February 2012
5 posts
4 tags
Computing 10,000x more efficiently →
When I read stories like this, it gives me great optimism about what technology can provide in the years to come. And I don’t just mean faster versions of Angry Birds.
6 tags
Need a quick way to test your responsive web... →
4 tags
I'm almost certain that I'll never be "employed"...
The following pair of links came through my Twitter timeline today almost simultaneously, and they make me believe that I will never be “employed” again:
In Praise of Cheap Labor - Bad jobs at bad wages are better than no jobs at all. Paul Krugman, New York Times
Labor Efficiency: The Next Great Internet Disruption. Nick Cronin, TechCrunch
They also reinforce ideas that I first...
4 tags
Paper Prototyping
I have been using paper prototyping for a while now to help with the design of some of the web and smartphone apps that we have been building for Geodica.
There is something quite liberating about moving away from a computer and just using a simple pen and a piece of paper, and even though I am not particularly talented as an artist, it is still possible to produce meaningful and descriptive...
January 2012
15 posts
6 tags
What technology stack would you use if you were...
As anyone who works inside a large, modern retail bank will attest, many technology systems are out-dated, poorly architected, littered with unfortunate and opportunistic compromises and generally sclerotic in a way that has a material effect on the activities of the businesses they allegedly support. The level of technical debt has crippled technology operations in the much same way that...
2 tags
3 tags
4 tags
5 tags
Lion, RVM and 1.8.7 - 1.8/timeout.rb:60
joshondevelopment:
I’ve just started a new project.. well an old project that uses ruby 1.8.7 and rails 2.3.5.
If you get this error:
1.8/timeout.rb:60: [BUG] Segmentation fault
Its a problem with lion and ruby. Uninstall any version of 1.8.7 you have with
rvm remove 1.8.7
and then run
CC=/usr/bin/gcc-4.2 rvm install ruby-1.8.7 --force
This problem just cost me about 1.5 hours. The above...
“Our Milky Way galaxy contains a minimum of 100 billion planets, according to a...”
– NASA. (via dbreunig)
7 tags
8 tags
5 tags
Proximity versus location
Why do we need to know an exact location, when it is really proximity that matters?
It is not a big leap to suggest that the use of location information in modern web and smartphone apps is a Pretty Big Thing. It should also be obvious to anyone paying attention that users give up significant personally identifying information (PII) when they participate in these services. In general, the payoff...
2 tags
The Restart Page →
Just in case you need to waste 20 minutes watching old computer operating systems reboot.
3 tags
What the heck is Responsive Web Design?
I have heard this term bandied about at least two or three times in the last month. Each time I’ve asked myself the above question, and made a mental note to go and look it up. Well, lucky for me, @johnpolacek has gone to the trouble of explaining with a brilliant scrolldeck.js presentation which can you find here:
What the heck is Responsive Web Design?
I feel much beter informed now.
4 tags
On motivation
Over the last week or so, I’ve been sent a number of links on the topic of motivation. Two involve Dan Pink, and are well worth a viewing, the other is from Dan Ostlund from Fog Creek Software:
Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation, Dan Pink @ TEDGlobal
The Science of motivation, Dan Pink
Why do we pay sales commissions? Dan Ostlund, Fog Creek Software
The overwhelming theme...
5 tags
Do epic shit
I read what I thought was some very good advice the other day: instead of just incessantly reading what people are saying on the Internet, try to ignore it for a while and create something of your own. So whilst I think Twitter serves the purpose of providing access to the Web’s stream of consciousness - allowing me to contribute to it on occasion - perhaps Tumblr can serve a way of...