CodeVerity

Kindle 3 Ready to Go in August

timweaver — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:18:24 GMT

How sad is it that I want one of these?

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/07/amazon-new-kindle/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+wired/index+(Wired:+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2))

We already have a V1 and a V2. Carol’s V1 is mostly used for travel now, since her reading is done on an iPad using the Kindle App, which she says is better because she can make the font much larger without having to turn the page every few seconds (LOL). I use the V2 virtually every day. At this point, Devan is starting to use my Kindle a lot. Maybe I should give him mine so I can get a “new” one….

Browser Based Card Games and Javascript

timweaver — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:04:54 GMT

Lately I’ve been playing around with javascript based browser games. Specifically I’ve been creating card games that run in the browser. There are two goals here: 1) create a functional game using essentially nothing but javascript and 2) setup to convert the games to use HTML5 elements.

The first game “Race to the Moon” is live. I learned a ton in creating this one. The biggest thing I learned aside from debugging javascript sucks is that I’m not a graphic artist. I spent more time trying to come up with the graphics for the game than anything else. Graphically there are still issues, but I’ve moved on to the next game tentatively titled “Life Engines”.

Development is about 80% done, but I’m using placeholder graphics still (ugh). So I have to start creating the art work. I have two other games in the pipeline, each growing more complex and varied as time goes on.

Firefox, Windows Vista and Windows 7

timweaver — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:07:08 GMT

Does anyone still use Firefox? I swear, it was once my only browser, but these days every single time I open Firefox it takes forever to load and then informs me it is updating and to please wait. Minutes later, after I’ve switched to Chrome or if I’m on a no chrome site (LOL) to IE it will finish launching. It’s become so annoying I avoid Firefox like I used to avoid IE. Is Firefox a dying breed now that Chrome, Safari and IE are evolving and gaining steam?

My 5 year old HP laptop boots up Windows Vista about 10 seconds faster than my 6 month old Windows 7 laptop, which has 2x RAM and much faster CPU. The difference? On the old laptop I paved the hard drive (years ago) and put Vista on it. So all that crap-ware was gone. My Windows 7 laptop still has the crap-ware.

AT&T Micro-cell

timweaver — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:53:01 GMT

I finally succumbed and gave ATT more of my money in order to allow me to actually use the two iPhones that I have in my house. You see, I have zero bars at my house. If I go fifty feet out my backyard I have three bars and no problems. Fifty feet in front of my house I have two to three bars, but in my house zip.

The installation was easy enough. Register the device, register your phones, connect it (in the order they say) and wait approx 90 minutes for it to get a GSP signal and register itself. My phone connected immediately. My wife’s phone we had to power off and on but it then connected without a problem. Ironically, since we’ve installed it I have noticed I will get 1 bar AT&T and if that happens it appears that the Micro-cell doesn’t connect. If I move closer to the actual unit it will switch over.

The micro-cell is on the far side of my house, so it really only happens when there are three+ walls between me and it. The sound quality is acceptable and I haven’t had any calls dropped.

I grabbed it for $149 with 100 rebate for adding $20 / month unlimited calling. I’m sure that once the rebate shows up that unlimited thing will go the way of the dodo bird.

Slogging through the middle

timweaver — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:44:25 GMT

At 55k words on Oasis: The New Dawn. I’ve been consistently taking time off from writing because of other pressing things and each time it happens I tend to lose the story and restart. I know that what I’m writing now is nothing like what I envisioned. In fact, one of the characters that the story wasn’t supposed to be about has really taken over. What I would like to do is start over, writing the entire story from that characters perspective. Once I’m done I may end up going back and actually writing her story instead.

Social Web and Education

timweaver — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 15:48:24 GMT

The relationship between the social web (aka Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc.) and education has almost always been rather tumultuous. Recently a student at a school in my city committed suicide. I happen to know this particular school has a strict policy against teachers being on Facebook or any other social site. The question that has been bothering me lately is why?

In the case of suicide is it almost always telegraphed, sometimes very explicitly. If a teacher happened to be linked to this particular student on a social site wouldn’t they have picked up on those signals? Oh, I’m sure the argument against that is the liability: “Why didn’t you know Johnny was so sad?” Let’s get something straight about that. Teachers are not parents and they should not be held accountable to the life and wellbeing of students. It’s the parents role/job to ensure that Johnny gets counseling if he needs it, etc. However, parents are many times the last to know, and that is where the social web can help. If teachers were allowed that interaction then at least the possibility exists that some warning would have been sounded.

Yes, a teacher could be wrong, could do nothing, could… would… should… we live in a society where everyone is afraid to help one another because they don’t want to be wrong. It’s just plain silly. Step forward, be a role model, take a chance and possibly save someone’s life.

I’ve experienced a person I know fairly well committing suicide. I can tell you it is a hard road. You ask yourself if you should have seen it coming, etc. Had there been a Facebook or Myspace or some such then possibly I would have had the avenues to see it coming. In the end, by coupling together pieces of information spread across many friends we figured out that this guy was a risk, but no individual had the whole of information…

Education in this country is burying its head in the sand, hoping that the social web will go away, not impact the lives of its charges, nor its teachers. That is the wrong approach. Education should be embracing the social web, take it and run. See where it leads you. Allow the social web to spread your learning, not be the inhibitor.

Windows Live Writer Updated

timweaver — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 15:37:52 GMT

I just downloaded and installed the latest Windows Live Writer. One question: why does this thing take so long to install? Seriously, given what it does it should not take almost five minutes to actually install. It makes me wonder how many hooks this “little” program has into my operating system and what it is really doing.

IE8 Developer Tools No longer Visible on Windows 7

timweaver — Tue, 25 May 2010 11:14:18 GMT

I’ve just begun to experience this problem. When I hit F12 or Developer Tools from the menu the screen flashes and nothing appears to happen. Looking at task bar I can see the Developer Tools window however all that is there is a mouse icon and the close. After screwing around with it for a while I discovered that the window is actually open, however it has been minimized to a very small size and pushed off screen.

To Fix:

Click on the developer tools window from the task bar to select it as active (not that you can’t see it). Use Alt + space to bring up the window menu, and using the keyboard and arrow keys select "Move." Then using the down and right keys pull the window back into the visible area.

Steve Jobs Promised me Freedom from Porn but He Lied

timweaver — Fri, 21 May 2010 11:15:34 GMT

I am shocked, no appalled, that the promises of “Freedom from porn” have not been upheld. My iPad not only plays porn, but I am convinced that YouPorn is one of the best playing web sites on the iPad [not that I spend time on porn sites]…

Prius Owners are Environmentalist Posers

timweaver — Thu, 13 May 2010 11:41:47 GMT

The big push to own a more fuel efficient vehicle and help the environment seems to be what drove the popularity of the Prius:

Photo from: www.treehugger.com

There are a lot of skeptics out there when it comes to how environmentally friendly the Prius actually is. There is little doubt that the environmental cost of manufacturing a Prius, especially the hybrid technologies in it, are far greater than comparable non-green technologies, but let’s just say that doesn’t matter…

I believe Prius owners are posers because here in New England not a day goes by that I don’t get passed on one of our highways by a Prius that is clearly doing 15-25 (yes 25) MPH over the speed limit. Now, I know those pesky black and white signs are just suggestions and they only really count when a state trooper is nearby but come on. If you went and spent the extra money to own an “environmentally friendly” vehicle, it seems logical that you would be aware of the fact that the faster you go, the worse gas mileage you get.

The more gas you burn, the less friendly a car you drive. Hold on, you might say. I still get better gas mileage than you! So what is my answer (and at 75 I doubt it). You are “saving” the environment by not burning as much gas when you drive 75 or 80mph. That is a fallacious argument. You can’t save anything by spending more. It’s like saying “it was on sale so I bought two.” You still spent $500 even though you saved $100. That “Saved” isn’t money that someone put back in your pocket, it’s money you didn’t give away. The same goes for burning fuel. Just because your car is fuel efficient, doesn’t mean you can drive faster and burn more fuel (setting aside the obvious safety issues of doing 80 in that tiny thing).

Own a Prius? Don’t be a poser. If you want to drive 80, then go buy a Ford Mustang Cobra that way you aren’t trying to lie to yourself and everyone else.