Code Incomplete

Apple and the Programmers

2009-11-20T12:57:00.003Z

Just read this article by Paul Graham about the recent problems with the approval process in the Apple AppStore.

Any platform needs a good programmer community to thrive and Apple may be damaging the iPhone in a big way. Good software is very important to any system and pissing off the makers of this software is never a good bet.

Maybe they can reverse this mistake before someone takes advantage.

Change boot order in Ubuntu 9.10

2009-11-11T10:08:00.002Z

After installing the new Ubuntu 9.10 release (Karmic Koala) on my home PC (dual booting with Windows 7) the default operating system on boot is Ubuntu.

I have no problem with that but the wife complains so I set out to change the default entry in the Grub configuration. After looking without sucess for '/boot/grub/menu.lst' I went to the Ubuntu forums and found out the new release is using Grub2. And lots of things have changed (for the better from what I can see) including the old 'menu.lst' file.

In Grub2 the boot menu is created dinamically and the configuration files have moved. After looking around I found out the place to change the default boot entry. You have to edit the '/etc/default/grub' file and change the option 'GRUB_DEFAULT' to the number or string corresponding to the entry you want to boot by default (in my case menu entry 5). After changing this file you must run the following command to update the configuration:

$ sudo update-grub

To find out more about the new Grub2 configuration and usage in Ubuntu check this community page: http://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2

Technorati Tags: ubuntu boot grub2

The Daily Roundup #5

2009-08-18T18:05:00.002+01:00

Apparently it is possible to fabricate false DNA evidence. But there a test to find if the DNA is false. Our beloved C.S.I.'s are safe.

PHP 5.3 gets some nice functional features. I learned programming using LISP and miss this stuff in some current languages.

'Hidden Portal': First Tunable Electromagnetic Gateway. Reality keeps being stranger than fiction.

Wikipedia article about the 'blink' html tag and its inventor. He considers it to be "The worst thing I've ever done for the internet."

Piracy Didn't Kill the Record Industry. Nice article about the reasons for the downfall of the record industry.

The Daily Roundup #4

2009-08-17T17:38:00.001+01:00

Nice webcomic about site branding.

Video preview of Starcraft 2.

Now that Pirate Bay is going to be sold, we cand download a copy for archiving and safe keeping. The internet is great!

Defining leadership. Yes, it's hard and yet so many things can be better when a good leader emerges.

This guy went on and tested the instructions to win at roulette he received in a spam mail. As always, what seems logical isn't and in the end the system is bogus.

A low budget Sci-fi movie is no. 1 in the box office. Disctrict 9 seems like a nice movie. I want to see it.

Teens won't buy music in the old way. The industry will have to adapt.

It appears that even Microsoft believes Windows XP is better than Vista. Atl least it's more expensive. :)

The Parable of the Languages. In the time programming languages talked...

The Daily Roundup #3

2009-08-14T18:44:00.003+01:00

Hello, today we have the following topics:

Tales of young people jailed for cyber crimes. Funny and a warning to everyone as well.

Ubisoft employee leaves in style with a farewell flash animation/game. I'd like to do this someday.

Nice guitar boogie from the fifties with the creator of electric guitar.

These guys make a formally correct operating system kernel. This is good news for embedded systems like phones and appliances.

Embracing fear is the key to invencibility. Fear can be our worst enemy or our best chance for growth.

New version of JRuby now supports Ruby 1.8.7 and Android.

ProsePoint is an online newspaper software. It's adequate for online periodic publications.

For the people wanting to test Linux or who knows even start using it, here is a handy guide to Desktop Linux distributions.

Digsby seems like a nice project for multi IM, but there are some concerns. This is not good behaviour and could hurt the project.

A nice study about the use of C in embedded systems and other important software and the declining number of competent C programmers.

Until tomorrow.

The Daily Roundup #2

2009-08-13T15:45:00.001+01:00

Another day, another roundup.

An account of what should drive successfull software development. This is about open source software but I'm pretty sure it applies to commercial software also. The rule is simple: "Suck less with every release!".

This is an analysis of the world economy as it would be seen 100 years in the future. It gives lots of food for thought. But I'm certain the future will be completely different. It always surprises us, and that's what's good about life.

Interview with the founder of a company developing a Ruby framework (Rhodes) to create native apps in smart phones. They want it to be like Rails but for mobile devices.

This is a nice article about open source software versus commercial software. The point about community and support is very good. I strongly believe open source software is maturing and will be a very important part of the future.

There are some indications that a Battlestar Galactica movie is in the work. Good one.

A nice article and video about the Hubble Ultra Deep Field image showing just how small we are in the context of the universe.

The Daily Roundup #1

2009-08-12T16:45:00.000+01:00

"The Daily Roundup" will be the main feature of this blog. Every day I will post a roundup of the news, sites and other stuff that piked my interest during the day. There will be mainly links and some personal comments about them. Think of it as a daily news digest of interesting things (to me anyway). And this being the first installment here goes the news:

A fine quote attributed to Bertrand Russel:

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt."

No comments on this one...

An american judge ruled that a program (RealDVD) made by RealNetworks which enables people to copy DVDs is illegal. Read the story here.

Neil Gaiman won this year's Hugo Award for best novel with his book 'The Graveyard Book'. I've read a few books by him and really liked them (particularly 'Good Omens'). Now I feel motivated to read more of his stuff.

There is a remake of V: The Final Battle on the works. I vaguely remember this tv series from my childhood. If it's half as good as the Battlestar Galactica remake then I'll look forward to seeing it.

In an ironic twist of fate Microsoft is being ordered by a judge to stop selling Word because of patent infringment. Full story here.

New version of RubyInstaller for windows in the works. Read an interview with author Luis Lavena about the project.

A good explanation of the new Chevy Volt reported 230 mpg.

How to reduce the annoying buzz from speakers around cell phones. Very useful.

Heroes of Might and Magic VI unofficialy in development. This is good news.

That's it for today. Until tomorrow.