Pigsaw Blog

Bookmarks for 8 Sep 2010

Nik — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:00:35 +0000

"I have read your website and it is obviously that your a foggot."
An e-mail conversation with David Thorne. (humour email )
Rupert Murdoch’s Paywall Disaster: Readers, Advertisers, Journalists & Publicists All Hate It | Techdirt
"We had already seen the early indications that Rupert Murdoch's paywalls from The Times and The Sunday Times in the UK were a dismal failure, but as more information gets leaked about how the paywalls are working out, it's looking worse and worse." Alternatively one might point out that that sources in this story are a report from a rival paper with just one quote from an actual advertisers (the rest being pundits); and they seem to have converted 10% of their readers, which is surely good-to-excellent for the web. (timesonline paywalls business_models )
Natasha Fondren » Kindle Formatting for Novels I
Imaginative formatting ideas for Kindle books. (kindle formatting html )
More Thoughts on Scala’s Option Class – Stay on Target
"After reading a post by Cédric Beust that linked to an earlier article I wrote about Scala's Option class, I’ve decided to write about what I’ve learned about Option in the past two years." More on Scala's Option class. (scala programming_techniques )
After the horse has bolted: Option in Scala vs null in Java
"Much as I was loving scala, neither of [my Java-oriented approaches to Option] were a great advance forward. [...] Until one day, with the help of my colleague Daithi, the realisation came: treat an Option as a collection with zero or one entries." (scala programming_techniques )

Bookmarks for 7 Sep 2010

Nik — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:01:53 +0000

Work Smart 2: How to Take Smart Meeting Notes | Fast Company
"smart advice on taking thorough meeting notes" (productivity video meetings )
Adapting Comics for The Amazon Kindle Part 2 – The HTML Doc (Tutorial) | Robot Comics
(html comics markup kindle css )
Kindle Formatting – Formatting Tips
"The information on this page only covers the most basic process for converting books into the HTML supported on the Kindle." (kindle formatting html markup css )
Amazon Kindle’s Publishing Program
"KindleGen is a command line tool used to build eBooks that can be sold through Amazon's Kindle platform." (kindle amazon conversion tool )
calibre – About
"calibre is a free and open source e-book library management application developed by users of e-books for users of e-books" (conversion opensource tools kindle )

Bookmarks for 3 Sep 2010

Nik — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 22:01:07 +0000

500 Internal Server Error
500 Internal Server Error (none)
kindlefeeder.com – RSS and Atom Feed Subscriptions For Your Amazon Kindle
"Kindlefeeder is a service for Amazon Kindle owners that lets you aggregate your favorite feeds and have them delivered to your Kindle in a convenient, easy-to-navigate format. Kindlefeeder also lets you save individual webpages and have them delivered to your Kindle along with your feeds." (kindle rss feeds )
How I coach programmers. – Techbelly
"This scheme comes from Kent Beck, and it’s an excellent technique to train yourself into writing better code. I use it to teach good programming practice. This is how I coach programmers, and it works." (programming_techniques coaching )
psmith, journalist › It’s not about selling news, it’s about keeping customers
"Forget worrying about journalism and who’s going to fund your Baghdad bureau for just a minute and ponder this: news does not sell itself. Newspapers like The Times are learning now what digital B2B titles have known for years – that making a paid-for news product work online needs a great deal of specialised marketing, promotion, management and practical know-how." Advice from Patrick Smith that we would do well to remember. (journalism news publishing paywalls business_models )
Lanyrd | the social conference directory
How to keep up to date with conferences. (conferences directory sharing calendar events )

Bookmarks for 31 Aug 2010

Nik — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:00:13 +0000

Guardian science blogs: We aim to entertain, enrage and inform | Science | guardian.co.uk
"The Guardian's science blogs network is an attempt to bring some of the expertise and [scientific] discussions to our readers. Our four bloggers will bring you their untrammeled thoughts on the the latest in evolution and ecology, politics and campaigns, skepticism (with a dollop of righteous anger) and particle physics (I'll let them make their own introductions)." (launch mutualisation guardian blogging journalism science )
New Features of Java7 SE
I cannot repeat the tweet I read about this presentation, but the politer version is that Java has gone too far. (presentation java languages )
Google Adds Blog Filter To Help Find Blogs On Subjects
"Google announced they added a new filter that helps you find "specialized blogs" on any topic you can imagine." (blogs search google launch )
Commonly Confused Characters
Single quote-like characters, double quote-like characters, dashes, spaces and more. Commonly-misinterpreted characters detailed here. (encoding unicode characters )
elements.pdf (application/pdf Object)
"The Web was originally conceived as a hypertextual information space;

but the development of increasingly sophisticated front- and back-end technologies has fostered its use as a remote software interface. This dual nature has led to much confusion, as user experience practitioners have attempted to adapt their terminology to cases beyond the scope of its original application. The goal of this document is to define some of these terms within their appropriate contexts, and to clarify the underlying relationships among these various elements." (usability information_architecture user_experience system:filetype:pdf system:media:document )
500 Internal Server Error
500 Internal Server Error (none)
GOOGLE FLOPS AND FAILURES
From Google X (no, me neither) to Jaiku (??!) and beyond, with a bit of speculation thrown in. The final conjecture that "Google loves only money, Google is dead" is quite misguided, I'd have said, though. (google software_failure history )

Bookmarks for 22 Aug 2010

Nik — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 17:00:44 +0000

The Twitter Times: pigsaw
"News and Blogs Selected by People You Trust " Well, news and blogs selected by people I don't mind reading the odd 140 character message from, but "trust" is a good enough approximation. (twitter aggregation social_media )
The Twitter Tim.es
"The Twitter Times is a real-time personalized newspaper generated from your Twitter account" (twitter news aggregator social_media )
paper.li – read Twitter as a daily newspaper
"paper.li organizes links shared on Twitter into an easy to read newspaper-style format. Newspapers can be created for any Twitter user, list or #tag.

A great way to stay on top of all that is shared by the people you follow – even if you are not connected 24/7 !" (twitter tools social_media sharing )
specs:1.2 · LOLCODE
The programming language for a new generation. Sample variable assignment: I HAS A VAR ITZ 12 (programming language spec humour )
Google and the Myth of Free Time – Chris Trimble – The Conversation …
(google innovation management )

Bookmarks for 19 Aug 2010

Nik — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:00:23 +0000

On hiring (developers) – David R. MacIver
"First off, we’re hiring. You should apply. Even if you don’t apply, check out the spec. This post will make more sense if you do, and I’d love it if you were to forward it to anyone you know who would fit…" David MacIver on the thinking behind his, er, unusual job ad. (jobs systems_administration )
Dev team seeking first amongst equals — GitHub Jobs
"We’re looking to hire who we describe as a “Beard”, based on a couple people we’ve worked with in the past who have had amazing technical skills and equally amazing beards. [...] Some alternative job descriptions include: * tech guru * systems architect who isn’t a wanker…" Impressively brutal job ad. (jobs systems_administration )
Where to find free wifi in London – Time Out London
"Who says nothing comes for free? Time Out crosses London to find the pubs, bars, cafés and restaurants that offer free wifi, as well as some free wifi hotspots" (wifi free london )
Kindle and iPad Displays: Up close and personal. | BIT-101
"While playing a bit more with [my new USB microscope], I held it up to my computer screen and my Nexus One screen and could clearly see the pixels. Neat. Then I wondered what the Kindle’s screen looks like close up. Quite different! I then compared the Kindle’s screen at roughly 26x and 400x with the iPad’s screen at approximately the same resolution. Wow!" Fascinating pictures. (kindle ipad technology hardware )
The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet | Magazine
*That* article… "Two decades after its birth, the World Wide Web is in decline, as simpler, sleeker services — think apps — are less about the searching and more about the getting. Chris Anderson explains how this new paradigm reflects the inevitable course of capitalism. And Michael Wolff explains why the new breed of media titan is forsaking the Web for more promising (and profitable) pastures." (trends wired_magazine )
LucidChart – Online Diagramming, Flowchart and Drawing Software
Online flowchart and diagram tool. (charts tool collaboration )

Bookmarks for 17 Aug 2010

Nik — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:01:13 +0000

Technology Review: A New Kind of Microchip
"A computer chip that performs calculations using probabilities, instead of binary logic, could accelerate everything from online banking systems to the flash memory in smart phones and other gadgets." Don't know how that could be faster. Personally I find it much easier dealing with 1s and 0s than 0.34270s and 0.074952s. (hardware innovation probability )
Igor Sutyagin is odd man out in spy swap deal | World news | The Guardian
"Igor Sutyagin was shovelling cinders on to a path in his prison compound in Russia's Arctic north early last month when he was told suddenly and without explanation that he should prepare to leave. Shortly afterwards he was handcuffed and put under guard on a flight to Moscow." (interview spying russia video )
Adobe chief Shantanu Narayen believes he doesn’t need Apple or the iPad – Telegraph
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen on not worrying about being excluded from the iPad: "It's a business decision. With the energy and innovation that our company has, we'd rather focus on people who want to deliver the best experience with Flash and there are so many of them." (apple adove interview flash )
iAd Approval Process Pains Sound Familiar
"In April, Apple saw the money to be had in targeted advertising, and announced it would take an ownership role for ads running on its mobile platform by creating iAd. The idea was actually not too bad: Through this model, Apple would pay 60 percent of revenue to the developer, so even with a free app, both Apple and the developer could stand to make some money. However, in the six weeks since launch, marketers seem to be finding the process of working with Apple difficult, and at least one launch advertiser — Chanel — has ceased working with iAd." (apple advertising )
Murdoch’s New iPaper: One Last Tragic Roll Of The Digital Dice
"Surely no-one, not even a dyed-in-the-wool newspaperman like Murdoch, would be stupid enough to launch a new national title in the current climate. But no – the story’s true, albeit with a technological twist that makes the move sound only 1% less suicidal: Murdoch’s new paper (launching ‘by the end of the year’) will be available only on tablets like the iPad. And readers will have to pay to view it. [...] To say that’s a bold move is like describing the Charge of the Light Brigade in similar terms. Except that 278 people paid for the Charge of the Light Brigade." Paul Carr, with a withering attach on News Corp's plans for a new electronic newspaper. Entertaining, regardless of whether you agree with him. (news_corp paywalls newspapers rupert_murdoch )
7 Basic Rules for Making Charts and Graphs
"[W]hatever you're making your charts and graphs for, whether it be for a report, an infographic online, or a piece of data art, there are a few basic rules that you should follow." (charts graphs visualisation tips )
Writing Bulletproof Apps with API Errorpoints
"Wouldn’t it be nice if every API had a suite of error scenarios available to call. This is a rather fabulous suggestion from Andrew Cove[...] This pattern already exists in payment gateways. Quite often in the sandbox environments for these services you will have a few different fake credit card numbers to try against their payment acquisition system. One will pass and the rest will fail with varying error codes. This is so you can prepare for the error and handle it safely and neatly." (testing apis )

Bookmarks for 17 Aug 2010

Nik — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:01:13 +0000

Computational Complexity: But This One Is Different…
So, maybe the P=NP problem remains open: "There are two camps in our community on Deolalikar's [P != NP] paper. Those of us who saw Deolalikar's paper as just another in a long series of bad attempts at P v NP and wondering what all the fuss was about. [...] Deolalikar at this point should retract his P ≠ NP claim until he can address all these issues. In an email Deolalikar sent out to the gang of 22 on Friday the 13th, he restates his claim and overview of the proof and says he "fixed the issues in the finite model theory portion of the proof". He promises a revised version on his homepage in a couple of days. Deolalikar is following the script, currently at stage 5 of the 12 stage process. Stage 6 will happen soner than he expects." The 12 stage process, linked, is particularly damning. (maths )
Working with Scala’s XML Support – Code Commit
"XML is probably one of Scala’s most controversial language features (right behind unrestricted operator overloading). On the one hand, it’s very nice to be able to simply embed XML fragments and XPath-like expressions within your Scala source code. [...] Unfortunately, Scala’s XML library is very…weird. Especially in Scala 2.7. The class hierarchy is unintuitive, and there are odd pitfalls and correctness dangers just waiting to entrap the unwary. That fact, coupled with the lack of appropriate documentation in the language specification, leads to a very steep learning curve for new users. [...] I can’t personally do anything about the strangeness in the XML library. Like the literal syntax itself, it’s too late to make many fundamental changes to the way XML works in Scala. However, I can try to make it easier for beginners to get up and running with Scala’s XML support." Very helpful. (scala tips xml )
McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: After a Thorough Battery of Tests We Can Now Recommend "The Newspaper" As the Best e-Reader On the Market.
McSweeney's reviews e-readers, and finds a clear winner: "The most obvious advantage of The Newspaper was the size of its display, which outclassed its rivals both in terms of size and elasticity. The Newspaper display could be read at full size or, when flipped open, twice its normal width. We also had no trouble reading copy when the display was flipped to half or even quarter size. One of our engineers even figured out how to make a hat. [...]" (ereaders comparison humour newspapers )
jQuery Mobile | jQuery Mobile
"A unified user interface system across all popular mobile device platforms, built on the rock-solid jQuery and jQuery UI foundation. Its lightweight code is built with progressive enhancement, and has a flexible, easily themeable design." (jquery mobile javascript libraries )
Journalism Warning Labels « Tom Scott
Lovely stuff: "It seems a bit strange to me that the media carefully warn about and label any content that involves sex, violence or strong language — but there's no similar labelling system for, say, sloppy journalism and other questionable content. I figured it was time to fix that, so I made some stickers." (journalism humour newspapers design download )

Bookmarks for 13 Aug 2010

Nik — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:00:17 +0000

Bookmarks for 13 Aug 2010

Nik — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 10:03:12 +0000

Yahoo Turns News Browsing Into Infinite Search
"Called “Infinite Browse” internally at Yahoo, the new feature will include a box below Yahoo News articles that will suggest searches for specific terms. For example, news about Al Qaida will show links to searches for “Al-Qaida Camp” or “Al-Qaida Flags.” [...] The feature, which is only being tested for a limited group of users, apparently results in twice the amount of user engagement." (yahoo news )
Don’t Be Ugly By Accident! « OkTrends
Camera data from dating site okCupid. Which cameras are used in the most compelling photographs? What smartphone implies the most sexual activity? How helpful is flash in making you look young? How does f-stop correlate with attractiveness? When is the best time to take a photo to make you look good? All these questions, and more that you never asked yourself, are answered here. (photography statistics dating )
The Times iPad graphics · Applied Works
"Applied Works is producing an ongoing series of interactive graphics to support The Times’ recently-launched iPad app." (ipad the_times visualisation )
Oracle sues Google over intellectual property – MarketWatch
"Oracle Corp. filed a lawsuit against Google Inc. on Thursday, alleging that the Internet search giant has infringed on intellectual property related to the Java software that Oracle acquired when it purchased Sun Microsystems Inc. [...] A Google spokesman said the company hasn't yet been served with the lawsuit, and is therefore unable to comment." (google java intellectual_property law android patents oracle )
Film review: The Last Airbender | Film | The Guardian
"For a British audience, the film's language is inadvertently flavoured by associations and nuances that are vulgar, abusive, and very, very unfortunate indeed. [...] At the cinema showing I attended, the British crowd reacted derisively at key dialogue moments. [...] Each time, the response from the auditorium was deafeningly immature, and brought many of us to a state of nervous collapse. By the end of the film, I felt like a bit-part player in some feature-length adaptation of Viz comic – Springtime for Finbarr Saunders, perhaps." Oh dear oh dear oh dear. A damning review, though not entirely for the reasons you might guess. Mostly, but not entirely. (film review )
What Happened to Yahoo
"When I went to work for Yahoo after they bought our startup in 1998, it felt like the center of the world. It was supposed to be the next big thing. It was supposed to be what Google turned out to be. What went wrong?" Insightful essay by Paul Graham. (yahoo google advertising history analysis )