It looks like WiFi is the next great gathering place of the "afraid of technology" crowd, and they've got a foothold in Ontario:
A group of central Ontario parents is demanding their children's schools turn off wireless internet before they head back to school next month, fearing the technology is making the kids sick.
Right..... and none of the WiFi signals these kids run into elsewhere (malls, coffee shops, various homes in their neighborhoods) affect them at all. It's just the magic one at school. Heck, as I sit here at my desk, my Mac is picking up two WiFi signals from two of the neighboring houses, never mind the hotspots I'm running. If I lived in a city, I might be picking up dozens - when I travel, it's not uncommon to have to pick out the hotel WiFi from a huge crowd. Then there are the mobile phone towers everywhere, and the TV and radio signals... and so on.
This kind of thing needs to be laughed at so that it doesn't gain traction - because there will be no end of difficulty if it does.
Today's Smalltalk Daily looks at a simple one table application 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"?
The latest release of the Cincom Smalltalk suite are out: ObjectStudio 8.2.1, VisualWorks 7.7.1, and WebVelocity 1.1. There's a fair amount of new stuff, even though this is a point release - check the release notes for more. When the NC systems are ready for download, I'll let you know:
ObjectStudio 8.2.1:
Windows 7 Certified
Updated Modeling Tool
Updated Mapping Tool, bringing a tool level interface to the power of our Object/Relational framework
Built on top of VisualWorks 7.7.1, so that you have access to all the enterprise frameworks in both products
VisualWorks 7.7.1:
Improved 64 bit support for Solaris and Linux. Windows support is being built for the next release
Improved Mac OS X VM - faster and reliable
Overhauled memory management for the VM
New code comparison tool for Store
Continued incremental improvements to the GUI
Project Manager Tool to organize your development images
Many enhancements to our Oracle database support
Store now runs on top of GLORP
WSDL 2.0 support, including support for SOAP 1.2
Enhancements to our internationalization frameworks
Support for the SQLLite database
Preview support for Cair Graphics
WebVelocity 1.1:
Support for Amazon's cloud services: S3, EC2, RDS
An Amazon instance is available for you to experiment with
Built on Seaside 3.0
Completely new UI, built with JQuery
Support for coordinated development between remote developers via the browser
Just this month, both the Dell Streak and Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 debuted running Android 1.6 under custom skins. I'll be blunt: There's absolutely no excuse for a brand new Android device to be shipping with a year-old version of the operating system. Froyo aside, Android 2.0 has been out since last October, and Android 2.1 has been around since January. Despite the two manufacturers' vague promises of upgrades -- Dell has said its Streak will receive the current version of Android sometime this year, while Sony has promised to bring the Xperia X10 up to version 2.1 before New Year's -- it's simply embarrassing and unacceptable for new hardware to be launching with such outdated software.
Now, contrast that with the iPhone - with Apple in control of both the hardware and the software, you get integration. Not without issues, as iOS 4 showed - but with a whole lot less confusion. This kind of thing is going to give Google fits for as long as it keeps happening.
I found myself nodding my head through this PC World article - StarBucks is going to sweep the floor clean of most small coffee shops. How? They can make free wifi work for them, while WiFi - free or otherwise - is problematic for most small to mid size shops. StarBucks has the scale to set up the IT infrastructure and manage the network setup, and - they are big enough to offer partnerships with outfits like the WSJ (you can get free access to the WSJ at StarBucks, and they get a cut if you use that free access to subscribe).
Meanwhile, the smaller shops are having trouble with digital campers hogging tables, and they don't have the scale to even attempt an upsell. Maybe ubiquitous (and not ridiculously expensive) 3G will arrive to save the day for them, but even there, they suffer from the digital camper issue. I have to agree with Elgan - these smaller shops are going to get creamed like BlockBuster did.
renderActionsOn: html
super renderActionsOn: html.
html button
class: #comment;
callback: [self addComment];
with: 'Comment'.
addComment
| comment |
comment := Comment new.
(self call: (CommentEditUI on: comment)) ifTrue:
[comment bePersistent.
object comments add: comment.
object commitUnitOfWork]
PostListUI
renderDetailsOn: html
| sorted |
sorted := SortedCollection sortBlock: [:a :b | a created >= b created].
sorted addAll: self objects.
sorted do: [:each |
html anchor
callback: [self call: (PostViewUI on: each)];
with: each title.
html text: ' -- ', each created printString.
html paragraph: [html text: each content].
html horizontalRule]
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"?
I've gotten a report of problems using the new download form that the Cincom marketing group put up here; it's only one report though, so I have no idea whether there's an actual problem or not. If you try to use the form and get redirected in ways that don't seem to make sense, let me know. Thanks!
I got a query about Smalltalk code to handle RSS/Atom feeds this afternoon, and - obviously, as the main author of BottomFeeder - I have some code around to do that. In the public store repository, you can load the bundle Syndication-Handling. I've done a screencast on using it:
In a bid to revive the FM Radio, broadcasters and music labels have appealed to the US Congress to force manufacturers to build FM receivers into all smartphones and portable devices.
My iPhone is always using one radio (3G), and often a second (WiFi). When I'm driving I listen to Pandora or iTunes. Mandating an FM radio just isn't going to get me to return to it.
Today's Smalltalk Daily creates a new WebVelocity application, and has that application generate the database tables it needs. 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"?
Launch is pegged for Black Friday on November 26, and apparently the plan is to offer the device for extremely cheap or free on subsidy, which makes sense -- it is just a browser, after all, and "free" sounds mighty nice compared to the iPad's $499 entry point. (Of course, you'll undoubtedly be tied to a Verizon contract, but we'll just let that slide for now.)
The subsidized PC model didn't work, but it's worked well for phones - I think Apple is about to get some competition...
It seems that the media search application on the Cincom Smalltalk website had some bad data in it. Or possibly bad handling of data depending on how you want to look at it. When I first created the application, I did a batch run over a bunch of blog posts to create the records in the PostgreSQL database the app uses. The problem? Some of the video and screencast posts use relative links for the show notes.
That's fine when the relative links are sitting on my Cincom blog; a link of blog?.... gets looked up just fine there. However, the media search app has a different root, so the show notes links for a decent number of the items were bad (225, to be exact). So... I created a small WebVelocity component, loaded it into the server, ran it, and had it search for and fix those links. Boom, done. You shouldn't see bad links for that stuff anymore.
Hat tip to James Savidge, who pointed the problem out to me.
Looks like Torchwood is coming back, even after they whacked most of the cast - the two survivors, Captain Jack and Gwen, are returning, but the rest is all new. Not a ton of details at Blastr, but it sounds cool.
Today's Smalltalk Daily looks at how you can customize a query for one of the standard scaffolding UIs in WebVelocity. The code added is all in class NoteListUI. To jump to the video, Click here If you can't see the embedded video directly, you can go directly to YouTube for it.
First, add a variable, searchText
renderActionsOn: html
super renderActionsOn: html.
html text: 'Search'.
html space.
html textInput on: #searchText of: self.
html button
callback: [self applySearch];
value: 'Search'.
html button
callback: [self returnToAll];
value: 'All'
applySearch
"do the search"
| query newSearchText |
query := Glorp.ActiveRecords.Query read: Note.
newSearchText := '%', self searchText asLowercase, '%'.
query where: [:each | each title asLowercase like: newSearchText].
paginator query: query.
returnToAll
| query |
query := Glorp.ActiveRecords.Query read: Note.
paginator query: query.
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"?
Phillip Greenspun has a depressing piece up about the inability of people to tell which direction is which. My favorite test along these lines is to pull bills out of my wallet, and ask kids (high school age, since that's my daughter's cohort at present) who is on them. The quizzical looks are either amusing or disturbing, depending on my mood that day....
In a letter sent today to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, the RIAA and other music trade groups expressed their concern that the riddled-with-gaping-loopholes policy framework nevertheless might put a damper on ISP attempts to find and filter piratical material flowing through the Internet's tubes. Failure to allow for this sort of behavior would lead to an Internet of "chaos."
Better to have nothing, and depend on bad PR events than to have full on regulatory capture - because in the latter scenario, arguing over an FCC decision will be like arguing with the local zoning board - only more so.
The chips will allow city workers to monitor how often residents roll carts to the curb for collection. If a chip show a recyclable cart hasn't been brought to the curb in weeks, a trash supervisor will sort through the trash for recyclables.
If you haven't brought the cart out "enough", they'll start sorting through your trash and fining you if you throw out "too many" recyclables. This is right up there with the Greek government - scanning Google Maps for pools that haven't been taxed.
Update: The irony of this post is that after I posted this, I charged outside to put my recycling bin at the curb. I had forgotten what day it was, and the truck was coming.
Today's Smalltalk Daily looks some of the simple scaffolding customizations you can make in WebVelocity 1.1 - and shows you how to find out more. To jump straight to the video, click here. If you can't see the embedded video directly, you can go directly to YouTube for it.
Note class
variableNames
^#('title' 'created' 'description')
NoteListUI
shouldRenderDescription
^false
renderObjectCreated: anObject on: html
html text: anObject asDate printString
To watch now, click on the viewer below:
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"?
It's another episode of "no one is entitled to a business model". The NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) wants to mandate FM receivers in all smartphones, probably due to the audience drop they're seeing. This is all part of the RIAA and NAB fighting over the remaining crumbs in the broadcast music business:
NAB, in an effort to expand radio audiences, has been seeking an FM receiver mandate for digital devices for several years. But the proposal doesn't make sense, with many smartphones able to stream music and other content from the Internet, including streams from commercial radio stations, said Jot Carpenter, CTIA's vice president for government affairs. Several mobile devices available in the U.S. have FM receivers, but they are not among the top-selling devices, he said.
When I'm listening to music, I tend to do one of three things:
Shuffle my entire music collection on my iPhone/Mac
Put on a Pandora station
Create a "Genius" playlist (like Pandora, but limited to my collection)
I haven't turned on the radio more than a handful of times in the last year, and those times happened because I forgot my phone. The sales numbers for devices that include radios show how much demand there is for that (virtually none).
Add to that another reality - many (most?) radio stations now stream live on the net. So I can already get radio stations over wifi or 3g if I want to. I don't want, or need, another radio draining battery in my iPhone, thanks.
The release of Steam for Mac has done something interesting - it's gotten Apple to sit up and take notice of their lagging graphics performance in the gaming arena. I just loaded the update last night, and while I can't say much about what it does yet (I haven't fired up DAO or SC2 since I grabbed the update), it's certainly making Steam users happy.
Authorities investigating the 2008 crash of Spanair flight 5022 have discovered a central computer system used to monitor technical problems in the aircraft was infected with malware. An internal report issued by the airline revealed the infected computer failed to detect three technical problems with the aircraft, which if detected, may have prevented the plane from taking off, according to reports in the Spanish newspaper, El Pais. Flight 5022 crashed just after takeoff from Madrid-Barajas International Airport two years ago today, killing 154 and leaving only 18 survivors.
That's a whole lot more serious than a spam spewing PC bot. Wow. Just... wow.
Well, the latest Mac update does improve graphics performance in games - I've been enjoying the way Dragon Age: Origins looks with the update. However, a problem that's cropped up periodically with that game is still there - the complete lockup. I was playing a few minutes ago, and boom - the game reported an exception, then came back up. Then.... it just locked up hard. Couldn't break out to anywhere from the keyboard, and when I looked from a different machine, it wasn't on the network anymore, either.
While I like NetFlix and Hulu, setting them up on the TV is still something of a chore - you have to hook up a Mac or PC, and then navigate the "not built for a TV screen" interface. So if Apple ships the next generation Apple TV based on what they've learned from the iPhone and iPad?
Expect to see an iPhone/Pad like marketplace for television applications. Video sharing/streaming/recording apps, interactive news apps, and of course games.
That's Kevin Rose speculating on what it could mean. If Apple makes that move, they'll get a real foothold, I think - people hate their cable boxes. The DVR features are sub-optimal, the controls for streaming from on demand are terrible - and there's a monthly charge for each of the crappy boxes.
Give people the ability to easily synch everything they have on their iPads and their TVs, along with casual gaming ad streaming - and an interface that doesn't get in the way - and I think you'll have a hit. I'll be looking at this with interest...
I'll be on vacation next week, so there won't be any new Smalltalk Daily screencasts until a week from Monday. In the meantime, just check the archives, and feel free to send me suggestions for things you would like to see covered!
This is why I have my blog auto-post ton Twitter (and from there, on to Facebook) - otherwise, all that content is owned by someone else, and - if the service(s) in question die off, you're left with nothing. As Leo Laporte just realized:
It makes me feel like everything I’ve posted over the past four years on Twitter, Jaiku, Friendfeed, Plurk, Pownce, and, yes, Google Buzz, has been an immense waste of time. I was shouting into a vast echo chamber where no one could hear me because they were too busy shouting themselves. All this time I’ve been pumping content into the void like some chatterbox Onan. How humiliating. How demoralizing.
I use (or used, when they still existed) many of those - but I've always kept my blog (first the corporate one, and now, this one) front and center. That way, I have control over my own web history.
This week's podcast was recorded on the last day of ESUG 2009, last summer. With all the news from Instantiations recently, I thought John O'Keefe's presentation would still be timely - and I realized that I had not posted it yet..
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!
This is pretty ridiculous, although with the budget issues that so many cities and counties are facing, I guess it's the sort of desperation play one should expect:
She’s not alone. After dutifully reporting even the smallest profits on their tax filings this year, a number — though no one knows exactly what that number is — of Philadelphia bloggers were dispatched letters informing them that they owe $300 for a privilege license, plus taxes on any profits they made.
So, what the heck is a "privilege license", and why the heck would a blogger making pennies from AdSense need one?
Ever since I started reading on my iPad, I've been tearing through books like a knife through warm butter - and I've fallen way, way behind on the reviews I normally post here. Sometime in the next week or two, I intend to catch up, but here's a list of what I've been reading:
looks with the update. However, a problem that's cropped up periodically with that game is still there - the complete lockup. I was playing a few minutes ago, and boom - the game reported an exception, then came back up. Then.... it just locked up hard. Couldn't break out to anywhere from the keyboard, and when I looked from a different machine, it wasn't on the network anymore, either.
