Screaming Penguin

Yet another Chrome OS blog posting!

charlie.collins — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:55:51 +0000

So the Chrome OS announcement from Google has been all over the twitterverse and blogosphere today, why all the hype?

Well, for starters, rumors have been rampant for years that Google was going to jump into the operating system fray - and now they have. That's news in and of itself. In addition it's significant that the target is a quick web focus, rather than a full blown OS. And, of course, there are the booming questions of the day, why not just use Android, and or why at all?

My personal take on this is that it makes complete sense. The "why" is easy. Chrome OS is of course just a Linux distro with the Chrome browser and likely some other minor Google polish. This is smart because it's low hanging fruit, they don't have to invent Linux, and they already have a great deal of expertise in tweaking it, so why not put that to use. Chrome itself is already around and doing well, though not yet publicly on Linux (which was another curious part of this announcement, seems like you might get the browser itself to run there first and then go for the OS, but I digress), so that's a no brainer too. Combine that relative ease of entry with the fact that Google is pushing everything towards a browser centric approach anyway, which meshes perfectly with their business model, and it should be clear why Chrome OS makes sense. Strip down the OS make it boot fast and run browser based apps very well, then continue to unleash the browser apps. Personally I already use the heck out of Google Docs, GMail, Maps, Reader, and non Google stuff like Flickr, and more, and all of these really are "applications" built on the browser. The future will continue this trend, and move away from plugins (Flash, Java applets, etc). HTML 5 and Ajax and so on will make plugins unnecessary.

Overall web based apps make sense in many more scenarios than they used to. They are fast, powerful (with HTML 5 they can be multi threaded, and all JavaScript VMs are getting faster), capable of running offline and using offline storage, they still give you zero install/update advantages, and they are tremendously successful - users love them (and the familiar concepts they have, a stack with back and forward buttons, bookmarks, and so on). In addition, they work everywhere without having to wait for porting and or licensing (my GWT apps work on my Android phone and my Wii, now), or having to rely on a manual user install step (I still don't have Silverlight on any of my machines, even if they have versions, and my Flash support varies from machine to machine, for example).

I see a bigger disconnect with "why not Android" than I do with "why" at all. Even so I think that the announcement was pretty much right on with regard to Android:

Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems. While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google.

They have some overlap, but they aren't the same. Android is great on a mobile device, the "stack" of applications one running in the foreground at a time and so on (with a very limited screen), but it might not make sense on a larger netbook - unless you wanted to forgo multiple windows (or they tweak Android itself). Android won't ever make much sense on full blown desktops, I don't think, but it may find a home on some smaller netbooks. It seems to me the deciding factor there is "do I want to open up 2 or more windows side by side on this thing?" If the answer to that is "no" (because of screen real estate - Android does run multiple apps, just one at a time is on the top of the stack and in the foreground), then Android doesn't make sense.

Also, while Android has many other advantages when it comes to developing "native" apps, they don't really apply to web apps. Web apps can run on Android, but using the built in native setup, within the life cycle and security model, and using Intents and the system UI and so on, definitely makes and app "nice for the people" - on a small embedded device (the browsing experience just doesn't measure up, on any mobile device, yet).

With an overall push for web based apps it's understandable that Google seeks to distribute a Linux distro aimed at hosting the Chrome browser and making the overall browsing experience faster and better. Google may have to do some more clarifying when it comes to the Android question, because that is a bit nuanced, but all in all I welcome Chrome OS and as I see it, it certainly makes sense.

Slashdot review of Unlocking Android

charlie.collins — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:31:12 +0000

http://books.slashdot.org/story/09/06/29/139256/Unlocking-Android?from=rss

Overall Michael J. Ross gives the book an 8/10 rating. He covers a lot of ground in his review, and has some good things to say, and some bad. On the bad side he thinks it's a bit more in depth and not as introductory as billed (and I am not sure if that's bad, if the billing was wrong that's a valid issue, but it's a better book with more depth, IMO), you can't download all the code at once (its a Google Code hosting thing using SVN), and he has a few pedantic issues with usage. For example, "internet" and "web" not being capitalized. (I like them not capitalized and many publishers and style guides now do too - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_capitalization_conventions.)

All in all the review seems mechanically in depth (ToC, sections/chapters, etc), and fair enough, but there isn't a lot of real meat in it (IMO). I get the impression (though it may be incorrect), that the reviewer only read the first few chapters and then skimmed the rest. To be honest, I think chapters 3-7 and 11 are the best ones in the book (oh and BTW, I wrote those ;) - yes, I am joking about those being the best).

Thanks go to /. and to Mr. Ross for the review.

Oh, and I will fix the download code all at once thing. I will make an artifact from and SVN export and post it on the Google Code site.

Firefox 3.5 and the future of the web

charlie.collins — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:25:11 +0000

Firefox 3.5 will be a significant milestone for the open source browser - props to everyone who has contributed, props and thanks.

This browser, and others that follow similar paths, will bring about a new era for the web. It's not just that the JavaScript engine, TraceMonkey (parts of which were donated by Adobe, and though it's not yet completely Tamarin are still very impressive), is faster; or that multi-threading is possible with web workers, or that new CSS and DOM features will make it better for developers and users; or that HTML 5 support brings new capabilities including audio, video, and offline - rather it's the combination of all of this capability on the web that may change the way people think about overall application development.

Combine speed, multi threading, native audio and video support, native drag n drop, offline storage, and so on, into a stack that includes instant access to applications via URLs (no installation or update process), sharing with bookmarks, the back button (the stack of apps), and other familiar web concepts, and you have an exciting new platform that may not only push out plugins, but also other application development approaches.

I for one welcome the next level of SkyNet capability, and our new overlords.

The Siege of Ft. Yargo Adventure Race

charlie.collins — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:57:16 +0000

So I competed in, and completed without having a heart attack, the Siege last weekend. It was a tough race, and the 97 degree temps didn't make it any easier ;). This was my first adventure race and I have to say, awesome. I especially liked the strategy and orienteering aspect when dealing with optional checkpoints (you had to get 2 checkpoints per discipline to finish, the rest, the more the more points you get, were optional). All in all it was a great event, well organized, a lot of fun.

I don't have pics yet, but there are a few other accounts of the event around that have a general look and description. As soon as I get the official pics I will post them.

My friends, Mike and Tim, were stronger than I was (I was dragging on the final trek/run phase, after paddling and biking were already over), but all in all we did really well for being total adventure racing noobs - the entire team having never done it before.

One of these days I say we get a team TotSP setup and start kicking the team "4LPH4 1337" arse. (Well, we could at least out code them for sure, not so positive we will ever outrun/bike/paddle them ;).)

The Wrong Way

charlie.collins — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:22:50 +0000

I have another political rant that I want to share, this time concerning the recent events in Iran.

The demonstrations and upheaval over the recent election farce is of course of huge importance on the geopolitical scene. The fact that the demonstrations are happening at all puts a stake in the facade the religious regime there has been purporting for decades (that the people, in general, support the current situation). Any thinking person of course supports a fair election and a democratic society with personal freedoms, so that's obvious. And Iran doesn't have that, that's obvious too. But, it's complicated, so the pundits and legislators that are currently criticizing the Obama administration for their handling of the situation really need to shut the hell up and get a grip on reality.

There have been many criticizers, among them Bill Bennett, and Senator Lindsey Graham (R, S.C), who spout pretty much the same dribble - that the U.S. needs to make a stronger general statement and that the President is squandering a "chance" in Iran. Nonsense. First, if you think the U.S. ISN'T trying to aid protesters and change that regime then you are seriously naive, but that doesn't mean we have to do it in an over the top overt fashion. Second, there are many ways openly supporting these protesters could galvanize support in the OTHER direction (it's happened before). Third, the historical, cultural, and political situation is a lot more involved than just throwing support one way or the other on this one - overt or otherwise.

I won't go into great detail, but suffice to say what Bennett and Graham are saying is stupid - and if I recall correctly, it's also a criticism of the President which means you are a "hate America first" unpatriotic eagle sodomizing bastard too (or where did all that sentiment these same two had a year or so back go?).

The Obama administration has certainly made mistakes in some areas, and there is room for criticism for sure, but on this one, and foreign policy in general, they seem to be walking the balance pretty damn well in my book.

Twitter killed the blogging star

charlie.collins — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:51:03 +0000

"In my mind and in my car, we can't rewind we've gone too far . . ."

Ok, maybe not blogging star, but 10+ year old respected blog, possibly?

I have a few solid concepts for blog articles that I will try to get posted soon (a few Android concepts, some Google Wave stuff, and others). The lack of content lately on TotSP has mainly been due, I think, to our tweeting. No, really. In my case, the tweets allow me to chirp out small stuff that in the past I might have turned into a blog entry. I think Twitter is great, and it will likely raise the quality of the things that do end up needing more thought and space and ending up as blog posts, but it does have the downside that I come to the blog much less often.

At any rate, TotSP is still here, and there will be content from time to time, even if less frequently than in the past. So deal with it, and start using Twitter too ;).

HOWTO: Add JavaScript to a Web Page Programmatically.

kebernet — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:43:01 +0000

I just have to damned well rant about this because people are killing me. Dealing with Google stuff of late, they don't even seem to do it consistently across products. The Google Ajax Loader actually does this properly, but it loads other scripts that don't (Maps! I am looking at you!)

The Problem

document.write(). This method is a holdover from the original Nescape 3.0 browser implementation and it was pretty damned stupid even back then. This was a method that let you push new text content into the parse stream of the browser before the page was rendered. So:


<script>
document.write('<h1>The Date is' + new Date()+'</h1>');
</script>
<p>Hello World!</p>

Would draw the date on the screen. The problem is, this can only be evaluated at PARSE time. Subsequent calls to document.write will completely demolish the existing document. Moreover, for newer browsers that have XML/XHTML support, anything that is defined as strict XML, document.write kills the whole thing, because you can't push text into the stream that is being parsed. Why should you care? Because if someone wants to include your shitty shitty JavaScript file on their page, and not wait for your shitty shitty web server to return it before letting the user, you know, do something, they will likely set defer='defer' on their page. This is something that, like XML, post-dates document.write, and means that all evaluation of that script will be delayed until after the page parse execution context has been released.

The Solution

Try to behave well. Use the DOM APIs and add your script to the head of the document, but if that isn't there, because the HTML monkey was stupid and/or lazy, add it to the body. D.W should be your last line of defense.


function AddScriptTag(src) {
        var node = document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0] || document.body;
	if(node){
                var script = document.createElement("script");
	        script.type="text/javascript";
	        script.src=src
		node.appendChild(script);
	} else {
		document.write("<script src='"+src+"' type='text/javascript'></script>");
	}
}

Thank you. This has been a public service rant.

Call Dick's bluff

charlie.collins — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:26:44 +0000

Back to the politics, because when Cheney pipes up, I can't resist.

Dick Cheney is making the rounds and predictably still spewing nonsense. Now at least he admits there was no 9/11 - Iraq link , but even that is something that seems to pain him. In the same breath he still conflates Iraq and AQ, even now, in his twisted rationale for the invasion.

An invasion I might add that has turned out about as well as predicted - a complete debacle. Petraeus has done a commendable job, I think, and the surge has helped, but all in all the region is less stable and there is certainly more ill will and greater risk to America then before (as the NIE has stated, multiple times, not just my opinion).

And along the way Dick keeps telling us how great torture is and that we should declassify the memos. I think the memos should be declassified because I they will help to show that it doesn't work, and Dick is just bluffing. I think Levin is right on, and that was exactly my thought before I saw any of the Levin comments, this is just another Cheney tactic (do we really trust him at this point, in any way shape or form?). And besides, both Petraeus and Odierno have come out against torture (any thinking person understands this, hell even Jesse Ventura got it right, and he actually served in the military, unlike Dick). We don't need more debate on this, it's just one of those "known knowns."

All in all he is just repeating the same crap, and continuing the lies. I don't particularly care for some of the economic moves of the Obama administration (though they have been forced into them for the most part, so some leeway there), but those problems aren't even near the same scale as the crap the W administration and Cheney did to this country. It's high time we all just tell him to go F himself, once and for all.

Science v Scientology

kebernet — Sun, 31 May 2009 19:36:49 +0000

Happenings at Google I/O

charlie.collins — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:36:58 +0000

Google IO this year has been all over the interwebs and tweetfields. Many great announcements and sessions, and it sounds like many great informal gatherings too. Really very impressive stuff, there hasn't been this much buzz about one company's conference setup since, well, anything Apple does.

Recent announcements include:
App engine for Java out of preview, Android DC II announced, Google Wave, and Google Web Elements.

I had to skip the conference this year due to day job deadlines, bummer, but I am keeping up online and you can too: upadtes here.

Memorial Day Thanks

kebernet — Tue, 26 May 2009 03:20:59 +0000

Before it is over...

Susan
Dan
Andy
Brett
Gretchen
Dave
Donnie
Charlie
Bud

And all the other vets I know.

Servlet 3.0: I'm just not that into you

kebernet — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:59:10 +0000

The JC"P" has cleaned up the Servlet 3.0 spec, and there are definitely some improvements and some neat things. The problem is, the Servlet spec well has been poisoned.

The fact of the matter is JSR-311 (JAX-RS) is what "Servlet" should have turned into a long time ago. The "Servlet" concept lost its focus when it ceased to be a protocol agnostic [filter chain|endpoint processor] specification. The fact of the matter is, the "real" servlet specification is now living in Apache Mina, which is... wait for it... a protocol agnostic filter chain and endpoint processor. The mingling of the HTTP Servlet and Servlet specs has just led to general ugliness for years now. I will say, JAX-RS + JPA + Insert templating system of choice is RoR for Java.

The new Servlet spec includes some great stuff -- config snippets (which I was actually just now implementing as a build time option for GWT-Maven), AsyncContext, new Classpath handling (shut up OSGi people), and guess what, annotations. The thing is, all of this, with the possible exception of Async, is moot at this point. Servlet 3.0 is no EJB 3.0, and the interesting work is still happening in the outlier specs and stuff like the Atmosphere API.

Just to clarify

kebernet — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:39:00 +0000

A message from The Screaming Penguin:

I know a lot of people don't realize that this blog is generally open to almost anyone who wants to sign up and post. Occasionally you will see a commercial message for a little while before someone deletes it. That is the way we roll. If you want to plug your FLOSS related stuff, just don't paste your press release and we will generally be cool -- even if it is not written by you and your username is sharonpr (see the post a couple below this one). The ToS/policy file is pretty clear on this.

Without expressing any opinion, I just want to note that Working Man's post on his DWI on weed post is not from Charlie Collins, or myself (Robert Cooper). His post is interesting and worthy of discussion.

The only reason I make this qualifier is because I have gotten several emails from people thinking this was my personal post, and it was not. I don't know about Charlie (and any other regular Penguin posters), just speaking for myself. I just want to make clear: read the byline. This is not a one (or two) person blog. That said, we welcome discussion on almost any topic as long as it is interesting.

Fun TTBoOK: Revenge of the Nerds

kebernet — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:22:48 +0000

To The Best of Our Knowledge from PRI has a fun ep looking at several aspects of Nerds and nerd culture. I admit when I heard discussion of documentary, I was suprised it wasn't NerdCore Rising (which I own on DVD).

Speaking as someone who has lived the "nerd life" pretty much since I was a kid, I think there are some things they pass over. Particularly, I felt the couple of discussions of race re:nerdiness seemed tone deaf and anglo-centric to the point of offensiveness. In the aggregate, though, it was an interesting ep.

DUI Marijuana

Working Man — Wed, 20 May 2009 04:11:03 +0000

I was arrested in Forsyth County Georgia for DUI Marijuana recently, no possession, no alcohol. I cannot find a case anywhere online that will help me foresee how Forsyth County will penalize me. Any feedback greatly appreciated!!!!

FRIDAY
8:00 am: Woke up and got ready for work.
9:30 am: I arrived at work early and proceeded to get myself ahead of the work day by replying to emails and processing weekly reports and files.
5:00 pm: I leave work and head home.
5:15 pm: I'm at home getting ready for a date with my girlfriend. (*Earlier in the week my girlfriend and I made plans to go out Friday night to celebrate the fact that she had found a job after being unemployed for approximately 1 month. We agreed that I would take her out Friday night to the place of her choosing. She chose Applebee's because it was very close to both of our residences.)
6:30 pm: My girlfriend texted me advising she was running late.
6:45 pm: I leave my house and start driving to Applebee's in Johns Creek.
6:55 pm: I arrived at Applebee's and waited for my girlfriend to arrive.
7:05 pm: My girlfriend arrives and we sit at the bar and start talking. We ordered Long Island Ice Teas and Chips and Salsa and 2 waters.
8:45 pm: I ask thebartender for the check, ready to leave Applebee's, after 3 Long Island Iced Teas and one glass of water each, and the Chips n Salsa. Total number of Long Island Ice Teas paid for were 6. We each had 3 LIITs and a glass of water.
8:58 pm: Bartender closes the check and my girlfriend and I walk out of Applebee's. We decide to go for a walk around the shopping center where the Applebee's is located. We talked about our relationship while walking.
9:30 pm: We decide to go back to my place and watch tv together and not make the evening an expensive evening. We decided to leave her car at Applebee's and I drove us both to my house located approximately 2 miles from where I live. She's 24 and a very light drinker so the drinks hit her hard. I'm 34 and have a high tolerance for alcohol so obviously I wasn't going to let her drive.
9:40 pm: We are at my apartment.
11:00 pm:I get a call from a good buddy of mine I had not seen in a long time asking me if I would be interested in stopping by his house to say hi. We agreed to meet at his house. By this time my girlfriend was asleep in my couch and I had been flipping channels and wide awake. I asked her if she wanted to go see my friend and she declined, she said (mostly asleep) she will just stay and wait for me to come back but to not take too long. We had already made plans to get her car from Applebee's the next morning.
11:20 pm: I'm at my buddy's house. He was alone and watching James Bond Diamonds Are Forever. We are both movie buffs so we talked about it. During this conversation we smoked a joint.
11:45 pm: Paranoia sets in and I get worried about my girlfriend and how late it is. My buddy understood it was late and we agreed to meet up some other time. The visit was short but worth it because we hadn't seen each other in a while. Also, because I don't know alot of other movie buffs like myself and he is one.
11:45 pm: I drive down a one lane highway heading towards home. There is a stretch of road on this certain highway has no lamp posts, it was very dark. I put on my highbeams during this stretch of road to get better visibility of the road up ahead. There was barely any traffic on my way to and on my way back from my buddy's house. Paranoia was not as intense by now (thanks to the music I was listening to) but I had my highbeams on for less than half a mile for precaution and to foresee the dark road up ahead. This is the logic I was using at the time. I was driving under the speed limit. During the time my highbeams were on, less than a mile at 30 miles an hour, 3 vehicles passed me going the opposite direction on that same dark winding stretch of highway. One of the vehicles was a cop. After the long stretch of dark road I turn my highbeams off and continue to head home thinking nothing of the highbeams, the 3 cars, just driving safely. Moments later the cop pulls me over. I immediately pull over into an apartment complex' entrance. Officer approaches the car and asks me why did I have my highbeams on? I explained to him the reason: there's a dark patch of road so I turned them on for better visibility and then turned them off. He stated he was one of the 3 vehicles I passed with the beams on and that is "not ok". He asked me to step outside the vehicle and asked me questions. I asked him if the highbeams were that serious of an offense. He said he pulled me out of the car because he smelled alcohol in my breath. He then proceeded to do the "keep your eye on the pen" field sobriety test. I agreed and to my knowledge I passed the test even though he didn't say I passed or not. This is the only test he gave me. While he was giving me the pen test he stepped back and began sneezing heavily, maybe 4 or five sneezes. I stepped back and said: "I hope you don't have the Swine Flu, no pun intended Officer." He ignored the comment and then asked me more questions about my evening and told him I was just coming back from my friend's house. He asked why my eyes were bloodshot and I advised him I didn't know (If I recall correctly, I may have been freaking out and may have admitted to being in a room where there was pot being smoked). He then asked me if I would be willing to take a blood test and I said yes, only if he found it necessary. He asked me if I would find anything incriminating in my blood and I then told him that maybe just a small amount of marijuana. He asked me if I had any marijuana in the vehicle and I told him I did not. I believe at this time he had already placed handcuffs on me and searched my body and pulled everything out of my pockets. I don't recall him reading me any Miranda rights, but I do recall asking him if this was all being recorded and he said yes. Everything was being recorded. I asked him if I had access to the entire arrest and he said Yes, with an attorney or if I represented myself in court. From the back seat of the police car I see the cop searching my vehicle thoroughly. In my vehicle I had some CDs and other random items from work, like papers, pens...etc. Nothing illegal nor incriminating. My only concern at this point was the fact that my girlfriend was at my house without a ride back to her car. Which she ended up walking 2 miles the next morning to get to Applebee's.

SATURDAY
00:07 am: Ticket written up for "Failure to Dim Headlights"
00:15 am: Ticket written up for "DUI - Drugs (Marijuana)" We then wait for the Tow Truck to come get my car.
1:10 am: We arrive at Northside Hospital Forsyth and have blood samples drawn out of me.
1:30 am: By now I have lost track of time and arrived at Forsyth County Detention Center. It may have been later than 1:30 am.
12:00 pm noon: My girlfriend arrives to pick me up. We start working on getting my car back.

This is my story. All I can find online are Alcohol DUIs and Possession offenses...nothing close to my case where there was no possession, no wreckless driving, no alcohol, no endangerment. Will I lose my license? Will I do jail time? I have no problem doing community hours, paying fines, taking classes, or keeping in touch with a probation officer and taking blood/urine tests frequently because I'm not a habitual user. I've contacted an attorney and am currently putting together my Letter of Appeal that has to be turned in within 10 days of the DUI to appeal the license suspension.

Anyways.... again.... any feedback or past experiences will be very welcome.

Working Man