Theo Moore

 

Figured what the heck, I'd share my two cents. I know someone is prolly interested in yet another view of the new device by Apple. I've read tons of views and being the lemming I am (as my boss calls me for owning an iPhone and using Ubuntu alongside my MS products), I figured a post was in order. After all, why not?

 

For the record, I am a “fanboi” of no one's technology. I both love and hate their technology equally and often for the same reasons. The only thing I fanboi about is The Batman, as many who know me can attest....and maybe Left 4 Dead 2 for the Xbox (it rocks...keep meaning to blog that). I did watch the live blog/twitter feeds on the announcement day, but more out of an overall interest in technology rather than to cheer Jobs and Apple.

 

Anyway, here are some thoughts we've discussed at work, many of which were mine or refined through discussion. They are in no particular order.

 

1. Jobs was wrong when he said the netbook wasn't great anything. I disagree. I am sitting here in a Starbucks at a table the size of postage stamp, running a Twitter client, OpenOffice, and a couple of other “hotel” services on my netbook. I can switch between the apps fast and efficiently. I have a real keyboard, complete with number key row and full-size keys (one of the main reasons I selected my netbook). It has capability to connect to USB devices, I can add temporary storage (I have 2GB SD card in the slot as I type this), and I don't need another machine to get at media (via some service like iTunes) . I can save files directly to my drive; the file system is completely open. And so on.... The point here is this: iPad does NOT replace a netbook and a netbook does not suck, no matter what Jobs says.

2. Why, oh why would they couple the iPad, a device intended to replace the netbook, to a phone operating system? Especially one that doesn't multi-task! All that screen real estate, and I can't have more than one app open on the “desktop” at the same time?? I understand they get the instant market of iPhone apps, (which is why I think Apple is selling the iPad so cheaply, btw) but this makes no sense if really want to market this thing as a productivity device. My co-worker and I think the iPhone OS 4 will be announced just before shipping and will be available for iPad only initially. This will give the independent developers time to test their iPhone OS 3 apps against it and make any necessary changes w/o breaking their revenue streams.

3. There is no camera. WTF? This thing has what appear to be great photo editing tools, yet it doesn't have a camera? There aren't external ports other than the connection for the USB cable, so we can prolly assume there won't be an external camera. My cheap netbook has a camera. I can livechat with no problem. Interestingly, the iPad SDK emulator seems to think there is a camera (if you add a pic to a contact, it prompts you to either use an existing picture or take a new one) although the hardware doesn't support one.

4. It priced to try and defeat the Kindle (and its ilk) and it just might do it....except the Kindle has one seriously superior feature: free 3G for getting books. I don't know how big a deal this is, given that I don't own an e-reader, but it does seem like it would be handy. In order to complete with the Kindle in this respect, the device price goes up $130...and suddenly the price isn't so good. This all said, however, I know several people personally who will likely wait on the iPad for their reader rather than get the Kindle or the Nook.

5. Jobs made a big deal about how the keyboard works well on-screen, yet one of the periperals already shown is a cradle/keyboard arrangement. I am thinking this suggests that if you really want to do any real work on it, the on-screen keyboard will not do it for you. Again, the price doesn't now seem so reasonable.

6. I am excited about the games it might support. We might seem some pretty cool stuff on it. Sounds as if Gameloft is on-board already to do iPad specific game development (I personally love Gameloft products for the iPhone...Dungeon Hunter rocks!!). The iPad device could be a siginificant player in the gaming space.

7. The battery life sounds great. Ye gods, 10 hrs?? My netbook only lasts for a couple of hours.

 

So, I hear you asking: Are you, Theo, getting one? My answer is I dunno. I really can't see a place for it in my arsenal of devices. I tend to like to get the right device for me in any particular sphere, regardless of who makes it. I have an iPhone cause I like it better than WinMobile these days, yet I use PC for most of my work and play, etc. For me, my netbook does everything the iPad doesn't that I would want it to do.

 

Now, I confess I am a hardware junkie, a gadget guy. So, there's some possibility I might get one, but I can't see it replacing anything.

 

Of course, one can't discount the effectiveness of Apple's marketing. When the original iPod came out, I was using an MP3 player made by iRiver. It was superior in every way to the iPod, yet the iPod became the dominant player in the space. As such, it is entirely possible that the iPad will replace the netbook simply because Apple made it. Sometimes, the inferior device wins 'cause it's flashly, trendy, and well-marketed.

Update: Was reading around and remembered the other thing that sort of annoys me about the iPad: lack of Flash support. Given that Flash is almost everywhere, it seems to me that claiming that iPad is the "ultimate browsing experience" might be a little bit of an exaggeration. Perhaps "pretty darn good browing experience" might be more appropriate.

I have a Acer AspireOne 751h that was originally shipped with Windows XP Home. It worked fine, and the price was good (got it at CostCo). For what it is, it worked beautifully. It does what a netbook does very well. However, it troubled me that with the "hotel loads" (what we called the minimum systems required to keep the ship operating in the Navy), almost 80% of the system resources were used. Sort of makes it hard to do much with that.

When Windows 7 came out, I installed Home Premium per MS recommendations. I confess that I am shocked MS has not released a Netbook specific version of the OS...but I digress...perhaps a topic for another post. My Win7 install was painless, and it runs great. It does use less than the XP Home did, 75% on average rather than 80%. However, this is a lot. BTW, I actually like WIn7...except for the UAC and the Virtual PC changes...more on that in another post... I also have WindowBlinds (WindowBling?) by Stardock installed and I have my machine looking remarkably like M's computer from Casino Royale...another post/review...seems perhaps I have to get busy with some posts.

I used ReadyBoost (very cool tech, btw) via the SD card slot on my machine (I have a 2GB card in the slot dedicated to RB). This improves the "visible performance" (another post I am overdue in making) of Win7 drastically, although it doesn't actually improve performance. Honestly, it actually costs you a *little* performance overall as the processor has to manage the RB.

For grins, I d/l the netbook remix of Ubuntu. I'd read about it and was curious how my machine would run it. It's a pretty slick netbook specific version of Ubuntu that gives you a terribly minimalistic interface with which to work, but in a good way. However, on my specific hardware, it performed horribly. I checked on the Ubuntu community site and found that this is pretty standard for my machine and the full install is recommended.

So....

I installed the full version of Ubuntu 9.10 on yet another partition...and I LOVE it!! It runs incredibly fast and uses a *quarter* of the RAM that Win7 uses. Yes, you read that right: less than a quarter *and* it has the increased security of Linux. That's just crazy!! Now, I am not doing incredibly detailed work on it, but it's a Netbook...I want to browse the web and maybe...*maybe* edit a document. Why in the world should this take almost 80% or 75% of the system? It uses decent video settings, had drivers for my network card, etc....right out of the box. Painless setup..even to the point of moving my Windows partition so it could continue to exist. Super, just super.

Don't get me wrong; I am not ready to leave Windows. Windows rocks in its way. I am just now as much a fan of Ubuntu and will prolly consider using alongside Windows from now on.

My buddy at work is trying to get me to checkout Jolicloud, too, but I think maybe that's too much too soon....three partitions on my poor netbook is prolly enough. :-)

First off, lemme say that as a huge fan of the animated series Avatar, I was most confused when the trailers for James Cameron's Avatar starting showing up on TV. Took me a little while to get used to the idea that the animated Avatar from TV was going to be called "The Last Airbender" and would be live action, while the name Avatar would be applied to combination live action and animated movie.

Ok, got that straight. Check.

Avatar was breathtaking. I saw it in IMAX 3D and I was thrilled with it. It was beautiful to see. The colours were vibrant. The scenery had depth I couldn't have imagined. The views of the landscapes were simply staggering. My wife gasped several times and I found myself uttering a quiet "wow" on a number of occassions. It could easily be the most visually stimulating film I have ever seen. I was very entertained, and I was not sad I paid the extra cash for the IMAX 3D as it made the absolute best out of the movie. Seems to me that it was made with this format in mind.

That said, as I left the theatre, I realized that I wouldn't go see it again. Given my level of excitement, I was confused. Why wouldn't I want to see it again?

Simple reason: I've seen before...many times, and I will again.

It is Dancing With Wolves, it is The Last Samurai, it is A Man Called Horse. It has a plot that has been reused in some form or another about a million times in the last 15-20 years.  Cameron says he's had this written for 15 years or so but he waited until the technology was up to truly expressing his vision (in a pure joke I told someone that Lucas would have just created the technology on the fly). After seeing the movie, it is apparent that we wouldn't have had anywhere near the wonderful visual experience had he made it years ago. Pity is that so many other filmmakers had similar ideas and didn't particulalry care about the technology. As such, the story is pretty much a re-tread rather than the amazing one it could have been.

As far as classic plot lines go, this is a pretty good one...and it is one of my faves, really. The only one I prolly like better is the "young, confused person seeks direction and finds older, wise master who teaches them about life and they incidentally learn more about themselves...sometimes with the master learning from the student"...think Karate Kid here...or Star Wars of course. However, it *is* indeed a classic line.

Also, the theme is a little threadbare in my opinion...I won't go into detail as it might be considered a spoiler if I do.

Seeing Sigourney Weaver in it was a welcome surprise. I had no idea she'd show up. Also, Giovanni Ribsi is in it. I like him in films for some reason. He plays the weasel-type character very well. Also, the leading female alien is voiced by the person who plays the new Uhura in Star Trek. She does a great job in this, also.

So, do I recommend it? Absolutely. I'd go see it once in the theater for sure, and in 3D if you can...and pay the extra cash for IMAX if you can get it (believe me, you'll thank me for it). Why? 'Cause if you wait for the DvD yer likely to say "ok, I've seen this before" rather than "WOW! LOOKIT THAT!!!"

Odds are it isn't one I'll buy for the archives, tho'. Might Netflix it next year....

Call it 3.8 outta 5 stars.

Been awhile since I posted. So, what have I been up to lately?

Good question!
Mostly been working a lot with the our most current release. I've been involved with more and more project work these days and less generic single, one-shot tickets at work. Upside is that I am very busy, downside is that I haven't been really able to work on our automation suite very much.
However, I did manage to get some time to work on a .Net testbench application for our new hardware solution. It is a USB device that is driven by a data stream on the machine. I have written an test rig application that can drive the device directly and extract readings from the hardware, logging them in an easily graphable form. The company responsible for manufacturing our device has done tests, but we want our own set run internally as an audit.  My prototype of the testbench was well recieved, although I sort of threw it together as more of a POC rather than a full-flegded app. I've been asked to add some more functionality next week which I am going to use as an opportunity to refactor it.
I also wrote an automated test app that exposed/proved a significant flaw in our system, even though it had be pretty much dismissed by the development team. It was thought to be a "corner case" until I could replicate the behaviou approx. 10% of the time. Score one for automated testing!
 

iPhone Development: Random Thoughts
I've been working on the iPhone for month or so....maybe a bit longer. I was interested in doing some iPhone dev ever since I got mine. I love the device (much more than WinMo, sorry) and wanted to create my own apps for it. I was also asked to work with Carbonated Comics (www.carbonatedcomics.com) on an iPhone version of their software, so I joined the team. Great bunch of folks and I really like their product.

Anyway, I thought I'd share some random thoughts on the whole iPhone dev experience with more to come.
As an aside, I've noticed that now that I twitter (TheoMoore) I don't blog anywhere near as much as I used to do. Not sure why. Not like I can effectively blog via twitter. Heck, most of tweets don't even talk about the same things about which I blog....
On to the thoughts:
- iPhone is a fantastic platform for apps. Love the interface. It is the purest of form meeting function in a device interface I've ever seen. Also, there's no stylus...no words for the hatred I have for WinMo stylus.
- iPhone only single-threads. No multi-threaded apps here. Simlipfies things, but sure does also limit things too.
- iPhone is a pretty pure MVC device. Like that. I don't think I ever really understood this paradigm as well as I do now, thanks to the iPhone and XCode/IB.
- iPhone 3G has only 128MB of memory. Ye gods, that's teeny!
- Memory management is the toughest part of iPhone dev to get under your belt, IMO. Since memory is so limited, even a couple memory leaks can severely affect performance. No garbage collection on iPhone as yet.
- ObjC is a pain the arse. Always. Everytime. Some folks love it, and some folks like to be whipped and spanked.
- I keep being told I'll get used to Obj-C "peculiarities". Yeah? I could get used to getting poked in the eye with a sharp stick too, but I don't think it's likely.
- XCode feels...thin compared to VS
- XCode, Interface Builder, and the iPhone Simulator are very loosely (if at all coupled). While this seems good (and I guess it is), it tends to annoy me when one of them doesn't realize I made changes in the other and I have to close the app down to make it "see". This happens often enough it's worth putting on this post.
-XCode error messages are the most vague I've ever seen. I keep expecting one in Klingon or one that says "So I clearly cannot choose the wine in front of me".
- Getting used to the hotkeys in XCode has been challenging, for some reason.
Anyway, more on this as I work on it.
Wish me luck!

I have been working in Selenium (see previous posts) building a test suite at my job. I spent quite a bit of time architecting the design and attempting to build bricks with which others could build buildings. I was beginning to instruct the folks on my team (who had not previously written code) on how to use these bricks and understand the mortar. This all in a language (Java) with which I wasn't terribly familiar. The framework design was sound and was beginning to grow on it's own.

Then, the massive changes in the app took place right about the time we were slammed with testing projects that required me to focus on manual testing. By the time the smoke cleared, the testing framework I had written was woefully out of date with the app. Many, many weeks were going to be required to update the component classes and test them all and I was not going to be given the time. Yet, automation was required and expected...right now.

So, what to do??

I have basically started writing tests in Powershell. Why PS? Writing the tests is relatively fast and it is incredibly powerful. I was able to create what I refer to as "QD" tests (Quick and Dirty) that support a happy medium between resusability and speed of development. I've tried to write them with maintainability mind, but not allowed that to override some basic ideas:
    1. Every test should be throwaway
    2. Anything that can't be thrownaway needs to be saved off for resuse
    3. Reusable pieces need to be elegant and very maintainable
    4. It is more important to generate a working test quickly than it is to write elegant code
    5. As quickly as possible, the tests need to be added to our periodic test suite
   

These ideas violate how I would prefer to write tests but in this volatile environment, I cannot invest much time in them. Instead, I write the reusable pieces well and as solid as I can. If the app changes two weeks from now, I am out very little as they can be replaced easily.

The other benefit is that if I have only 2 hours this week to work on automation, I can probably produce something useful rather than try to ramp up from what I was doing last week.

Again, this isn't how I'd like to produce tests but it's the best I can do in this situation.

I just hope the testing gods forgive the blasphemy.....

WARNING: THIS POST IS NOT TECHIE AND IT IS VERY SAPPY!! If you are likely to flame me for writing such a thing, then please do not read it and leave it alone. Thanks.

I am 40 years old.

I mention this to put in context where this discussion comes from (pardon ending on preposition if you would; it's late). I am not your typical 40 yr old in many, many ways...as anyone I knows me can attest. I am very, very fit (last physical shows me at 106/68 BP and a resting heart rate less than 60), and I am very, very geeky. I refer to myself as high level functional geek; I can walk in geek circles yet can also avoid being looked at strangely in "normal" company. I am the geek equivalent of Blade the Daywalker. I like that about me, actually.

For those of you who don't know, I also work at an online pr0n company, arguably the largest in the world. If you looked at VOD pr0n (Video On Demand) today, chances are we hosted it. Not sure why I felt compelled to say that right here and now, but I suppose I am feeling a little like confessing, like opening up.

Anyway, I just had my 40th birthday. It was largely unremarkable except for the time I spent with my son. My wife spent the money to fly him here so we could go to Atlanta for the weekend to see Green Day. There is a *long*, very cool story about why we went to see Green Day, but that's for another time. Suffice it to say we both love the band, and the concert could have been the absolute best I've ever seen next to the first AC/DC show, which is an interesting coincidence given the direction this post should take.

See, I had a friend once. He was the coolest guy I knew. In high school, I think it would be safe to say were thick as thieves and twice as bonded. We were close buds before the term "bromance" ever became popular. We did everything and nothing, and when we were hung out, we felt like we were the kings of all creation. I loved this other guy as a brother, and I'd have killed someone (or so I think now) had they hurt him. I've felt this way about one other person (other than my wife) in all of my 40 yrs.

I have trouble trusting people and letting them get close to me. Oh, sure..I like lots of people and I get along with tons more. I am very flexible when dealing with people. It's part of who I am. Typically, however, I just don't trust people and I don't let them get to close so I don't have to worry about getting hurt. As Henry Rollins once said "People only give now so they can take later". Words to consider.

Anyway, we had a falling out, this high school age brother. I was devastated. He was my only friend, really, in my entire High School experience. I won't go into the details of the falling out as it is 1) a long story, and 2) not really important. The important thing to know is that I lost my first real friend in all of my life. It was many (20+) years before I found another.

Many years later, he contacted me out of the blue. Not really sure how he found me, but he did. It was a moment of great joy for me as I always wondered what had happened to him. Despite our falling out, I always hoped he done well and was happy. Turns out he was and that we shared a lot of similar history over the 20+ years it had been since we'd talked. We now enjoy a good resurgence of friendship online out of respect of our previous relationship if for no other reason. However, I confess that now I've talked to him again, I'd love to see him and perhaps get to know him again...just b/c I can't imagine that the great kid he was couldn't have grown into a great man to know.

and here's proof of that;

For my birthday, I got a mysterious package from this old buddy. I opened it was and was shocked. When we were kids, we both collected comics. I remember going to the flea market and talking with this very old guy (who treated his comics like crap, we thought) about comics. We used to walk the mile or so from his dad's place to look for comics at the local Circle K (might have been some other knock off, or perhaps a 7Eleven) and we always ended up buying the same comics. Well, I forget why, but I ended up not collecting anymore. I gave him my entire collection sometime in 1986 (or so his letter reminded me), and we had our falling out shortly thereafter.

The letter accompanying the package I got explained that he had sold/traded some of the comics over the years, but one mini-series he kept, both the set I had and his own set. He felt that it was appropriate to give me the set I'd given him 23 years ago back to me.

I am now the proud owner of Wolverine and Kitty Pride mini-series, issue 1-6.

My friend states that the comics are probably worth about 50-100 dollars, but they are priceless to me. I don't know if I am more moved that he sent them or that he stated that always thought of me when he thought of Wolverine and hated to part with them all these years. Either way, the comics have become a treasured part of my possessions with which I shall not be parted.

Danny, I offer you an earnest and heart-felt thank you; I am beyond word to say more.

I've had my Mac mini for a couple of weeks now, I confess I like it. The Mac mini works well, it's cheap (for a Mac), and pretty fast. I got it to do iPhone development and it's perfect for that.

However, I don't like it more than my PC.

Honestly, I don't understand why ppl care enough to argue. It occurred to me recently that other than gaming or development, 99.9% of what I do is on the web anyway, so I don't really care. I know some people do have some specific needs/purposes that require one or other, of course, but seems to me that most people don't have that need. As such, I can't understand how most people can really dislike one or the other.

Some random thoughts on the Mac:

1) I think it it is way too expensive for what you get. I can get a comparably performing PC for way less.

2) I don't understand the big deal with regards to the low hardware requirements for Mac OS. Given that the machine is more expensive for the same performance, doesn't it seem silly to care that OS X takes less system? I mean, ok, XP, Vista, or Win7 requires more resources to run...got it..however, I can get machine that runs them all pretty well for a fraction of the price of the Mac.

3) Apple is every bit the evil empire that MS is, only with a better marketing campaign. I remember a big deal being made b/c Windows Vista starting being pretty tight on security, or at least that was the perception (remember the commercial about the Mac and PC where the PC guy was having to get permission for everything). Yet, on my Mac, I have to give permission for it install anything. Every time. I don't mind, of course, but my point is why make an issue about the PC requiring permission when the Mac does also??? There is much more to my point about Apple being the evil empire but I'll save that for another blog.

4) My netbook is actually a darn good machine. For web-based performance, it's every bit as good as the standard Macbook or the mini (strictly in my opinion) and it was waaaay cheaper.

So, there's my initial thoughts on the mac vs. pc argument. Perhaps I'll have a different view once I've used the Mac a bit more, but so far, I just don't see the need to fight.

I recently wrote a Windows service for the development team here at work. Apparently, the devs were all committed to other projects and this extra curricular activity popped up. Being a developer in tester's clothing, I was asked if I'd do it.

Interestingly, this was originally to be a Powershell script, but the more I worked on it the less it sounded like PS and the more it sounded like a service...pretty straight forward stuff: comes alive at configurable times, looks for files in a folder, processes the files, moves them, updates a database. Pretty simple stuff.

Given that we are a Java shop, I got some funny looks when I told them I'd write it in C#...but, no one really objected.

Anyway, I found debugging the service to be a pain. You have to compile the app, install the service, attach to the running process, etc., for every little change you make. What an annoyance!

Fortunately, an aquaintance of mine noticed me tweeting about it and sent the following to help me out by sending me the following (note that it assumes the classname is "OrderService"):

1. In your service class add the following subroutine:
internal void Start()
{
OnStart(new string[] { });
}

2. In Program.cs modify the Main routine as follows:
static void Main()
{
#if(!DEBUG)
ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
ServicesToRun = new ServiceBase[] { new OrderService() };
ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);
#else
OrderService service = new OrderService();
service.Start();
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(System.Threading.Timeout.Infinite);
#endif
}

What this does is basically switch the directive based on your compiler settings. If you are in Release or a user defined mode, it will compile to run as a service and not launch anything without being installed. However, if you are in debug mode, it will hit your entry point defined in 1 to start your service as if it was being launched by Windows. Keep in mind that when you go to deploy this to production, you MUST compile in a non DEBUG mode. Otherwise it will spin indefinitely when you attempt to start it up under the services control panel.

This works very well, and makes debugging much simpler. Of course, some things you can't still find until you install and run the service, but this is great for debugging those quick, little changes.

Nice! Thanks, Brandon!!

It is the 4th of July again. We are dragging out dusty flags and threadbare platitudes professing our belief in liberty and freedom. We cook out hotdogs and hamburgers, watch our fireworks, and sing songs about how our country is the greatest in the world because we are free.

Some of us (like me) do it everyday and don't need one day a year to me reminded.

Those of us who sing the loudest and pound our proud, stuck out chests the hardest will soon pack away those "strong" beliefs and get back to the business of at best ignoring those beliefs or at worst supporting "change" that rips the guts out of our way of life. We will applaud the current shift in belief that puts forward the notion that no one should be better off than his fellow man and that no one should be free enough to get ahead through hard work and planning. We as a whole seem to believe that government should have to power to regulate a person's success or at least how much they benefit from that success. We talk about how people are "less fortunate" implying that people who are successful are merely "lucky". I find it amazing how "lucky" I am when I work hard.

I came from very humble beginnings. My family was lower middle class and we weren't well off at all. I never thought of myself as "unlucky"; I wasn't allowed to think that way. I was raised to believe that what you have is what you have and the smart, motivated person could raise their standard of living by working hard. Invest in your future, and teach your kids to invest in theirs. How many "lucky" families were always "lucky" and how many are the result of someone at some point being smart and hard-working enough to simply invest in the future? My wife and I are still not rich. We do ok, but it is the result of hard work. I've studied, taught myself everything I know, screwed up, picked myself up and got busy trying to recover. I've failed at more than I've succeeded in life, but I've kept at it. I was raised to believe that this is the American way. I'll be damned if I am going to sit and wait for the government to send me a check stolen from some other American who worked a little harder and perhaps a little smarter. It is my hope that my hard work will provide a spring board to help  my children get started better in life than I did and perhaps they will improve the chances of their children. This, of course, depends on how much government is allowed to interfere in my life day to day. Our "Patriots of the Day" would seem to feel that perhaps my children should have no better chances than any other.

I have become so cynical as a result of seeing these would be patriots falsely touting the ideals of the Framers that I find myself treating the 4th of July as one would a funeral.

I spent 12 years of my life in the Navy, bereft of the light of the sun on a submarine protecting a way of life very few people seem to want.

I am so very proud of being an American and so very proud of what the American used to be. I can only hope that somehow, someway we'll get back to that belief system.

I apologize for the political post; it's not my way to post such things online usually. The 4th tends to bring out the melancholy in me and I tend, therefore, to wax maudlin.

To you other year-long patriots, I say "Happy 4th" and let us hope that America will come back to herself someday.

I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve reinstalled my OS on my pocketpc in the last few months. Fortunately, I invested in good backup software a *long* time ago and I use it. I use it very often.I have no idea what irritates the darn thing, but it sure is annoying. Prior to getting backup software, I used to actually have to fully reinstall from a slicked down OS. Once you have your machine like you like it, this is a real pain in the bottom.

I hear you saying “Perhaps your device is a lemon”, and it’s possible. However, this is one of several devices I’ve owned and they’ve all been susceptible to corruption.

My iPhone seems to be more stable, but it’s easy to do when you allow so little customization and standardize so much. The trade-off with pocketpc seems to be improved performance and customization for stability.

I’ve been using Spb Backup for a loooong time now, and it rocks. You can schedule your backups automatically (I do this) and it backs up to the storage card. No worries. The stored backup file is an executable, which makes the whole restore thing incredibly easy. Simply click and go. The only problem I’ve had with Spb Backup is sometimes, very rarely, the auto backup has issues (if the OS won’t let go of a file or running process)…but it’s very good to validate the backup file and let you know if there are any problems. Pretty slick, that.

Wow, been awhile since I last posted....sheesh.

Anyway, I've been doing some web service testing lately at work. Nothing to strenuous; just your basic does it do what it is supposed to do type testing. I was introduced to SoapUI in the process of this, and I can honestly say I like it. It's simple to set up and seems to work well. It provides a TestSuite/TestCase paradigm seems natural and normal to anyone who's done some testing.

My only complaint so far: it is has a steep learning curve once you get out of the basic uses. It does allow for scripting (in either Groovy or JavaScript) and I may need some of that later. For now, I am trying to keep the testing simple since I am on a deadline. I'll build some tests with it now that might be enhanced with scripting later.

More on this as I go...

As usual, THERE BE NO SPOILERS HERE!!! I know this comes late, but I figured I had to share my two cents anyway.

(I recently almost strangled someone over the whole spoiler thing, so let me say it now: I will *always* be very clear whether or not my posts on a movie, book, or whatever contain spoilers although it is very rare I will actually post them.)

Loved it.

Simple to describe.

I saw it with a a buddy of mine who said (as the credits rolled)…”Wow, could they have made it exciting?!?!”. This was his ironic statement indicating the level of excitement this movie generates. I was on the edge of my seat…the story moves quickly and yet not too quick. The scripting is powerful and very little dialogue is wasted. You do have to pay attention  (which isn’t a bad thing, says I), though.

This is genre re-defining movie much as Batman Begins or Casino Royale was for their respective franchises. I hope that the next one is as good.

If you are an original series fan, yer gonna love it!

I recently downloaded and installed Dig Dug Remix for iPhone the other day. I remember really liking this game when I was a kid. Heck, I was a sucker for just about anything that let me drop a coin in a slot and see 8 bit video dance around. Dig Dug was one of those games that was fun to play, easy to learn, but difficult to master. I thought getting to play a classic on my iPhone would be great.

Turns out the game is actually two games in one...one is the original Dig Dug as you (might) remember it, the other is a slick graphic/gameplay upgrade. They both basically play the same as you remember the original. Pretty sweet...or so I thought...

Then I had to control it. OMFG are the controls bad! It uses an on-screen d-pad that doesn't react well at all. It is borderline unplayable at times. Forget careful timing or last-minute saves...it ain't there. I am hoping in later versions the controls might function better. I realize that trying to emulate the functionality of a real hardware controller via screen interface is difficult, I really do. However, I am of the opinion that if you can't make it playable, then maybe you shouldn't make the game at all. Just my two cents.

Anyway, at least it was only $5. :-(

We are in a new building where I work. It is pretty nice building. We have been trying to get the air conditioning setup correctly for months. The issue is that the zones are off; we have our IT development room on the same zone as several groups that don’t have 30 server class machines. As a result, our room freezes/fries the others do the opposite. It’s balancing act we don’t do well.

One of the founders came up stairs on Monday claiming our lamps were the problem. He pointed to mine specifically and mentioned it was 111 degrees on the outside. I tried to explain that the bulb was very tiny; for all the temperature, it was not producing any real amount of heat. If you place something a foot away for a day, the temperature of the item will not increase. My tiny bulb simply doesn’t have enough surface area to produce any real heat. I said this is likely true of the other lamps in the room (we operate with our overhead lights off to reduce screen glare) and the real problem is the server class machines development uses.

I don’t think this helped. I base this on the fact that when we came in this morning, we found that every lamp in the room had been busted and/or stolen. Broken bulbs everywhere. Cube walls torn down. My personal ($30 at OfficeMax) non-functional. One person’s personal lamp completely stolen.

Now, if the desire was to remove the lamps, I am thinking there is likely a better approach. I have no doubt that should my boss have said something like “Theo, we need you to take your lamp home to help with the heat problem”. Had that happened, I’d have done it. No argument. I’d think it silly, but I’d have complied. Busting my lamp is not the solution.

The founder is up here now distributing lamps to replace the ones taken, but I feel terribly intimidated to ask for one. This is seriously messed up.

EDIT:
My lamp was replaced. The founder handed them out.