Not secret subpoena
Kudos to Twitter this week for not giving in and and responding to a Subpoena for user records without notifying the users in question. Twitter, according to their privacy policy, always notifies users when they can: “However, to help users protect their rights, it is our policy to notify our users about law enforcement and governmental requests for their information, unless we are prevented by law from doing so.” Matt Graves, Twitter
Ridiculous Gizmodo
Following on to an earlier post called The Readable Future, here is Gizmodo’s insanity: Less than 10% of the page contains the article!
Reviews should advise
Matt “Legend” Gemmell, writing in Opinions in Journalism summarizes and continues recent internet discussions on how Tech Journalism has become too bland, impartial and hedged: …as readers, we’re often looking for insight to help with a buying decision, rather than raw information. As Ben Brooks sees it in Family Apple (via Hugh Sissling): More surprising is that no one asked me which phone or computer to get — they just wanted to know which iPad to get and if they should wait for the next iPad.
Textmate 2 Tips
For those of you who, like me, have already switched to Textmate 2 alpha as a daily programmer’s editor, check out Textmate 2 Tips on tumblr. Lots of useful tips there. Its just so nice to have Textmate being updated again. Already added the RailsCasts theme, SCSS and Marked bundles manually, and still getting used to the new File Browser.
Is America Giving Up on the Future?
Umair Haque, writing in the Harvard Business Review in Is America Giving Up on the Future? writes: That the wealth of a nation isn’t merely the sum of its tradable riches; that a thriving marketplace isn’t a big box store; that industrial output matters less than human outcomes; that work that matters yields accomplishments that endure; that Goldman Sachs probably shouldn’t be as profitable as Apple, because builders should earn more than shufflers; that the worth of an enduring achievement is denominated in more than mere profit; that how we feel about our lives is worth more than how enviably glamorous they look; that tomorrow matters more — not less — than today.
Programming polytheism
One of the worst things a programmer can be is a monotheist, a single language and platform developer. Whether you are a corporate programming drone, or a hot-shot indie, you should be a software polytheist. It all starts with recruiters and job ads. “Looking for a C# programmer with 5 years experience”, “Looking for a Java back-end developer who understands spring and hibernate”, “Looking for a COBOL programmer to keep our ancient accounting system running”.
2011 Platforms - Ruby on Rails
Part 2 of the platforms I used in 2011 to make products. See Part 1 - Objective-C and iOS.
The second half of 2011 was spent developing two web app products using Ruby on Rails. And what a joy this platform is to use.
2011 Platforms - Objective-C and iOS
Part 1 of the platforms I used in 2011 to make products. See Part 2 - Ruby on Rails.
I spent the first half of 2011 writing iOS applications in Objective-C. It’s not my first experience with Objective-C, I wrote a Mac app in 2008, and two iOS apps in 2010, so these notes are really about my entire experience with the technology.
The whole world is watching while the USA collapses
On Reddit a few days ago, spiderfarmer put up a post entitled The whole world is watching while the USA collapses. I have reproduced it here in case it gets lost, but I thoroughly recommend you look through the comments thread. In short, based on the comments alone, he ain’t wrong.
You're the product
Alicia Eler in Facebook Wants You To Know All About Its Ads, via Read Write Web, writes: If you pay for a product, you’re a customer. If you don’t, you’re the product. Priceless.