain markings when temporarily moving to others. One option is to open the same contents multiple times (such as by copy and paste to a new document), but that was a pain really. But I'm afraid that anyone in Eclipse land would make a horror out of trying to manage multiple marker categories. So just one would be great for now.
And as another point, current Eclipse bookmarks are _nowhere_ near as good as TextPad's, despite a superficial similarity. But they could perhaps be improved to provide real service.
Thanks in advance!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Some 2005 violent death statistics
Apologies on the weak formatting, but here we go:
Feel free to add to or improve the data or to find better sources.
- US penal executions: 60 - http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions-united-states-2005
- Iraq & Afghanistan coalition military deaths: 1,028 (including overlap with terrorism deaths?) - http://icasualties.org/
- Worldwide terrorism deaths: 14,482 - http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2009/140902.htm
- Iraqi civilian violent deaths: 14,975 (including overlap with terrorism deaths, I think) - http://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/
- US murders & nonnegligent manslaughter: 16,692 - http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/data/table_01.html
- US auto accident deaths: 42,636 - http://www.car-accidents.com/pages/stats.html
- US abortions: 1,198,960 - http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/births_deaths_marriages_divorces/family_planning_abortions.html
Feel free to add to or improve the data or to find better sources.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Oracle: We've got a bill of sale right here!
This is what Oracle reminds me of:
Cell phone Java a la Pete's Dragon follows.
Oracle: We got a bill of sale right here that says he belongs to us!
Google: You don't love him. All you've done up 'til now is break his heart. You'll abuse him, and just use him.
As for me, I'm sick of the corporate shenanigans in Java. And why didn't Google buy Sun when they had the chance? I'm getting tired of Java in general. But sorry Miguel, that doesn't mean I'm running to Mono. There are plenty more fish in the ocean.
Cell phone Java a la Pete's Dragon follows.
Oracle: We got a bill of sale right here that says he belongs to us!
Google: You don't love him. All you've done up 'til now is break his heart. You'll abuse him, and just use him.
As for me, I'm sick of the corporate shenanigans in Java. And why didn't Google buy Sun when they had the chance? I'm getting tired of Java in general. But sorry Miguel, that doesn't mean I'm running to Mono. There are plenty more fish in the ocean.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
In-Mouse Accelerometers
From the leaked Windows 8 plans, it seems that Microsoft is looking at a future with richer sensors on personal computers. I would love to see this happen. I'm a big fan of Apple's popularization of accelerometers in mobile devices, too. Interaction can be so much richer than just keyboard, mouse, monitor, and speakers. Ubiquitous cameras and microphones would be sweet, though creepy.
On that topic, someone in my research lab recently made a comment about how cool it would be to put accelerometers and gyros in mice. Potentially you could go without the light sensor entirely. See IMUs for more. The Wii remote is sort of like this. And accelerometer mice have been made before.
The counter argument (from someone else in my lab here) is that full accelerometers and gyros would be much more expensive than current mouse technology, especially for the same amount of reliability and precision. But accelerometers and IMUs aren't completely off the charts for price. Maybe you could go cheap and just augment normal mice with accelerometer only for now. (And the raw part is even much cheaper than the breakout boards.)
I mean, it would be sweet if you could pick up your mouse and wave it around for 3D control in certain apps and games, right?
Logitech, Microsoft, Apple, someone, please get this out there. Thanks in advance.
On that topic, someone in my research lab recently made a comment about how cool it would be to put accelerometers and gyros in mice. Potentially you could go without the light sensor entirely. See IMUs for more. The Wii remote is sort of like this. And accelerometer mice have been made before.
The counter argument (from someone else in my lab here) is that full accelerometers and gyros would be much more expensive than current mouse technology, especially for the same amount of reliability and precision. But accelerometers and IMUs aren't completely off the charts for price. Maybe you could go cheap and just augment normal mice with accelerometer only for now. (And the raw part is even much cheaper than the breakout boards.)
I mean, it would be sweet if you could pick up your mouse and wave it around for 3D control in certain apps and games, right?
Logitech, Microsoft, Apple, someone, please get this out there. Thanks in advance.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
WebGL and NaCl on Google Chrome on Lucid 64-bit
Just reporting that the latest dev channel version of Google Chrome runs NaCl demos (using local Python-based server) and WebGL demos beautifully on the 64-bit Ubuntu 10.04 computer I'm using. Just '--enable-nacl --enable-webgl' (and maybe '--user-data-dir=...'), and you're running.
Don't use this configuration for everyday browsing, of course. Who knows how many security holes there are.
Chrome Extensions are a piece of cake to work with, too. I hope Mozilla Jetpack gets Firefox there soon. Old-timey Firefox extensions are just painful. Well, not that I should need an extension if I have NaCl, but it's still nice. And the extension would potentially allow one load for all sites instead of separate load per site.
Hrmm. Next question, can I put Bullet Physics into Chrome NaCl without much blood, sweat, or tears? If so, I think I won the sweepstakes.
Please say we get this stuff by default in our browsers soon. Pretty please. I mean, I can't hardly believe how nice this would be.
Don't use this configuration for everyday browsing, of course. Who knows how many security holes there are.
Chrome Extensions are a piece of cake to work with, too. I hope Mozilla Jetpack gets Firefox there soon. Old-timey Firefox extensions are just painful. Well, not that I should need an extension if I have NaCl, but it's still nice. And the extension would potentially allow one load for all sites instead of separate load per site.
Hrmm. Next question, can I put Bullet Physics into Chrome NaCl without much blood, sweat, or tears? If so, I think I won the sweepstakes.
Please say we get this stuff by default in our browsers soon. Pretty please. I mean, I can't hardly believe how nice this would be.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
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