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Google Wave Review: "Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you."

Fosten — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:18:41 -0500

On November 12th this year I experienced Christmas Morning, as I opened up my email to find a Google Wave invite. Things have never been the same. After passing out the 8 invitations I received to share with friends and family (instead of selling the invites on ebay link needed), our first Wave took off. The following is some of what we learned.

If you're unfamiliar with Wave, here is a good preview of some of the features it has to offer. Watching this will help you get a grasp on how to use this "killer" (Facebook-killer, MySpace-killer, Office-killer) application.

When we began, our first inclination was to write in a style that was conducive to instant message. We soon found that the disorganization of our rapid back and forth was creating too many new threads. It was confusing that only replies to your own messages indented, not replies to others. I spent more time deleting exploratory chatter than on composition, mostly because it was unclear how to delete more than one conversation statement at a time. The playback function was helpful in looking back to figure out it took us 85 steps before we began an actual "document" for this article. And the Ping function was neat in that it opens up a new wave which is "always on top" until the person replies.

I found it strange that the person who started this wave wasn't immediately added to my contacts, much in the way someone who I correspond with in GMail, is added to my Contacts automagically. I can understand that on a large wave you may not want 100 new people in your contacts, but there should be some kind of option to choose what new friends from each wave you want to add. I had to manually add the @googlewave.com address to my contacts later on, as there was no convenient "add friend" button next to their name.

Keep in mind that Wave is not even Beta. Its Preview (which Google mistakenly must think is the first letter of the Greek alphabet). Even the settings section is under construction and there was no apparent way to add a profile picture. How do we export this to google docs? How do we integrate this with a blog? How do we center this embedded video? How do we get out of the WYSIWYG editor to see the HTML source? These questions and more remain unanswered, but as an alpha-tester, consider me impressed.

Google Reader Konami Code Easter Egg

Fosten — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:10:00 -0400

Remember how to get 30 extra lives? Good. If you're in Google Reader press "up up down down left right left right B A" and the ninjas will reward you with an Easter egg.

Zotac ION-ITX Unboxing

Fosten — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:02:16 -0400

Processor    Intel® Atom™ Processor 330 (1M Cache, 1.60 GHz, 533 MHz FSB)
Chipset    MCP7A-ION
Memory    2x DDR2 800 DIMM slots (up to 8 GB)
Graphics    Onboard NVIDIA® ION (NVIDIA® GeForce 9400M) with NVIDIA® PureVideo™ HD, CUDA™, PhysX™ and nView™ support (up to 2 monitors)

Live Blogging PSE09 Day 2: Deliverance - Plone theming without the learning curve

Fosten — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:43:01 -0400

Deliverance, allows you to inject plone into an existing design.

Sample designs at http://www.oswd.org also combine themes

rule to replace items with content from plone site

logo <replace content="" theme="logo.h1" />

to call elements of navigation
children:#portal-globalnav children:#links ul

drop theme elements with drop

if there is different ie <div> <p> replace with tag:

runs as wsgi middleware

zine - python blogging tool can be themed as plone edit paste/rules

collective.xdv define template locatoin w/o running deliverance separately

deliverance as proxy runs another python process

Live Blogging PSE09 Day 1: Hone Your TestFu

Fosten — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:39:56 -0400

Writing tests forces clear requirements up front

Test-Code Cycle - write, if test fails, write new test until it passes

Unit tests gauge individual behavior in product, use Python unittest module

Functional tests, what goes in and out, use PloneTestCase

UI tests - act as an end-user would, use zope.testbrowser

http://plone.org/documentation/tutorial/manipulation-plone-objects-programattically

bin/instance -s (specify which module to load)

roadrunner is a tool that preloads Plone to make running your integration tests much faster

if fail use -D to drop you into Pdb

Use plone.reload to try out these changes live

Dont overtest, tests are software too and must be maintained

Live Blogging PSE09 Day 1: Adding Interactivity to your Plone Site

Fosten — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:41:40 -0400

Bringing JavaScript (JS) into Plone via portal_javascripts

New in Plone 3.3 pull in JS from external sites

Using Javascript libraries can reuse existing code and save time

Kinetic Style Sheets (KSS) make changes without reloading page

KSS rules contain selector, action type, action, action parameters

If JS is disabled, KSS recognizes, runs action, and doesn't break

KSS failes silently, but by turning on debugging in portal_javascript messages will appear in firebug

Documentation at http://kssproject.org

Plone 4 won't ship with KSS but can be used as an add-on project

Making jQuery calls :first :last :nth :not

http://plugins.jquery.com

If uses the plugin uses $ replace with JQ and insert it in resource registries between jquery.js and jquery-integration.js

Examples collaspable content, sortable tables, Deco (in Plone 5)

check out more at http://bit.ly/plone-interactivity

Live Blogging PSE09 Day 1: De-mystifying GenericSetup

Fosten — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:14:07 -0400

Allows you to save Plone customizations for repeatability

Creating profiles in GenericSetup

What's in a profile? profile-<package_name>:<profile_name>

Controlled through the portal_setup tool

Ability to take a snapshot of the site and compare changes

metadata.xml gives profile a version # and define dependencies

profiles allow a uninstall path for themes that wont go away

portal_setup vs portal_quickinstaller, cant unquickinstall profile

The Island of Tuvalu is Sinking

Fosten — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:00:00 -0400

Godaddy recommends against purchasing .tv domain names.

The island is sinking.

Their lease agreement runs out in 2012.

Maybe they know something about the end of the world.

Jaunty Jackalope Release Parties Everywhere

Fosten — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:40:00 -0400

Parties, parties, everwhere. Ubuntu 9.04 final release hit the planet today. Check out the worldwide list of events! Including a Revolution OS movie screening on May 8th at 8pm at our offices in Lilly, Pa. Stop by! We'd love to have ya!

The Pirate Bay Spectrial

admin — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:40:00 -0400

Today, the four founders of The Pirate Bay, each received a one year jail sentence for violating Sweedish copyright laws. Defendants Gottfrid Svartholm, Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde, and Carl Lundström were accused of making copyrighted material easily searchable and accessable to the public. TPB was started in 2003 by the Swedish anti-copyright organization Piratbyran (The Piracy Bureau). The founders, who have made a splash over the years by laughing in the face of companies who send them legal notices. However, this day in court was very real, as real as any orchestrated media circus can be.

The trial of TPG began on February 16th, by the second day half of the charges had been dropped. The trial, seen as a very real and landmark case for internet freedom, turned into a modern day big-media driven public lynching. TPB gang, never short to entertain, provided colorful commentary as they tried to explain the technology behind BitTorrent. The decision hurts all private citizens everywhere.

The .TEL Domain Rush

Fosten — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:00:00 -0400

Following the successful Sunrise and Landrush periods, Telnic, the registry operator for .tel top level domains, announced the general availability of .tel domains for all businesses.

The 6 versions of Windows 7

Fosten — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:48:48 -0500

If Microsoft was going to release 6 versions of Windows 7, why not just go for the gold and release like 7 versions? I mean, seriously, just so you can make sure to get your point across. The absurdly over-saturated list includes:

Windows 7 Starter (limited to three apps concurrently)
Windows 7 Home Basic (for emerging markets) $200
Windows 7 Home Premium (adds Aero, Touch, Media Center) $260
Windows 7 Professional (Remote Desktop host, Mobility Center, Presentation mode) $300
Windows 7 Enterprise (volume license only, boot from virtual drive, BitLocker)
Windows 7 Ultimate (limited availability, includes everything) $320

Microsoft says however they will focus on two primary editions of Windows 6.1 (sorry I meant Windows 7): Home Premium and Professional.

This is a complete failure for a company to ever need to release this many versions of one piece of software. This is a slap in the face to consumer requests for single brand name they can identify with. Your great response to free and open source software is to charge between $200-$320 for your operating system? And you seriously think limiting multi-tasking in your most basic version is funny? Microsoft, do you understand not yet understand why I'll just install Puppy Linux for free?

Pirates pwn the RIAA, no more lawsuits

Fosten — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:20:00 -0500

After suing 35,000 people in the last 5 years for downloading music over the internet, the Recording Industry Association of America has finally decided to give up its fight. The RIAA announced today a change in strategy to end litigation and will now instead try to partner relationships with ISPs to cut off service by way of TOS agreements to those serving MP3s.

Why it took the RIAA 5 years to realize they had become the most despised, ridiculed, and hated group on the planet, I'll never know. After a national organization starts suing single mothers, dead people, and 13-year-old girls, someone from within should have had the bright idea to hire a PR firm.

Instead of putting their energy towards envisioning new and innovative ways to deliver and sell music, the RIAA's legal practices have been nothing but destructive to artists, consumers, and the entire industry as a whole. Today's announcement is not just a major victory for pirates, but for everyone. Please be sure to call your grandmother and tell her its safe to listen to music on the internet again without fear of the feds busting through her door at 3am.

Now, will someone please tell the RIAA to leave broadcasters alone and help us save internet radio?

Pigs and refrigerators in space = Mission complete

admin — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 17:00:00 -0500

Space shuttle Endeavour has finally finished its cross-country piggyback ride to the Kennedy Space Center, fixed atop a modified 747, two weeks after landing at Edwards Airforce base in California due to bad weather in Florida. The astronauts aboard STS-126 completed a 16 day mission to install the first refrigerator in space. The refrigerator, measuring just 16.5 inches deep, 10.2 inches wide and 6.7 inches high, can be cooled by either air flow or water flow. Other improvements to the International Space Station included new state-of-the-art exercise equipment, an extra toilet, additional sleeping quarters, and a Water Recovery System that uses recycled-urine. Providing renewable sources of life-sustaining food and water for long-duration space travel is essential and the latest mission will have an immediate impact by increasing the capacity of ISS crews from 3 to 6. Removing our dependency on freeze-dried food outside the planet Earth opens up a whole new world of possibilities. All ancestors of this Russian swine should be concerned.

Buying an unlocked G1? Why not go Android Dev Phone 1?

Fosten — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 23:45:00 -0500

Yes, the T-Mobile G1 can be unlocked and run on AT&T's network, but not without limitations. Better yet, Google is now offering the Android Dev Phone 1 a SIM and hardware-unlocked G1 for $399 (free shipping to the US). Unlike retail devices, the bootloader on the Dev Phone 1 doesn't enforce signed system images, enabling you to flash custom Android builds to the device (plus you get the cool custom Android logo design on the back). To order one, you have to register as an Android developer in the Android Market (one-time $25 setup fee). Now you can finally have a test environment for all those mobile apps you've been developing! Haven't been coding anything? Well, what are you waiting for? Here's Hello, Android! to get you started.