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general

Nostalgia at 30 Years Out

August 7, 2010 18:12:13.944

The 30th reunion for John Jay High School (Hopewell Junction, NY) is in less than an hour - I've had a pretty full day already. I went out to play golf with Arden this morning - then we took a bike ride near his home, and swam in his pool (which is really nice). Then Mark and I drove around a bit - I took some photos of the old school and a few other things - I added alts and titles to the photos if you float the mouse over them:

Barbara and Paul Begosh My childhood home
Arden and me John Jay Track
John Jay cafeteria entrance John Jay main entrance

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posted by James Robertson

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audio

Industry Misinterpretations 200: Lesser Smalltalk

August 8, 2010 19:48:19.590

This week's podcast was recorded at the recent Camp Smalltalk event in London - I spent a few minutes with Alejandro Reimondo and Frank Lesser, talking about their Lesser Smalltalk project. It's been on the Smalltalk world's radar for awhile, since they started building a VM that could run VSE images and Dolphin images; they are now concentrating on VSE.

I have a longer video presentation from the event that I'll release in a week or two; the audio for this podcast is a bit rough, since there was a fair bit of background noise.

To listen now, you can either download the mp3 edition, or the AAC edition. The AAC edition comes with chapter markers. You can subscribe to either edition of the podcast directly in iTunes; just search for Smalltalk and look in the Podcast results. You can subscribe to the mp3 edition directly using this feed, or the AAC edition using this feed using any podcatching software. You can also download the podcast in ogg format.

To listen immediately, use the player below:

If you like the music we use, please visit Josh Woodward's site. We use the song Effortless for our intro/outro music. I'm sure he'd appreciate your support!

If you have feedback, send it to smalltalkpodcasts@cincom.com - or visit us on Facebook or Ning - you can vote for the Podcast Alley, and subscribe on iTunes. If you enjoy the podcast, pass the word - we would love to have more people hear about Smalltalk!

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posted by James Robertson

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culture

Disintermediation Finds Books

August 9, 2010 10:12:05.069

With the drop in price of e-readers down to $139 (and I'm guessing we'll see $99 by Christmas), the era of the big box book store is ending. The high end will be owned by the iPad and whatever Android based devices come out - the low and mid tier will be owned by the Kindle and it's competitors. The losers will be printed books, which will end up being a niche product. Just witness what's happening to B&N:

Perhaps the most symbolic event this week was Barnes & Noble “exploring strategic alternatives,” including putting itself on the block. When America’s most iconic bookstore is struggling to make it, this is not a good sign. As I say in my analysis, over the next few years we’ll see the “hammer of low-priced e-books steadily nail coffins shut across the book-retailing landscape.”

A decade ago, my entire family looked forward to a trip to Borders or B&N. We'd easily drop a ton of money on books, and spend a happy hour or two browsing the aisles. We just don't do that anymore. Why? Well, the Amazon store is the primary reason.

Even before my wife and i got iPads, we were browsing the virtual bookstore more often. The selection is better, and between recommendations (based on past purchases), and "people who bought X also bought Y", we've both found things we would never have found in a physical store. Now add in the instant gratification offered by an e-book, and you've got full disruption. Finished book one of a trilogy at 11 PM, and can't wait for book 2? With an e-reader, it's a few seconds (and dollars) away. With a physical store (or even an Amazon shipment), it's at least a day. Doesn't sound like much, but eliminating the wait makes purchasing a whole lot easier.

It's beyond books though. Every so often I need a new A/V cable of some kind, or a new USB drive, or a replacement router. Once upon a time, that meant a trip to best Buy. Now? I hit Amazon, and either take the two day shipment that I have via Prime, or pay a little extra to have it tomorrow. Saves me a trip, and I usually don't need the item this very second. Outside of things like clothing, where you want to try it on, I think a lot of the big box retail is going to start running into a huge buzzsaw. Even groceries, which I thought were secure from virtualization aren't - we now order from Peapod as often as we go to the store, and that percentage is rising. It wouldn't surprise me much if the trend towards mega grocery stores reversed, with mega warehouses replacing them, along with smaller shops for trips you need to make.

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posted by James Robertson

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Smalltalk Daily 08/09/10: Simple One Table WV Demonstration

August 9, 2010 10:39:27.669

Today's Smalltalk Daily is a one table WebVelocity demonstration application, working from an existing table. If you can't see the embedded video directly, you can go directly to YouTube for it. Click on the viewer below to watch it now:

You can follow the Smalltalk channel on YouTube for all the "Smalltalk Daily" videos. You can also check out the videos on Vimeo, where the quality is higher, or over on Facebook, if you are a member.

You can download the video directly here. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here. If you like this kind of video, why not subscribe to "Smalltalk Daily"?

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posted by James Robertson

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gadgets

Sort of Flash on the iPhone

August 9, 2010 14:00:16.825

There's a new thing called Frash out there, which can apparently give you a small subset of Flash on your iPhone, assuming you Jailbreak it. This snippet at the end of the article tells me that Flash still isn't really ready for mobile devices:

Adobe, for its part, has been stating its intention to ship a mobile version of Flash for Google's Android smartphone platform for several months, but a final version of the software is still not available to users.

I think the reality is that Adobe got caught flat footed by the explosion of smart phones - the same way Lotus managed to get steamrolled by Windows when they were slow to migrate 1-2-3 from being a DOS based app to being a Windows based app. The huge installed based of Office (and thus Excel) is a legacy of that long passed miscalculation; I suspect that we'll be living with the side effects of Adobe's mistakes for just as long.

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Remembering Camp Smalltalk London

August 9, 2010 16:27:56.135

Here's a video from Camp Smalltalk London, 2010 - it's a montage of various things that happened during the event, some with audio from the original video, some with a musical background. To watch, click on the embedded video below - You can also just click on this link to go to YouTube directly.

You can follow the Smalltalk channel on YouTube for all the "Camp Smalltalk" videos.

You can download the video directly here. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here. If you like this kind of video, why not subscribe to "Smalltalk Videos"?

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posted by James Robertson

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web

Trust Us, Really

August 9, 2010 23:09:42.561

I love the press release Google shipped out touting their *cough* net neutrality plan *cough* with Verizon. Here, let me translate the long missive down to what they actually said:

"We didn't manage to keep control of wired internet, so we like the idea of having the FCC strangle that as much as possible with new regulations. Meanwhile, trust us with this whole wireless thing, we promise you'll love what we intend to do to you"

Sure guys. Can you toss in some free swampland with that, too?

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posted by James Robertson

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culture

Someone Send Schmidt a Clue

August 10, 2010 7:51:52.111

I love the way Google thinks:

Schmidt's message was that anonymity is a dangerous thing and governments will demand an end to it.

I guess Franklin, Jefferson, Madison (et. al.) were all wrong then. Good to know that Schmidt is so much smarter than those guys were...

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posted by James Robertson

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Smalltalk Daily 08/10/10: Finding Code in WebVelocity 1.1

August 10, 2010 8:41:56.169

Today's Smalltalk Daily looks at how searching for code (senders/receivers, etc) works in WebVelocity 1.1. If you can't see the embedded video directly, you can go directly to YouTube for it. Click on the viewer below to watch it now:

You can follow the Smalltalk channel on YouTube for all the "Smalltalk Daily" videos. You can also check out the videos on Vimeo, where the quality is higher, or over on Facebook, if you are a member.

You can download the video directly here. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here. If you like this kind of video, why not subscribe to "Smalltalk Daily"?

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posted by James Robertson

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advertising

Fighting Yesterday's Battles

August 10, 2010 9:38:33.347

Microsoft is fighting a battle that just doesn't matter much at this point:

Microsoft has launched a new Windows 7 campaign to take on Mac OS X. A new tab on the Windows 7 sites compares Windows 7 to Mac OS X in a number of areas--listing out the reasons that Windows 7 is the superior choice.

Sure, Apple took a small percentage (all at the high end) of the PC/laptop market away. But, they've moved on: you'll notice that Apple wound down the "switcher" ads a long while ago now. Why? Because they are focused on the mobile space - phones and iPads. In that area, Microsoft is basically invisible - and that leaves the one/two spot to Google and Apple, with Google playing the license model that Microsoft played with PCs years ago.

The third spot will end up with either RIM (Blackberry) or HP (Palm) - with Microsoft way, way back on the sidelines. Watching the MS marketing machine is just confusing at this point.

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

More Smalltalk Focus

August 10, 2010 11:09:39.082

The Smalltalk group at Cincom has always been focused exclusively on Smalltalk - we're now joined in that focus by Instantiations. eWeek thinks that Google's purchase of the Java business from Instantiations is good for Java and for Smalltalk - they quote Mike Taylor:

“We’re extremely excited about both halves of this new development for the company,” Taylor said. “We’re excited for our Java business to go to Google an excellent home it. And the Smalltalk group is excited about being in a new mode where we can focus on Smalltalk.”

The Smalltalk business just got a whole lot more interesting :)

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posted by James Robertson

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gadgets

Tablet Wars

August 10, 2010 16:49:31.516

Will Android get to tablets before HP does? If so, they have to move fast. Engadget reports:

We've been trying to find out when HP would launch a webOS tablet since the company first bought Palm, and we're now hearing from several trusted sources that it'll be calendar Q1 2011.

Apple has an even bigger headstart in this space than they did in phones; in the phone arena, they broke out, but other systems (Blackberry in particular) were already there. If HP can get the second mover position, I think it puts them in a great place.

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Scripting Squeak and Pharo

August 10, 2010 17:08:39.974

Spotted in Planet Squeak:

The frustrating part is not using many images (which is pretty cool to have multiple computers running at once… but I digress), but setting up the images every time.  So I decided I’d find a way to load common configurations automatically.  But how would I communicate to the image that it should run certain code on startup?  A quick google found writing scripts.

This is one of the nice things we did to Cincom Smalltalk over the last few releases; made this kind of scripting a whole lot easier. In fact, if you check this Smalltalk Daily archive page, you'll find some nice examples. For a more general overview, I covered all of the command line arguments - for both images and the VM - here.

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posted by James Robertson

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humor

Best "I Quit" Ever

August 10, 2010 23:11:28.599

posted by James Robertson

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culture

Too Good to be True

August 11, 2010 8:27:08.908

It's worth applying "if it's too good to be true, it probably isn't" to rising internet memes. Take the Dry Erase quitter from yesterday, for instance:

“Girl quits her job on dry erase board, emails entire office (33 Photos)” is indeed a hoax, say its creators John and Leo Resig.

At least "The Chive" got plenty of pageviews out of it...

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Find It Again

August 11, 2010 9:19:18.306

Dave Buck just published a useful little tool to the public store repository.

I've published a package called FindAgain to the Cincom public Store repository. It allows you to search for senders of a selector or references to a class or shared variable (which you could do before) and when you select one, find subsequent references to that selector or variable in the method (which you couldn't do before).

posted by James Robertson

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Smalltalk Daily 08/11/10: Code Visibility in WebVelocity 1.1

August 11, 2010 9:40:08.156

Today's Smalltalk Daily looks at code visibility (up and down the hierarchy) works in WebVelocity 1.1; it's a little different from 1.0. If you can't see the embedded video directly, you can go directly to YouTube for it. Click on the viewer below to watch it now:

You can follow the Smalltalk channel on YouTube for all the "Smalltalk Daily" videos. You can also check out the videos on Vimeo, where the quality is higher, or over on Facebook, if you are a member.

You can download the video directly here. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here. If you like this kind of video, why not subscribe to "Smalltalk Daily"?

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posted by James Robertson

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spam

Email Attachment Spam

August 11, 2010 9:55:53.166

I swear, spam moves in waves, just like a marketing campaign. I was getting virtually no email with attached malware until about 2 weeks ago, when suddenly it turned into a flood. I hope it dies off soon; I'm getting tired of seeing it....

posted by James Robertson

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general

Installation Testing Blues

August 11, 2010 21:40:26.108

I'm trying out the installer for WebVelocity 1.1 on Windows (XP and 7), and it's taking way longer than I'd like. The problem isn't Windows; it's Parallels. It updated recently, and I hadn't fired up any of my VMs since then.... so they all need to update Parallels tools.

It's like watching grass grow :)

Update: Well, so much for Windows not slowing me down. Windows 7 has decided that it's not genuine, even though I have a corporate install DVD, and a valid key. Oh, the joys of Windows Genuine Advantage....

posted by James Robertson

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Smalltalk Daily 08/12/01: The WebVelocity 1.1 Console

August 12, 2010 8:53:44.471

Today's Smalltalk Daily looks at the console tool in WebVelocity 1.1. If you can't see the embedded video directly, you can go directly to YouTube for it. Click on the viewer below to watch it now:

You can follow the Smalltalk channel on YouTube for all the "Smalltalk Daily" videos. You can also check out the videos on Vimeo, where the quality is higher, or over on Facebook, if you are a member.

You can download the video directly here. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here. If you like this kind of video, why not subscribe to "Smalltalk Daily"?

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posted by James Robertson

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gadgets

Rhyming, not Repeating

August 12, 2010 10:04:05.038

Some people say that history doesn't repeat, but it does rhyme. Well - look at smartphones, and you'll see echos of the PC/Apple battles of the late 80's and early 90's. Microsoft eventually crushed Apple in that arena, and ended up with something like a 95 percent share of the OS space.

Google is doing something similar with Android, and in much the same way: Apple is the sole vendor with the iPhone and IOS, while Google has licensed Android to anyone who wants it. The numbers are kind of stunning:

As worldwide smartphone sales grew by 50 percent during the second quarter, Android was the big winner, as it became the third largest operating system and sales passed 10 million units for the first time, according Gartner.

Things are way less clear in the phone space right now:

Symbian is still the largest smartphone operating system in the world. Sales totaled 25.4 million units, up from 20.9 million a year earlier, but its market share dropped from 51 percent to 41.2 percent.

But - if you think back, you'll recall that there were other PC players in the beginning: TI, and Amiga come to mind. Personally, I think Apple will end up doing better in this space than they did in the computer market. Their pricing isn't as far out of line as Macs were (when I first bought a PC, the differential with a Mac was $2k, and the Mac had less memory and less disk). As well, Apple has gotten a pretty good jump with the iPhone and iPad. Over time, I expect the smart phone space to look more like a lot of other markets - a strong number one (Google/Android), a powerful number two (Apple), and then everyone else.

Who would have guessed that Microsoft was going to be in that "everyone else" category a few years ago?

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posted by James Robertson

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gadgets

Funny, But....

August 12, 2010 14:11:03.507

I have to admit that this "e-reader review" is funny, but I disagree with the point being made. I've been reading voraciously ever since I got my iPad - in some ways, it's almost too easy to read with it. I never have to be without a book unless I don't feel like reading, regardless of the time of day. I don't have to drive to a store, and anything I buy arrives in seconds. I also don't need to worry about bookmarks, because the device does all of that for me. All in all, it's a great thing for reading.

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posted by James Robertson

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blog

Take Two

August 12, 2010 15:58:09.824

The daily video I posted earlier had corrupted audio - I'm not sure how it happened, since I worked ahead for tomorrow's video right afterwards, and it came out fine. Then again, a bunch of us are going back and forth in email over some hard to reproduce installation issues, so go figure. Software just sucks sometimes :)

Anyway, I've redone the video and reposted it to the various places you expect to find it :)

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posted by James Robertson

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games

More DragonAge

August 12, 2010 22:50:45.325

My daughter just stumbled on the new DragonAge DLC - I was too busy replaying the original game to notice. Looks like I get to spend more time underground; it's all about dwarves and golems.

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posted by James Robertson

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stupidity

Darl McBride, Call Your Office

August 12, 2010 23:15:32.043

Oracle is channeling SCO:

Oracle said in a statement that Google's Android system for mobile phones infringes on its patented Java technology.

So far as I can tell, if their assertions hold up, then any application written in Java infringes. Awesome.

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posted by James Robertson

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gadgets

iPhone on CDMA?

August 13, 2010 6:26:50.000

I've been figuring "no", for the simple reason that simultaneous data and voice on CDMA is problematic, and that would make a CDMA iPhone a downgrade from a GSM one in one big way. However, if anything could sway Apple, it might be this:

Apple is now believed to have had a change of heart on CDMA. It once described the standard as "dead" since a clear majority of cellular networks use GSM and HSPA, but the company has reconsidered after recognizing length of time to transition to LTE for 4G and, more importantly, the threat of Android. Verizon is the world's largest Android carrier and has helped Google thrive with HTC and Motorola phones being "safe" from Apple.

Still... I'm not so sure. My guess is that it's not happening - but I guess we'll know how this rumor pans out in a few months.

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posted by James Robertson

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gadgets

Why Mobile Reception Stinks in San Francisco

August 13, 2010 8:33:13.000

The city has pretty much mandated that reception will have problems:

According to the SF Examiner, a proposed bill by Supervisor John Avalos could bar new cell-tower installations based on aesthetics alone. In other words, if an ugly cell-phone tower blocks someone's view, the resident could protest and request a public hearing.

At some point, the weight of well intentioned regulations is going to make just about everything impossible :)

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posted by James Robertson

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culture

Not So Fast

August 13, 2010 11:11:22.414

Ian Hamilton thinks that an updated Touch with cameras and a microphone will be the beginning of the end for landline phone service:

An iPod Touch equipped with a front-facing camera is no longer an iPod Touch. It’s a device for making calls. Video calls. And with an app like Skype which uses the long-awaited multitasking functionality on iPhone to make and receive voice calls it’s also a fully functional phone. Apple could even build Internet-based voice call functionality directly into iOS for this very purpose. Goodbye house phones.

Yes and no. Inertia is going to play a huge roll in the transition from POTS service to IP based service - whether the phone companies fight tooth and nail is merely secondary. I figure that anone growing up now will be unlikely to opt for a landline - but the default will be mobile service, not skype.

What we really need to see is for services like skype to bring the same level of disintermediation to the wireless carriers that the breakup of AT&T brought to POTS service way back when...

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalkDaily

Smalltalk Daily 08/13/10: Saving Your Work in WebVelocity 1.1

August 13, 2010 11:22:51.544

Today's Smalltalk Daily looks at how you save code to a source code repository in WebVelocity 1.1. If you can't see the embedded video directly, you can go directly to YouTube for it. Click on the viewer below to watch it now:

You can follow the Smalltalk channel on YouTube for all the "Smalltalk Daily" videos. You can also check out the videos on Vimeo, where the quality is higher, or over on Facebook, if you are a member.

You can download the video directly here. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here. If you like this kind of video, why not subscribe to "Smalltalk Daily"?

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posted by James Robertson

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blog

Michael's New Site

August 13, 2010 12:08:56.311

Michael Lucas-Smith has moved his blog to his own domain - if we set the rewrite rules up correctly, then you should be redirected there when you go to the old site. Existing perma links to posts - like this one - will still work.

posted by James Robertson

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development

No Dynamic in .NET, JVM

August 13, 2010 12:50:05.431

So much for .NET delivering a seamless environment for dynamic languages:

Much early speculation on this change in focus comes from Jim Schementi, previously the program manager in charge of Microsoft's implementation of the Ruby software known as IronRuby. Schmenti reports on his blog that the team dedicated to working on IronRuby has decreased to one employee.

Over in Java-land, with Oracle in the driver's seat I just don't see it happening. So it looks like the future of dynamic languages is in the hands of the backers of those languages - and they won't get a lift from the big guys.

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posted by James Robertson

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gadgets

The XBox Moves Up

August 13, 2010 17:41:27.000

Microsoft is nothing is not persistent - the XBox has finally moved past the Wii in yearly sales:

The Wii may be tumbling at last, as Microsoft's Xbox 360 outpaced it by several hundreds thousand units in NPD Group's July 2010 retail sales. The games industry was steady, year-on-year, losing a few points in software and accessory sales but gaining notably in hardware sales.

To me, the two devices are in separate spaces: the XBox is for more devoted gamers - people who are willing to invest a lot of time in a game (like, say someone who'll play ME2 on Insanity). The Wii is a casual gaming device - big at parties and get togethers.

The loser in all this? The PS3.

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posted by James Robertson

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culture

That Voice Interface Thing

August 14, 2010 10:09:07.011

Based on how my daughter operates, I understand where things are going:

Last week there was an interesting article over at Wired about the apparent death of phone calls. Turns out that according to research by Nielsen, the average number of mobile phone calls people are making is dropping every year since it hit a high in 2007

Heck, even I fall into that "text over voice" thing. When I pick my daughter up from somewhere, I'm usually listening to music from Pandora or iTunes. I can text her without unplugging the phone, so I do. If we hadn't gotten unlimited texting on my daughter's phone, we would probably be bankrupt by now :)

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gadgets

Tablet Wars

August 14, 2010 10:23:54.331

PCWorld reports on the legions of iPad competitors that are about to show up. I don't expect Apple to drop prices on the iPad much (if at all) - they'll hapily stay at the high end, like they have with laptops. They may end up with less market share than some other players, but they'll keep most of the profits...

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posted by James Robertson

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cincom

Cincom Site Outage

August 14, 2010 22:29:02.992

I'm not sure what's going on, but the websites and phone lines at Cincom HQ are down. There was a pretty nasty looking line of storms that passed through there earlier this evening; that might be related.

Update: There was a power outage; things are getting back to normal now

Update 2: Seems I had to kick Apache manually. Joy :)

posted by James Robertson

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