A checklist for Android manufacturers

Chris Ziegler’s post “Why do I keep coming back to the Nexus S?” is actually more of a checklist that he’d like Android manufactures to adhere to:

Google Blogger: staying in control of your content and other tips

I am very happy with Google Blogger, but that does not mean that your out-of-the-box experience cannot be improved. This post contains tips for optimizing your blog: Avoid the loss of your content, tweak the look, etc.

HTC is not locking Android bootloaders, any more

This [1] is a big deal: HTC won’t lock its Android bootloaders, any more. Quotes from the post:

Google Wallet: pay with your Android phone (a summary)

Google Wallet is a new product that enables you to pay with your Android cell phone.

TuneSwitch: quickly switch between iTunes accounts (Mac)

TuneSwitch is a Mac program that allows you to quickly switch between your iTunes accounts. No further explanation is necessary: You will know immediately whether you need this or not. [Via fscklog]

The void operator in JavaScript

Syntax.

    void expr

evaluates expr and returns undefined. Examples:

Movie: Mr. Nobody (2009)

• Title: Mr. Nobody [amazon.com, amazon.de]
• Genre: Drama | Fantasy | Romance | Sci-Fi
• Year: 2009
• Runtime: 141 min
• Language: English
• Cast: Jared Leto, Sarah Polley, Diane Kruger, Rhys Ifans, Juno Temple
• Story: We are presented with various scenes from a man’s life, out of chronological order. Some scenes are from our future where the man is famous for what he embodies.
• My rating: 8/10

New ideas for cell phone sensors

A N.Y. Times article refers to Benedetto Vigna, the general manager of the Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) division of STMicroelectronics, regarding new sensors that might be built into cell phones soon.

Bookmarklet: copy a link for Twitter and editors

Update 2011-09-27: Automatically remove parts of the title, add a Twitter name, add a hashtag.

Problem: You have found an interesting web page and would like to copy its link, for use with Twitter or an editor. That means you need to perform several steps: First, you copy the URL. Second, you go back to copy the title (which might be tricky to get at). Third, you construct the link from the copied pieces.

Web gaming technologies: Angry Birds’ cross-compiled Java versus native JavaScript

After it became clear that Angry Birds was basically a true webapp with only a little Flash to overcome the limitations of web-based audio [1], more information came to light regarding the technology it is based on [2].

Tip: load source from a file in the Node.js shell

Node.js is really handy as an interactive shell for JavaScript. To load source code from a file, you must create a module. This post explains how.

Making it easier to reply to email digests

Mailing lists are still a common way of communicating in teams. If the volume is high, a convenient option is to receive a digest that delivers several sent messages in a single email.

Automatic semicolon insertion in JavaScript

Update 2011-11-11: What JavaScript would be like with significant newlines

In JavaScript, automatic semicolon insertion allows one to omit a semicolon at the end of a line. While you always should write semicolons, knowing how JavaScript handles their omission is important knowledge, because it helps you understand code without semicolons and because it has effects even in code with semicolons.

Why the Angry Birds webapp needs Flash

Update 2011-05-21: Web gaming technologies: Angry Birds’ cross-compiled Java versus native JavaScript

Shortly after the Angry Birds webapp came out on 2011-05-11 [1], people were disappointed that it needed Flash. This post examines why that is.

A few thoughts on Chromebooks and Chrome OS

Update 2011-12-01: Is Google's Chromebook a failure?

Chromebooks and Chrome OS are yet another kind of device and operating system that have recently been introduced. This post tries to make sense of them.

Google I/O, day 2: summary of the Chrome keynote

The focus of the keynote on day 1 was about Android [1], the keynote on day 2 is about Google Chrome and Chrome OS.

Google I/O, day 1: summary of the Android keynote

I had the pleasure of attending Google’s public viewing of the Google I/O keynote, in Munich. This post is a summary of what has been presented. If one were to summarize the content in one sentence, it would be: “Android everywhere”.

Eich’s ECMAScript.next status update at JSConf: arrow function syntax, classes, transpilers

Update 2011-06-17: ECMAScript.next: the “TXJS” update by Eich

At JSConf.US 2011, JavaScript creator Brendan Eich gave an update [1] on what features will make it into ECMAScript.next, the version after ECMAScript 5 [3].

Programming language variables: scope and extent

This post examines two aspects of how variables work in programming languages: The scope and the extent of variables. Example source code is given in JavaScript, but should simple enough to be universally understandable.

Google’s Traceur: compile ECMAScript.next to JavaScript on the fly

Google’s Traceur allows you to use ECMAScript.next features right now: Write ECMAScript.next code and use a special script type. Then the first script you load is Traceur which ensures that all your new code is compiled to JavaScript on the fly.

New ways of playing old instruments

This post shows how some musicians do amazing things with pianos, guitars, and zithers. This is one of the few instances where you really have to watch how someone makes music, in order to really appreciate it. So it’s good that all of the following material is available on YouTube. Videos embedded after the break.

Anime site handles piracy like a business problem

Blog post on Ars: “Competing with free: anime site treats piracy as a market failure” explains how a US site that offers Japanse anime with English subtitles manages to compete with subtitles.

Why is the revenue of technical books declining?

Mark Pilgrim has written the post “The ‘book’ is dead” [via Daring Fireball] where he examines why revenue from technical books seems to be declining. It was triggered by a prior post from David Flanagan, in which he writes:

For 15 years I’ve been one of those lucky authors who has been able to support himself and his family almost entirely on book royalties. But the publishing industry has been in decline and my royalties checks have decreased more-or-less steadily since the dot-com bust, and I’ve now decided that I need to look for a salaried job.

Pilgrim’s post makes a few noteworthy points: