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law

The Facebook Ownership Suit Gets Weird

July 20, 2010 22:13:39.769

When I first heard this claim about a New York guy who claims that he owns Facebook, I was sure that it was bogus. Now I'm wondering - are the statements from Facebook's lawyers typical legal stuff, or is there actually something there?

A lawyer for Facebook Inc. said she was “unsure” whether company founder Mark Zuckerberg signed a contract that purportedly entitles a New York man to 84 percent of the world’s biggest social-networking service.

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posted by James Robertson

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BottomFeeder

New BottomFeeder Build

July 20, 2010 21:20:58.466

BottomFeeder

I've just pushed up a new BottomFeeder build - this one is based on VisualWorks 7.7.1 - since that's just about released, and I never got a 7.7 based release out, it's time to move up to the latest.

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posted by James Robertson

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media

Let Them Eat Paper

July 20, 2010 14:59:07.874

While I understand the thinking behind the new paywall that Murdoch's UK newspapers are using on their websites, I think it's a doomed plan. First, the bad news, from GigaOm:

The paywall at the Times of London’s web site has led to a drop of at least 65 percent in the newspaper’s online readership, according to early estimates.

Supposedly, they aren't worried about this - what they want is to keep their print subscribers paying for the print edition, by not letting them see the website unless they pay. There are two problems with that theory though:

  • It's a no growth play. New prospects can't see anything, so they are unlikely to buy in. Younger people are buying less print news period, so the entire market for this plan is shrinking.
  • Even for the existing buyers, it assumes that they can't find the news elsewhere. That's clearly not the case.

Add it all up, and it seems to me that this plan puts a clock on the lifespan of any business that uses it. No growth, and constant attrition from your existing customer base. Not a good way to go, IMHO...

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posted by James Robertson

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humor

I Feel Their Pain

July 20, 2010 14:50:45.824

Now this is a pair of visuals, explaining why web developers hate IE6 so much :)

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Cincom Smalltalk Digest

July 20, 2010 11:49:53.995

The July Digest has been posted!

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalkDaily

Smalltalk Daily 07/20/10: Ad Hoc Polymorphism

July 20, 2010 10:09:50.371

Today's Smalltalk Daily looks at how polymorphism is commonly used in Smalltalk. If you can't watch the YouTube embed below, click here to go to the video 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

Redone Windows Media Format

July 20, 2010 8:23:25.655

If you've tried the new Windows Media format exports I've been doing for Smalltalk Daily, you've likely noticed something - they were all screwed up. I'm re-exporting all of the ones I've done thus far, and will be uploading them in a few minutes. As well, all future exports will be done in a way that actually works - so if you need that format, just check back in a few minutes.

Thanks for being patient with me on this.

Update: The WMV files have all been re-uploaded, and going forward, there shouldn't be any more muffed ones.

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posted by James Robertson

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gadgets

E-Books Crossing the Chasm

July 20, 2010 7:19:19.753

Between iPads, Kindles, and other devices, I think a tipping point has been reached - Amazon now says that digital books are outselling hardcovers:

Over the past month, the Seattle retailer sold 180 Kindle books for every 100 hardcover books it sold, it said.

Now, that's a clever statement that doesn't include paperbacks, but still - it represents a big uptick for e-books. I have to say, I like the reading experience on the iPad a lot. The last three books I've read have been on the device, and now, when I see a new book I'm interested in, I look specifically for the Kindle edition.

Reading on my flight yesterday was very pleasant, and battery liofe was great. Even though Air Canada had seatback USb (and standard US plug) power, I didn't have any need to use it. It's just so easy (at least when you have WiFi) to buy books with the Kindle app (or, I suppose, the Kindle) - you finish a book, pop over to the store, and in less than 10 seconds (for me so far), the new book appears. Contrast that with anything else, even Amazon Prime.

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posted by James Robertson

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humor

Irony Not Dead, Java Edition

July 19, 2010 17:18:04.675

Via Torsten Bergmann:

Eclipse launcher (which is written in C/C++) reads the JVM vendor and if it detects a Sun JVM, it adds a necessary memory parameter for Eclipse to function. Since now the "Java" vendor was changed from Sun to Oracle it crashes. So the current version of Eclipse does not work with the current version of Java on the most popular platform - at least not out of the box.

You have to admit, that's kind of amusing :)

posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Coming Attractions on the Podcast

July 19, 2010 12:14:28.000

We have some good material coming up in the next few weeks:

  • A 2 part conversation with Eliot Miranda about his Cog VM (for Squeak and Pharo). With the recent release of Cog, we thought a podcast with Eliot would be of interest
  • A talk with the Lesser Smalltalk team I recorded at Camp Smalltalk this last weekend in London. I also have a longer form video of a demonstration they gave at the event

So go ahead and subscribe to Industry Misinterpretations - and take a look at the archives in the meantime :)

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

SSL For Squeak

July 19, 2010 9:04:49.000

Spotted in Planet Squeak:

I’ve just released a bit of work that I had been working on for a while. SqueakSSL is a plugin based interface to the native SSL/TLS facilities on your platform. On Windows, it uses the SChannel SSPI and on Unix it uses the OpenSSL implementation. The Mac’s still out there but I’m hoping that the OpenSSL version will work there too.

That's Andreas Raab talking above - the official announcement is here.

posted by James Robertson

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travel

Heathrow has Improved

July 19, 2010 5:57:00.497

I've complained about Heathrow before, but today it seems fine. Security was breeze - they didn't even go through the whole "remove your shoes" nonsense that the TSA is obsessed with. Once inside, I found a seat with power nearby - like JFK in NYC, they have little power stands scattered around.

The WiFi isn't free, but an hour at 4 pounds isn't completely out of bounds, either - and it's better than what I suffered through at my hotel this week :)

I'll be heading home via Ottawa in about two hours - hope it's a nice, quiet flight :)

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Smalltalk Daily 07/19/10: Learning from Code Examples

July 19, 2010 3:25:54.999

Today's Smalltalk Daily looks at code examples in VisualWorks. The system ships with a lot of examples, and today's screencast shows you how to find them. If you can't watch the YouTube embed below, click here to go to the video 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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campst

End of #campsmalltalk

July 18, 2010 11:26:14.647

All good things must come to an end - and this event is no different. It's been a lot of fun catching up with people I haven't seen in awhile, and meeting new Smalltalkers that I hadn't met. Looking forward to the next one of these, ESUG 2010, and the next Smalltalk Solutions!

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posted by James Robertson

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campst

#campsmalltalk - Some Thoughts

July 18, 2010 9:54:23.498

Sunday is winding down here in London, and a lot has been going on. To my right, Bruce Badger is still looking at Sport and Grease, seeing if there's some kind of synergy to be created between the two. He seems to think there's less than he thought there was when he started yesterday.

Right across the aisle, Niall has been plugging away at SUnit ports, and was reviewing progress with Tim - I did some video with him (which I'll post later), and it sounds like a lot of progress has been made:

The Pharo team has been at it hammer and tongs for two days, rarely coming up for air - if they don't get 1.1 nailed down this weekend, it won't be for lack of trying:

Meanwhile, the Seaside tutorial that started this morning is still going strong - Philippe and Julian have been kept busy in there

There are a lot of other things going on as well - I'll have video segments on that stuff coming up over the next few days. One of the interesting things today was the lunchtime discussion. Tim and Julian were looking for feedback on what went right, what could be better, and what people might like to see next time. The plan is to start having semi-regular Camp Smalltalk events:

The focus will likely be on building up the community here in London, with outreach to other developer groups. If you would like to see an event like this somewhere else though, they would be glad to hear about it.

Finally, I should thank Pinesoft for letting us use their office space - it's a very nice facility, and it was great of them to open it up for us on a weekend. It's also a historic building:

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campst

#campsmalltalk - Training Wrapup

July 18, 2010 9:18:53.168

Here's a video from Camp Smalltalk London, 2010 - Tim Mackinnon talking about how the "Intro to Smalltalk" training went on day one of the event. 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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smalltalk

Industry Misinterpretations 197: Even More Package Reviews

July 18, 2010 7:26:16.750

This week's podcast is part another in our series of package reviews from the public repository - next week we'll have part 1 of an interview with Eliot Miranda up, about his Cog VM.

There's some crackling in my audio at the end of the podcast - I think it's time for a new headset. Sorry about that, it should be addressed before we do another recording.

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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campst

#campsmalltalk - more photos

July 18, 2010 7:25:40.990

I've posted a bunch of photos to Facebook - here are a few of them - first, a presentation from the Lesser Smalltalk guys

Next, project work this morning:

And finally, the seaside tutorial:

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posted by James Robertson

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campst

#campsmalltalk: Boris Popov's Project

July 18, 2010 5:34:06.192

Here's a video from Camp Smalltalk London, 2010 - Boris Popov talking about his plans for the event. 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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smalltalk

#campsmalltalk: At the Ice Bar

July 18, 2010 4:47:51.038

Here's where we went last night after day one of Camp Smalltalk - the London Ice Bar:

If you can't see the embedded video, you can go directly to YouTube for it.

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posted by James Robertson

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campst

#campsmalltalk: Portability

July 17, 2010 11:42:54.844

Here's a video from Camp Smalltalk London, 2010 - Bruce Badger talking about Smalltalk portability across dialects, and what kind of progress in that direction he would like to see at this event. 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"?

posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

#campsmalltalk in London Begins

July 17, 2010 6:31:56.015

I'm at Camp Smalltalk 2010 in London - I'll be posting pictures and video from here the whole weekend. Here are two shots from last night:

And two from this morning - the first is an Intro to Smalltalk being run for some newcomers, and the second is Julian Fitzell getting the rest of the camp started:

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posted by James Robertson

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gadgets

No Love for Windows Phone 7

July 16, 2010 12:53:43.000

infoWorld doesn't pull any punches in knocking Windows Phone 7:

If the iPhone is the platinum standard, Android is the gold standard, WebOS is the bronze standard, and Symbian and BlackBerry tie for tin. Windows Phone 7 is clay -- a clay pigeon, in fact.

Follow the link for the full details - it really does sound like Microsoft is asleep at the switch in the mobile space...

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posted by James Robertson

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gadgets

Speaking of Lockdown

July 16, 2010 12:02:57.240

With all the ink (real and virtual) spilled over the iPhone and how it's locked down, the DroidX should get some notice. While Apple doesn't like Jailbreaking, they don't break your phone if you do it. Motorola, on the other hand:

The eFuse is there to verify what's called a bootloader—the very first process to load filled with important stuff encompassing the core software of the phone, like firmware. And if the eFuse doesn't see specific, pre-programmed code within Motorola's guidelines, it will essentially short out and the Droid X will cease to function at all. (To resuscitate the phone, you'd need specialized hardware only found at Motorola.)

That's completely ridiculous. If that's how they plan to do things, the phone should come with a big "Rented, not Owned" sticker.

Now, why does that matter? Well, further on in the article, Gizmodo notes that the phone comes with Android 2.1 (not the latest) - and many Android users would like to upgrade the OS themselves. Well, if that's you, you're SOL with this phone :)

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posted by James Robertson

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PR

What Will Apple Say Today?

July 16, 2010 9:02:31.000

Between the antenna issue and the proximity sensor problem, Apple needs to come out and talk about the new iPhone - and it looks like they plan to say something:

Apple on Wednesday invited select press to a special press conference to be held this Friday in California. Apple would only say that the press conference would be regarding the iPhone 4.

I don't know whether the antenna problem has bitten me or not, but the proximity sensor thing is a real problem. I was on a call yesterday, and my ear kept pressing buttons - had to go to the speaker setting. If that's not addressable in software, then I think Apple will be staring down the barrel of a recall.

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posted by James Robertson

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development

Ralph Johnson and Joe Armstrong Discuss OOP and Smalltalk

July 16, 2010 7:10:28.000

InfoQ has another interesting interview up from QCon: a chat with Ralph Johnson and Joe Armstrong about what Smalltalk got right and wrong. There's video and a transcript at the link.

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Gemstone/64 with Glass Ships

July 16, 2010 3:53:59.045

Spotted in (gem)Stone Soup

GemStone/S 64 2.4.4.1 is the first version in the 2.4.x series for which GLASS is officially supported. GemStone/S 64 2.4 originally shipped in September of 2009, but I delayed announcing GLASS support for 2.4 until I had the configuration issues firmly in hand and Seaside 3.0 support was up to snuff. That day has finally come!

I think we can call Seaside the preferred Smalltalk web framework now. It's not that other frameworks don't exist; it's just that Seaside gives your application code portability across all the Smalltalk implementations.

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posted by James Robertson

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travel

What Not to Do in Your Hotel Room

July 16, 2010 3:07:40.775

After going to bed last night, I flipped off what I thought was the light switch. Sadly, I didn't notice that the switch I hit was labeled "Room" - so I turned off everything. I woke up to find that my MBP was hibernating and on reserve power (with the terrible bandwidth, I started a download before I went to sleep). Tonight, I'll have to pay a lot more attention to the switches....

posted by James Robertson

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smalltalkDaily

Smalltalk Daily 07/16/10: Save and Restart an Image

July 16, 2010 3:01:02.035

Today's Smalltalk Daily looks at saving and restarting an image - the full running state is saved, including debugging sessions you might be running. If you can't watch the YouTube embed below, click here to go to the video 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"?

posted by James Robertson

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smalltalkDaily

Smalltalk Daily 07/15/10: Saving Smalltalk Code

July 15, 2010 9:56:03.094

Today's Smalltalk Daily looks at some basic ways of saving code: publishing a parcel, filing code out to disk, and saving an image. The better solution in most cases is version control (Store) - there's a whole Smalltalk Daily section devoted to that. If you can't watch the YouTube embed below, click here to go to the video 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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travel

WiFi like Dialup

July 15, 2010 9:22:58.754

The room here at the Park Hotel is small, but comfortable enough - but boy, the wifi is just terrible. I feel like I'm getting dialup class service, and I'm paying extra for it...

posted by James Robertson

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travel

What, no Wifi?

July 15, 2010 8:20:09.678

This Air Canada Airbus is nice in a lot of ways - power at every seat, both standard US style plug and USB port. The only thing missing is internet service :)

posted by James Robertson

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travel

London Bound

July 14, 2010 20:07:40.000

When this gets posted, I should be on my way to London for Camp Smalltalk. I should be there Thursday - anyone want to hit a pub on Thursday evening?

posted by James Robertson

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blog

Smalltalk Daily Update

July 14, 2010 10:20:54.187

Today's embedded link is for Vimeo; YouTube seems to be suffering from internal issues at the moment. when those get resolved, today's video will end up there.

In the meantime, you might notice something new in the additional format section of the daily posts - a link to a Windows Media file. It was pointed out to me that some people in locked down corporate environments might not be able to download QuickTime, so I've started producing a .wmv formatted file as well. So - if you can't easily view QuickTime, there you go :)

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posted by James Robertson

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Smalltalk Daily 07/14/10: Extending a Class III

July 14, 2010 10:12:40.707

Today's Smalltalk Daily brings together the class extension example and unit testing into a seamless whole. If you can't watch the YouTube embed below, click here to go to the video now:

Extending a Class III from James Robertson on Vimeo.

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

Smalltalk Daily Delay

July 14, 2010 10:09:31.617

I use YouTube as one of my options for the daily videos, and this morning it seems to be having problems processing video. So.... I'll be posting when that clears up :)

posted by James Robertson

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stupidity

They'll Make it up in Volume

July 14, 2010 6:13:12.000

The RIAA's actions make no sense on any level. Witness:

The RIAA paid Holmes Roberts & Owen $9,364,901 in 2008, Jenner & Block more than $7,000,000, and Cravath Swain & Moore $1.25 million, to pursue its "copyright infringement" claims, in order to recover a mere $391,000. [ps there were many other law firms feeding at the trough too; these were just the ones listed among the top 5 independent contractors.]

Looks like they're following the patented Jonathan Schwartz "we'll make it up in volume" strategery.

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posted by James Robertson

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general

Portable Drives Shrinking

July 13, 2010 16:55:05.435

I decided that having a new portable drive for video storage would be useful - between Camp Smalltalk London and ESUG 2010, I'll be shooting a lot of video. So, I picked up a 500 GB FreeAgent drive. Here it is:

By way of comparison, it's as long as my iPhone, and maybe 1/2 an inch wider on each side. Wow.

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posted by James Robertson

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open source

Shocker: Oracle Letting OpenSolaris Die With a Whimper

July 13, 2010 13:21:21.000

Color me not shocked: Oracle is letting Open Solaris whither on the vine:

In an act of desperation, the OpenSolaris governing board (OGB) has issued an ultimatum to Oracle. The company must nominate a contact person able to take decisions regarding OpenSolaris by the 16th of August or the board will dissolve and relinquish control of OpenSolaris to Oracle.

The people who were sure that OpenSolaris had a future should probably rethink that right about now...

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posted by James Robertson

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news

Half Mast in NY

July 13, 2010 9:59:09.939

Say what you will about George Steinbrenner, he took a fallen Yankees organization and built it back into a powerhouse:

The Yankees won 11 pennants and seven World Series titles during his tenure.

Rest in Peace, George - you did good work.

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalkDaily

Smalltalk Daily 07/13/10: Extending Behavior II

July 13, 2010 9:15:25.669

Today's Smalltalk Daily takes yesterday's class extension and saves it into a new package - instead of in the base system one. If you can't watch the YouTube embed below, click here to go to the video 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 like this kind of video, why not subscribe to "Smalltalk Daily"?

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posted by James Robertson

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law

Law and Common Sense

July 13, 2010 8:08:15.565

Apparently, being a judge means not being able to think - instead, you just robotically take the claims of absurd claimants seriously:

A New York judge has issued a temporary restraining order restricting the transfer of Facebook Inc.'s assets, following a suit by a New York man who claims to own an 84% stake in the social-networking company.

Why do I say this is absurd? Well, the claimant says that he was contracted (in 2003) to deliver a website for Facebook - and hasn't done so in 7 years? Then there's this:

In 2009, New York's Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo accused Mr. Ceglia of defrauding customers of his wood-pellet fuel company, according to a news release from the Attorney General's office.

One wonders whether the judge who issued the restraining order can read, much less use Google....

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posted by James Robertson

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development

Is Normalizing a Database Just Manual Compression?

July 13, 2010 7:57:55.012

Michael explores the idea:

But it's the 21st century and it dawned on me that normalization is the futile act of trying to manually compress data. If you break up your data records in to its related component parts to -avoid duplicate data- then you're literally trying to re-invent compression ..badly.

posted by James Robertson

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