April 2010
11 posts
“In the process of downloading a free app to my iPod touch today, I was presented...”
– SensoryMetrics
Overloading
The iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, all have a single home button. Initially seen as a mark of the device’s simplicity of design and focus on the touch screen, in subsequent iPhone OS releases, the home button has had more and more functions grafted onto it—some of them not even constant but contextual—until I wonder why Apple just didn’t add another few buttons:
A single press will take you back...
Observations on Lua and the iPhone Developer...
Some observations on the use of Lua in iPhone games, and sections 3.3.1 and 3.3.2 of the iPhone Developer Agreement:
The use of (non cross-compiled) Lua has not been allowed by the terms of section 3.3.2 of the Developer Agreement since March last year. Developers have continued to use it regardless, probably not even noticing the change.
Apple doesn’t come close to enforcing the terms of the...
Natterings: Fluid as Xcode Documentation Viewer →
This is almost exactly what I was looking for in a standalone documentation viewer for Cocoa:
A standalone Documentation Viewer for Xcode with tabs, bitches.
Note that what Stephen writes about modifying the page titles is no longer needed.
I’m now using Fluid to view all the reference docs on my second monitor. And unlike Xcode’s documentation viewer, I can ⌘Tab directly to...
In which I complain (again?!)
Marco writes:—
Before Instapaper Pro 2.2, I got frequent emails from customers who were upset that they had inadvertently tapped the status bar, which scrolls to the top of the article and loses their position. I understood completely, since losing your read position is a form of minor data loss.
Most of them were unaware that this is a systemwide gesture on the iPhone OS: if you tap the...
1 tag
Resolution
Resolution Magazine is a small online games magazine. It’s been around for almost two years now, and although I’ve only been reading it for a little less than one, it has become my second–favourite place to read about games[1]. Not to get the latest news or gossip, since the magazine purposefully avoids regurgitating headlines endlessly—but to read reviews, opinions, and commentary on games...
2 tags
apt-get remove freedom
From Tei—
“
corporations@internets$ apt-get remove freedom
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/democracy/), are you the people?
corporations@internets$ su politicians
politicians@internets$ sudo apt-get remove freedom
Reading package list.
Modern Culture, Technology Leader and Peace depends on freedom.
Do you want to remove these too...
2 tags
Profiling execution with the Django Debug Toolbar
Rob Hudson’s Django Debug Toolbar is a great little app that adds a sidebar to every page of your development site, giving you details of timing, settings, SQL statements issued, and a whole lot more. Also, it’s really easy to add your own bits to it.
I had a view that was performing abysmally with some data sets, so I decided I needed to profile it. With a few minutes work, I was able...
Modern Warfare
Two years ago, I purchased Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. It’s a great game, and I thoroughly enjoyed playing it. But there’s this one level that made me feel very uncomfortable.
I was the gunner in an AC-130 gunship, slowly circling an area to support a friendly squad moving through to an evacuation point. My only view was through the infrared gunsight of a cannon, shooting back at...
Optimal Configuration
Here, mostly for my own future reference, are the various “hidden preferences” I configure on all my Macs. After setting these, you should log out and log in again.
Hidden apps are translucent in the Dock
defaults write com.apple.Dock showhidden -bool YES
Hide the iTunes Ping dropdowns
defaults write com.apple.iTunes hide-ping-dropdown -bool YES
Restore the old iTunes store shortcut...
Tabs Don’t Scale
Tabs are a great answer to the UI question: “How can I efficiently manage a number of different windows in the same space?” Tabs achieve their usefulness by providing four key benefits:
Summary. At a glance, you can see all the available tabs, and scan their labels.
Spatiality. Each tab is always in the same place, so you know where to find it.
Convenience. Activating another tab takes a...