Pharo Smalltalk is ready for the next step ahead in terms of commercial acceptance and viability - I saw this on the ESUG mailing list, from the Pharo board:
We are pursuing an effort to bring Pharo to the next level: we will set up a consortium of pharo users and industrial partners. Our goal is to build a legal infrastructure that will be able to sustain the development of Pharo and improve its future. As an example, we would like to be able to collect funds (ways as to be determined - we foresee a membership model or moral license) to pay engineering tasks to be performed such as improving the virtual machine, network libraries, better JIT support. To make it short we would like to give a chance to our community to grow and structure itself so that Pharo can get stronger and that risk (truck factor) gets minimized.
It should be interesting to watch that and see how it develops. For many years, the various Smalltalk vendors simply didn't take the open source Smalltalk community seriously. Gemstone has been taking it more seriously of late, but I don't think much has changed elsewhere. If this effort makes headway, that'll have to change.
We'll look at loading your code into a fresh image in the next screencast. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, click on the image below:
If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.
Peter Shankman makes a good point about the "new rules" we live under:
Transparency has to rule the day. You need to go through life, both business and personal, assuming that someone has a camera on you at all times. A bit sad? Sure. But it’s the world in which we live.
You can see that in the almost daily stories about people filming police - those stories tend to get pitched by the police as "public safety" things, but it really boils down to what Peter is on about: enforced transparency.
The same thing is happening everywhere. You can't move ahead with an ossified business plan where you try to keep everything secret. If you're big enough, it'll leak anyway. If you aren't, you'll simply disappear into the background, as the few people who do spot you will immediately move along, in search of more transparent business partners.
It doesn't matter whether you like this - it's just the way it is. The genie isn't going back in the bottle.
Bethesda will launch new downloadable expansions for Fallout: New Vegas in the coming months, the publisher said Friday on its official blog. It will launch the packs simultaneously for Xbox360, PC and PlayStation 3. These three packs are in addition to the first New Vegas downloadable expansion, Dead Money, which will be available for PS3 and Steam on February 22. Xbox 360 owners can already purchase the DLC.
In all the Microkia hub-bub of late, as the best of Redmond and the pride of Tampere hold hands and blaze a trail to smartphone domination, the word " Zune" never once came up. This didn't escape the notice of many, including MS guru Paul Thurrott and ZDNet's Mary-Jo Foley, who inquired to someone at Microsoft about just what's going on -- whether indeed the brand is indeed being killed off. This is the non-denial that came back:
We're not 'killing' any of the Zune services/features in any way. Microsoft remains committed to providing a great music and video experience from Zune on platforms such as Xbox LIVE, Windows-based PCs, Zune devices and Windows Phone 7, as well as integration with Bing and MSN.
Makes sense to me. If they want to push Windows Phone 7, for instance, they need to have music (etc) be integrated with that. Right now, they have a confusing set of products that needs to be rationalized around the successful XBox, IMHO
In order to achieve its internal goal of shipping 40 million iPad products in 2011, Apple has occupied close to 60% of the global touch panel capacity causing tight supply among Apple's competitors, according to sources from upstream component makers.
There is a downside to that though. With their moves in the subscription space creating some anger amongst publishers, that number might embolden someone to push for anti-trust action. I've always been skeptical of that kind of thing, but I think Apple needs to keep it in mind as a real risk.
Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we take a look at constructors for Javascript object creation. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube.
Join the Facebook Group to discuss the tutorials. You can view the archives here.
To watch now, click on the image below:
If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.
Today's Smalltalk 4 You continues with Monticello - today we start a fresh image and load the code we worked on last time. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, click on the image below:
If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.
Apple has managed to keep the iPad available at a lower price than any (current) rival, and also has high profit margins. How? Vertical Integration:
Apple is the most vertically integrated company in the world. In addition to operating its own retail chains, all Apple hardware and software are designed in-house, and Apple also runs its own digital content store, iTunes.
Given all that, I wonder just how much higher their costs would be if they set up highly automated assembly plants in the lower cost parts of the US? Sure, labor is cheaper in China, but the shipping costs are much higher. It would be interesting to know, especially if fuel costs rise.
Looks like people are asking about the impact - of a Libyan shutdown (like the one that happened in Egypt) on services like bit.ly. It looks like the immediate impact would be slight, as the root servers for that domain are located outside of Libya. However, if such a shutdown lasted long enough:
In the case of .LY, the absolute maximum for that is configured for 28 days (SOA expiry TTL is 2419200 seconds). Without external intervention, the availability of .LY domains would be compromised somewhere between 0 and 28 days if the Libyan registry is cut off the Internet.
Another reminder for those who forget - the virtual world is tied to the real one, and events in the real world can have large scale impacts on it. The net as a whole was architected to route around damage, but some kinds of damage can blow noticeable holes in the net.
Welcome to episode 18 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson, Michael Lucas-Smith, and David Buck. This week Dave and I spoke about some of the hard problems we've been confronted with over the years, and what the solutions - and often more importantly, the search for the solutions - looked like. This is part 1 of a 2 part podcast, so be sure to come back next week.
You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes (or any other podcatching software) using this feed directly or in iTunes with this one.
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.
If you like the music we use, please visit Josh Woodward's site. We use the song Troublemaker for our intro/outro music. I'm sure he'd appreciate your support!
If you have feedback, send it to jarober@gmail.com - or visit us on Facebook - you can subscribe in iTunes using this iTunes enabled feed.. If you enjoy the podcast, pass the word - we would love to have more people hear about Smalltalk!
Welcome to episode 18 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson, Michael Lucas-Smith, and David Buck. This week Dave and I spoke about some of the hard problems we've been confronted with over the years, and what the solutions - and often more importantly, the search for the solutions - looked like. This is part 1 of a 2 part podcast, so be sure to come back next week.
You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes (or any other podcatching software) using this feed directly or in iTunes with this one.
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.
If you like the music we use, please visit Josh Woodward's site. We use the song Troublemaker for our intro/outro music. I'm sure he'd appreciate your support!
If you have feedback, send it to jarober@gmail.com - or visit us on Facebook - you can subscribe in iTunes using this iTunes enabled feed.. If you enjoy the podcast, pass the word - we would love to have more people hear about Smalltalk!
Today's Smalltalk 4 You takes a pass by "Squeak by Example" - a great way to learn Smalltalk using Squeak if you prefer printed material. You can get the pdf free, or buy the book from Amazon or Lulu.. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, click on the image below:
If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.
AT&T has reportedly provisioned the new Personal Hotspot WiFi sharing feature of iOS 4.3 beta 3 for a developer, indicating it will follow Verizon's lead in offering the feature to its subscribers.
The hotel wifi is often terrible when I travel, so....
Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we take a look at constructors for Javascript object creation. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube.
Join the Facebook Group to discuss the tutorials. You can view the archives here.
To watch now, click on the image below:
If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.
Here's an interesting idea - LOTR from the other side's perspective. Sort of a large sacle fleshing out of the idea that "the victors write the history books" :)
You know all of that time you've been wasting on Angry Birds HD? Looks like your flying friends may have company when it comes time to, um... kill time, as Markus Persson has confirmed to Gamasutra that an iOS port is "in the works." That means that an official Minecraft build will soon pop up in Apple's App Store, with iPhone and iPad versions hinted at. Aron Neiminen, a new recruit to the Mojang team, is responsible for the port, and if all goes well, it'll be let loose later in the year. Persson also confirmed that the iOS version won't receive every update that the original browser / download versions get, but that it'll be "granted features that make sense for the touchscreen platform." Raise your hand below if you're giddy beyond control.
After reading through the forums, I was sure this was never going to happen, but there it is. IMHO, it makes too much sense for it not to happen :)
Arden Thomas is talking about Polycephaly at the NY STUG this Thursday evening:
Please join us on Thurs Feb 24th for this interesting discussion with Cincom Smalltalk’s product manager. Open house starts at 6:30 followed by the presentation at 7pm. Beverages will be available.
Today's Smalltalk 4 You takes a pass by "Pharo by Example" - a great way to learn Smalltalk using Pharo if you prefer printed material. You can get the pdf free, or buy the book from Amazon or Lulu.. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, click on the image below:
If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.
The recent trend of uprisings across North Africa makes me think of history - 1848, specifically. I read a book on that subject awhile ago (1848: Year of Revolution). The upshot for me is that I'm cautiously pessimistic about the way things may play out. In 1848, there were revolutions across Europe - largely led by the rising young generation. However, the forces of counter-revolution prevailed nearly everywhere. The only "win" for the revolutionaries was in France, and the reason for the quotes is that the "win" led directly to the reign of Emperor Napolean III - hardly a victory for those who desired a second republic.
Carrying that back to North Africa and the Middle East, here's why I'm skeptical: there's no history of consensual government in those areas. The forces of moderation there - like those in Europe in 1848 - are, as I see it, likely to be swallowed up by forces promising stability. Who that will end up being is anyone's guess - it could be a return to power by the forces who mostly wield power now, or - as in France with Napolean III - it could be some "popular choice" that institutes a new status quo. In any event, I'd bet against the rise of liberal democracies...