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law

How Bad is the CFAA?

April 7, 2013 13:50:26.097

Your kid has probably committed numerous felonies by the time they hit 18, and given the way the Feds went after Aaron Swartz, if your kid is outspoken about things that irritate the wrong federal prosecutor, well....

Seventeen highlights the absurdity of giving terms of service the force of law under the CFAA. It boasts a readership of almost 4.5 million teen readers with an average age of 16 and a half, and yet, until today, the average reader was legally banned from visiting Seventeen.com. That’s right, for a magazine dedicated to teen fashion, the publisher’s terms explicitly restricted online access to readers 18 and older. What’s worse, the Justice Department could choose to bring the might of the government to enforce this contract against a Seventeen reader who may never have even seen the agreement.

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podcast

IM 122: A Look Ahead to STIC 2013

April 7, 2013 20:46:55.104

Welcome to episode 122 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson and David Buck.

This week Dave and I talked about teh upcoming STIC 2013 conference. The list of speakers is available now (schedule to be posted shortly) - but we took a look behind the scenes, to give you an idea as to what's coming.

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!

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IM 122: A Look Ahead to STIC 2013 (AAC)

April 7, 2013 20:47:36.121

Welcome to episode 122 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson and David Buck.

This week Dave and I talked about teh upcoming STIC 2013 conference. The list of speakers is available now (schedule to be posted shortly) - but we took a look behind the scenes, to give you an idea as to what's coming.

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!

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st4u

ST 4U 367: Command Line Handlers in Pharo

April 8, 2013 10:15:32.267

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at command line handling in Pharo - how to set up and work with your own. 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:

Command Line

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.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

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[st4u367-iPhone.m4v ( Size: 1264241 )]

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games

The Best in Corporate Cluelessness

April 9, 2013 9:39:07.697

You have to admire the clueless "we're proud to be awful" response EA's Peter Moore has for us. Yet again, EA is competing for worst company in the world, and his summary is:

Every day, millions of people across globe play and love our games literally, hundreds of millions more than will vote in this contest. So here’s my response to this poll: We can do better. We will do better. But I am damn proud of this company, the people around the globe who work at EA, the games we create and the people that play them. The tallest trees catch the most wind. At EA we remain proud and unbowed.

There are a few reasons people have taken to disliking EA - one of the primary ones is their dogged insistence that every game they produce has to have a multi-player aspect - even if MP simply does not fit the game in any way, shape or form. Confronted with a massive success like Skyrim, they stand there confused - and then move along to add more micro-transactions.

Criticism of DA2? To hear Peter Moore tell it, it's all about the gay characters. Not the map reuse, not the inability to equip party members, not the really, really tiny playing arena - nope, it's the gay characters. Sure Peter - you keep telling yourself that.

Then there's the ME3 ending. The criticism was so loud they felt compelled to push out the "Extended Cut" - which, of all things, managed to make things even worse. Casey Hudson, arrogant twit that he is, added the "screw you" ending as a way of telling fans what he really thought of the criticism. You want to repair EA's reputation? Firing Hudson for that would be what we call a good start.

I'd comment on SimCity, but I have friends who've warned me off that game - not due to the launch issues, or even the always on aspect - but due to the utterly broken gameplay. SimCity is broken, but hey - it has micro-transactions, so it's all good.

What I love most about Peter Moore's response to gamers is his entire PC approach - "we support the conventional wisdom, which makes us courageous. By googling really hard, we found a few trolls who hate us for stupid reasons, so we get to ignore all of the thoughtful criticism". EA has well and truly been taken over by the marketdroids. Peter Moore will be one of the shocked ones when it all falls apart.

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js4u

JS 4U 260: Place Support in Maps

April 9, 2013 9:56:28.053

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You looks at the places library in maps. 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:

places

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.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

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weather

Contrasts

April 10, 2013 8:11:48.374

I think I'm happy to be working remotely (from home) this week:

posted by James Robertson

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st4u

ST 4U 368: Using Athens

April 10, 2013 9:53:39.785

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at teh Athens vector graphics package for Pharo - more specifically, at the nice tutorial that comes with it. 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:

Logging

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.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

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[st4u368-iPhone.m4v ( Size: 1141202 )]

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js4u

JS 4U 261: Place Searches

April 11, 2013 10:56:18.062

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You continues looking at the Places library for maps - showing you how to add search results to a map. 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:

Place Search

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.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

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stic13

Discounted Registration for STIC 2013

April 11, 2013 15:30:53.471

SAVE GREEN…STAY GREEN!

$100 off the early bird conference registration fee from (US) Tax Day (April 15) to Earth Day (April 22)! Rub shoulders with the greats of the industry and celebrate 30 years of Smalltalk at the 2013 Smalltalk Industry Conference (STIC 2013) June 9-12 , 2013 in Phoenix, AZ! Exciting Keynotes, Great Technical Program, Lots of Old and New Friends!

Save $100* by entering the special code GREEN when you register between April 15 and 22.

More info at the conference website

*Discount may not be combined with others.

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st4u

ST 4U 369: Extending a Class in VA

April 12, 2013 10:45:46.655

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at extending an existing class (i.e., adding new methods) in your own application in VA Smalltalk. Doing this allows you to version your changes without making changes to applications delivered by your vendor. 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:

Extensions.

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.

You can also watch it on YouTube:


When you're extending a Smalltalk class, there are a few different approaches:

  • Subclass and modify in the subclass
  • Extend an existing class by adding new methods
  • Modify the existing class by changing the existing methods and/or class definition

In VA Smalltalk, doing the third requires you to change the owning (i.e., probably system) application. However, you can add new methods into your own applications easily, and that's what we'll look at today. First, create a new application. Then, in the class pane of the browser, pop up the context menu:

Extension

After you've created the extension, you can add new methods to the class in question. Here, we've added #cubed to Number:

Extension

The important thing to keep in mind is that you can version and release extensions like this without touching the applications delivered by Instantiations. If you can, it's safer to develop in this way. Sometimes overrides are necessary, but they do cause some headaches when it's time to upgrade to a new version from the vendor.

Need more help? There's a screencast for other topics like this which you may want to watch. Questions? Try the "Chat with James" Google gadget over in the sidebar.

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podcast

IM 123: Errors and Exceptions

April 14, 2013 20:20:50.906

Welcome to episode 123 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson and David Buck.

This week Dave and I talked about the differences (and similarities) between error handling and exception handling, giving a few examples of each in different Smalltalk dialects.

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!

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Enclosures:
[im123.mp3 ( Size: 12984341 )]

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podcastAAC

IM 123: Errors and Exceptions

April 14, 2013 20:23:06.793

Welcome to episode 123 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson and David Buck.

This week Dave and I talked about the differences (and similarities) between error handling and exception handling, giving a few examples of each in different Smalltalk dialects.

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!

Tags: , ,

Enclosures:
[im123.m4a ( Size: 17964048 )]

posted by James Robertson

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