Smalltalk with James Robertson

March 8th is just way, way too far away....

Technorati Tags: dao2

The FAST Foundation is offering help for Argentinians who would like to attend the Smalltalks conference next month, but need some help:

This year, the Fundacion Argentina de Smalltalk (FAST) will be able to offer some degree of assistance to attend the conference. In order to qualify for this support, it is necessary to live in Argentina, to reasonably justify the need for assistance, and to have submitted a talk proposal to the conference.

Technorati Tags: smalltalks 2010, argentina

I'm not sure whether this concept vehicle out of China is cool, scary, or both. Via Wired:

Technorati Tags: transit

One of the things I need to do this week is return equipment to Cincom - including two external drives I've been using as backup drives (one of them was in storage with older backups). So, disk utility to the rescue - it has a nift "restore" feature I found out about here. There are hundreds of gigabytes involved on two disks, so this will take awhile :)

Technorati Tags: time machine

I've decided to expand the playing field for myself (in terms of the screencast series). I launched "Smalltalk 4 U" on October 15th - next week, I'll be launching "Javascript 4 U". The format will be similar - short screencasts that try to get one point across in 3 minutes or less.

I've set up a landing page, but it's not populated with any screencasts yet. The series launches on Monday, and it will be an iTunes enabled feed. Look for it then!

The Smalltalk series will be continuing as well - I plan to push out Smalltalk and Javascript oriented screencasts on alternating days.

Technorati Tags: smalltalk, screencast, javascript

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at the process of downloading and installing Dolphin Smalltalk (from Object Arts) on Windows 7 (or Vista). If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, use the viewer 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.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

Technorati Tags: smalltalk, dolphin, installation, windows

This might be a good start, but it won't solve the problem:

In the wake of the disappointing end to New York's season, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has fired pitching coach Dave Eiland.

Here's a better answer: Hire a 400 pound, ex-NFL guy as the bench coach. When Girardi indicates that he's about to make a pitching change, have the 400 pound guy sit on him for 5 minutes. Given Girardi's constant - and mostly stupid - pitching moves - that woiuld help a lot.

Technorati Tags: yankees, pitching, manager

Looks like Digg is the latest victim of an over-reliance on ads as a revenue source. The problem is simple: in the print era, ad space was limited, which pushed prices up. Same thing with over the air broadcasts - time was limited. Now? There are a nearly infinite number of web properties on which you can advertise, and most of us (at least in North America) have access to so many TV channels that it's a very easy matter to avoid any ad you don't want to see.

Scarcity disappeared, and - as should have surprised no one - rates plummeted.

Technorati Tags: digg

One of the issues I had with the screencasts I was doing for Cincom was that the Windows ones often had frame skipping problems. It turns out that tyhis was due to a simple mistake I made in configuring the VM.

When you have a VM stopped, you can edit the settings. One of those deals with optimization - should your system favor native (OS X) apps, or the VM? The default is to favor the VM. This is great if you're playing a game, or running a fairly intense Windows app, but it's not so good if you are using a Mac App to capture the Windows screen.

The solution? Simple - just flip the optimization over to favor OS X apps. That solved the frame drops for me nicely.

Technorati Tags: screencast, osx, windows, parallels

Julian Fitzell and Michael Lucas-Smith are doing some wolf pack events on November 25:

Everything is organized. Helge Nowak and I will be running a Wolf Pack Programming workshop at XPDays in Hamburg. The workshop is on Thursday, November 25th and runs from 9:30am to 12:30pm. Almost simultaneously—yes, we were double booked!—Jason Ayers and Michael Lucas-Smith will be running their own workshop at XPDays Benelux, in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Theirs will get under way at 3:30pm.

Follow the "wolf pack" link for some details on the Geek Nights event from last week.

Technorati Tags: wolf pack programming

Welcome to episode 4 of "That Podcast: An FNV Diary" - a podcast where Michael Lucas-Smith and I document our trials and tribulations in Fallout: New Vegas. On today's podcast, we have a special guest - Makahlua, one of the regular co-hosts of Polycast, which covers everything about Civilization. This is the "White Glove Treatment" podcast - we talk about the Vegas Strip, a bunch of side quests that can sidetrack you on your way there, Lake Mead, and the impossible to deal with DeathClaws. Along the way a few other locations came up, including the murder mystery in Novac.

You can subscribe in iTunes (or any podcatcher) using this feed, or this one for the AAC edition. You can get to the podcast directly in iTunes via this link.

If you want to download the podcast directly, I've provided it in three formats:

• MP3 Edition
• AAC Edition
• Ogg Vorbis Edition

Got feedback? Send it to James. We'd really appreciate it if you head on over to iTunes and leave a comment - enjoy the podcast, and we'll see you in the wastelands!

Technorati Tags: fallout, fallout new vegas, white glove, the strip, xbox

Welcome to episode 4 of "That Podcast: An FNV Diary" - a podcast where Michael Lucas-Smith and I document our trials and tribulations in Fallout: New Vegas. On today's podcast, we have a special guest - Makahlua, one of the regular co-hosts of Polycast, which covers everything about Civilization. This is the "White Glove Treatment" podcast - we talk about the Vegas Strip, a bunch of side quests that can sidetrack you on your way there, Lake Mead, and the impossible to deal with DeathClaws. Along the way a few other locations came up, including the murder mystery in Novac.

You can subscribe in iTunes (or any podcatcher) using this feed, or this one for the AAC edition. You can get to the podcast directly in iTunes via this link.

If you want to download the podcast directly, I've provided it in three formats:

• MP3 Edition
• AAC Edition
• Ogg Vorbis Edition

Got feedback? Send it to James. We'd really appreciate it if you head on over to iTunes and leave a comment - enjoy the podcast, and we'll see you in the wastelands!

Technorati Tags: fallout new vegas, fnv, games, xbox

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at the process of downloading and installing VA Smalltalk (from Instantiations) on Windows 7 (or Vista). Last Friday's example used XP, and there's a small difference in how you need to set things up with UAC present. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, use the viewer 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.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

Technorati Tags: smalltalk, st4u, va smalltalk, installation

Pretty Cool - a Dolphin Smalltalk powered url shortener, Twit.io. Now all they need is an API - they already have analytics.

Technorati Tags: twitter, dolphin

Welcome to episode 2 of Independent Misinterpretations - a new Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson and David Buck. Michael is also co-hosting - he and Dave will be alternating weeks, while I keep the moderator seat warm.

You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes (or any other podcatching software) using this feed directly or in iTunes with this one.

This week, David and I discuss a few changes to the format, and we touch on a few other things we intend to discuss in the future. Perhaps this should have been episode 1, but there was a lot going on last week with my work circumstances change, and I had material "in the can".

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!

Technorati Tags: smalltalk

Welcome to episode 2 of Independent Misinterpretations - a new Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson and David Buck. Michael is also co-hosting - he and Dave will be alternating weeks, while I keep the moderator seat warm.

You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes (or any other podcatching software) using this feed directly or in iTunes with this one.

This week, David and I discuss a few changes to the format, and we touch on a few other things we intend to discuss in the future. Perhaps this should have been episode 1, but there was a lot going on last week with my work circumstances change, and I had material "in the can".

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!

Technorati Tags: smalltalk

Ramon Leon explains how to run Gemstone tools from a remote server with better performance: X11

Just a quick post to document some knowledge for myself and for anyone using Gemstone on a remote server like SliceHost or my preference Linode and trying to run GemTools locally through a ssh tunnel. It's slow, very slow, several seconds per mouse click. OmniBrowser is just to chatty. Fortunately Linux has a better way to do it: X11Forwarding. Run the GemTools client on the remote server and forward the UI for just that app to your workstation.

Follow the link for full details.

Technorati Tags: gemstone, x11

There's a new framework in Cincom's Smalltalk that allows you to take advantage of multiple CPUs or cores - polycephaly. There's an interesting write up over on the CST website, which comes from the ObjectStudio team:

Polycephaly allows the user to spawn new copies of your ObjectStudio VM and image. Since Windows sees these new copies as separate programs, it can schedule them on any available CPU. One use of Polycephaly could be to connect to different web services at the same time and read some data. We currently use Polycephaly to run our SUnit test suite.

Follow the link for some code you can experiment with.

Technorati Tags: polycephaly

It looks like Xtreams is getting attention beyond the world of Smalltalk implementations. Derek Williams writes:

Smalltalk is home to perhaps the first truly elegant streams implementation, particularly when compared to other approaches developed around that time, such as those in C and C++. You can’t get much simpler than ‘myfile.txt’ asFilename readStream contents to open and read a file, and yet there’s significant power in the classes behind that. But new designs for stream libraries since followed, including pluggable/chainable I/O stream architectures, such as those found in Java, C#, and even advanced parallel stream processing frameworks. Not to be outdone, Michael Lucas-Smith and Martin Kobetic have recently developed a new pluggable stream framework for Smalltalk called Xtreams, and I couldn’t resist giving it a try.

There's a lot more there; follow the link.

Technorati Tags: xtreams, streams

Welcome to episode 3 of "That Podcast: An FNV Diary" - a podcast where Michael Lucas-Smith and I document our trials and tribulations in Fallout: New Vegas. This is the Repconn podcast - we talk about the quest to rid the Repconn test facility of ghouls, and the different ways the two of us approached that. Along the way a few other locations came up, including the murder mystery in Novac.

You can subscribe in iTunes (or any podcatcher) using this feed, or this one for the AAC edition. You can get to the podcast directly in iTunes via this link.

If you want to download the podcast directly, I've provided it in three formats:

• MP3 Edition
• AAC Edition
• Ogg Vorbis Edition

Enjoy the podcast, and we'll see you in the wastelands!

Technorati Tags: fnv, fallout, fallout new vegas, repconn, xbox, games

Welcome to episode 3 of "That Podcast: An FNV Diary" - a podcast where Michael Lucas-Smith and I document our trials and tribulations in Fallout: New Vegas. This is the Repconn podcast - we talk about the quest to rid the Repconn test facility of ghouls, and the different ways the two of us approached that. Along the way a few other locations came up, including the murder mystery in Novac.

You can subscribe in iTunes (or any podcatcher) using this feed, or this one for the AAC edition. You can get to the podcast directly in iTunes via this link.

If you want to download the podcast directly, I've provided it in three formats:

• MP3 Edition
• AAC Edition
• Ogg Vorbis Edition

Enjoy the podcast, and we'll see you in the wastelands!

Technorati Tags: fallout, fnv, games, xbox, new vegas

Can anyone explain where the actual harm is here?

Mr. Stauffer, who calls himself a "sharp-dressed man," also happens to be a patent lawyer. He sued Brooks Brothers Inc. in federal court, claiming it broke the law by marking its adjustable bow ties with patents that expired in the 1950s.

The court should have fined Stauffer for wasting its time, and told him to find better ways to fill his free time.

Technorati Tags: law

Via Engadget, Sandvine reports:

The bandwidth manufacturer has released a report that concludes that over twenty percent of stateside peak time downstream Internet traffic is gobbled up by Netflix streams, with the heaviest use going down in the primetime hours between 8 to 10 pm.

Doesn't surprise me; we watch a lot of Netflix (my daughter uses it a lot, mostly to catch up on shows she didn't think she'd like at first). More and more content is going to head this way, and the local cable company is going to pull its hair out over it....

Technorati Tags: streaming, netflix

If you're interested, visit his site for the embedded video.

Looks like dynamic languages on the .NET platform are dead - oh, wait, they are "out in the community" now. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for much VM support though :)

Microsoft has officially ended a half-decade flirtation with building its own .NETized scripting languages, and it lost a languages guru to Google in the process. The company has handed code and project responsibility for IronRuby and IronPython to "the community," six years after it started the projects and then stuck them in limbo.

The guri reference is to Jim Hugunin, who is on his way to Google. Since Android is heavily Java dependent, and Oracle is trying to throw sand in Google's gears there, who knows what that means for dynamic languages on the JVM. My guess: nothing good.

Technorati Tags: dynamic language

This is the kind of mistake that hidebound management makes a lot - something new comes along, and there's an instant "no":

Three of the biggest U.S. television broadcasters have blocked the Web-based versions of their shows from Google's new Web TV service, throwing a wrench into the company's plans to expand from computers to the living room.

Now think about that for a minute - you have Google TV, and you want to watch a show via the network's website. The network blocks your access. Why? You'll still have to watch the ads, so that's not the reason. This is just unreasoning fear. Supposedly they are worried about Google extending their web ad model to tv but I can't see how that would happen without the acquiescence of the network - the stream originates there. No, this is a bunch of guys who just fear the future.

Technorati Tags: tv, google

I've moved from one Windows box to another many, many times over the years, as the one i was using got old and needed to be replaced. Invariably it was a painful experience, requiring me to track down every blasted install disk (later, CD/DVD) I had and manually re-installing everything. Getting data to the new machine typically meant some kind of backup/restore or network transfer; there was never any automated support. For all I know, Windows 7 is better at that, but I haven't looked.

What I do know is this: moving from one Mac to another is the simplest thing I've ever seen. I walked into the Apple store yesterday, got a new 13" machine, and brought it home with a Firewire cable (I could have used my LAN, but the direct connection was faster). I followed the migration assistant instructions, and about 3 hours later (maybe less; I went to the gym in the middle of all that) it was done. I reset the Cincom machine to a base Snow Leopard install, with all the data on it erased, and had a new machine that is - for all intents and purposes - the same system. All the software works, all my settings were preserved... it's fantastic.

I realize that a Windows box costs less money, but boy - the time sink aspects are another thing entirely...

There was a bunch of Smalltalk at the recent "Dynamic Stockholm" event - Martin Vilcans has a pretty good writeup of his impressions. I particularly like this:

Björn Eiderbäck’s final talk about Smalltalk was inspiring. Smalltalk is a nice language. For good or bad, it has the idea that it is not only a programming language, but a complete environment. You don’t just edit Smalltalk in a text editor and compile it on the command line. The development environment and the runtime is tightly coupled in a way that provides some very nice dynamic features for development and debugging. At the same time, you’re very much tied to the environment, so if you don’t like its text editor for example, you’re not going to be happy. The whole idea is perhaps too different, especially if you’re a text editor and command-line person. For example, Björn briefly showed the built-in version control of the Smalltalk environment, something that I would prefer to use an external tool for. (Here I admittedly express the kind of conservatism that suppresses progress.)

That's a pretty good summation of how a lot of people see Smalltalk - very cool, but.... they want to use external tools. I went through a phase where I really thought that would be a good idea, but I'm back to being unsure.

Smalltalk is the image - if you lose that, I'm not really sure that you have Smalltalk any longer.

Update: More here.

I've set up a Facebook group for "Smalltalk 4 U" - you can watch the videos there, comment on them, and give me feedback on suggested topics.

Technorati Tags: st4u, facebook

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at the process of downloading and installing VA Smalltalk (from Instantiations) on Windows. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, use the viewer 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.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

Technorati Tags: st4u, smalltalk, va smalltalk, installation

The new Smalltalk podcasts - Smalltalk 4 U and Independent Misinterpretations are available in the iTunes store:

• Smalltalk 4 U in iTunes
• Independent Misinterpretations in iTunes

That should make them easier to find :)

Technorati Tags: st4u, im, independent misinterpretations

Here's a video from ESUG 2010, which was held in Barcelona, Spain, the week of September 13, 2010. In this presentation, F. Olivero talks about directly editing objects. You can watch in the embedded player below, or go directly to the Vimeo page

Directly Editing Objects from James Robertson on Vimeo.

Technorati Tags: smalltalk, barcelona, spain

Never mind the difference between "end of time" and "end of an epoch" - apparently the Mayan calendar hasn't been properly converted to our calendar, either:

According to the new book Calendars and Years II: Astronomy and Time in the Ancient and Medieval World, we should stop believing that doomsday will come in 2012 because that's when the Mayan calendar ends, since scientists didn't convert the Mayan calendar into the modern calendar correctly and could be off by as much as 50 to 100 years.

Quick, someone call Roland Emmerich :)

Technorati Tags: mayan calendar

There's a lot of things that I could cover in the new "Smalltalk 4 U" series I've started up - I intend to do a whole set of "how to install X" ones first, including the Cincom products. As an outside person, I'll walk through that the same way you would - registration, NC download, followed by installation.

After I get that set of stuff out of the way though, things are a bit more open. I was thinking of doing a set on the "standard" libraries in Smalltalk - streams and collections being the most obvious, and covering interesting aspects in each of the products I'm looking at.

Anyone have better/different ideas? Let me know!

Here's episode 2 of "James and Michael on Games" - in this podcast, we spend a fair amount of time on Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 - games we both like quote a bit. Michael has a few issues with the way ME2 wrapped though - listen to find out more!

To listen now, you can either download the mp3 edition, or the Ogg Vorbis edition. You can also grab an AAC edition. You can subscribe to the MP3 edition in iTunes using this feed.

If you have feedback, send it to James Robertson.

Technorati Tags: games, xbox, mass effect, mass effect 2

Welcome to episode 2 of "That Podcast - a FNV Diary" - a podcast where Michael Lucas-Smith and I document our trials and tribulations in Fallout: New Vegas. Today we delve a bit deeper into the wastes In this episode, we talk about our first encounters with some of the bigger players in the game - the Legion, and the NCR. Michael also made it to the vegas strip, and has a few tips on getting there without spending a fortune. Meanwhile, I documented my challenges getting to Novac :)

The schedule for this podcast will depend on how much game time we get in, which of course depends on our jobs (or, in my case, my job search) and regular lives. We should be hitting the pod-waves regularly though - you can subscribe in iTunes (or any podcatcher) using this feed, or this one for the AAC edition. You can also subscribe directly in iTunes!

If you want to download the podcast directly, I've provided it in three formats:

• MP3 Edition
• AAC Edition
• Ogg Vorbis Edition

Enjoy the podcast, and we'll see you in the wastelands!

Technorati Tags: fallout, fnv, that podcast, games, xbox

Welcome to episode 2 of "That Podcast - a FNV Diary" - a podcast where Michael Lucas-Smith and I document our trials and tribulations in Fallout: New Vegas. Today we delve a bit deeper into the wastes In this episode, we talk about our first encounters with some of the bigger players in the game - the Legion, and the NCR. Michael also made it to the vegas strip, and has a few tips on getting there without spending a fortune. Meanwhile, I documented my challenges getting to Novac :)

The schedule for this podcast will depend on how much game time we get in, which of course depends on our jobs (or, in my case, my job search) and regular lives. We should be hitting the pod-waves regularly though - you can subscribe in iTunes (or any podcatcher) using this feed, or this one for the AAC edition. You can also subscribe directly in iTunes!

If you want to download the podcast directly, I've provided it in three formats:

• MP3 Edition
• AAC Edition
• Ogg Vorbis Edition

Enjoy the podcast, and we'll see you in the wastelands!

Technorati Tags: fnv, fallout, that podcast, games, xbox

Spotted in Planet Squeak

Levente Uzonyi is obviously one of a number of people who have been quite envious of the built-in tab-completion in Pharo, so he’s put in the work required to make OCompletion work on Squeak images again. OCompletion works in two ways: it offers a short list of automatic completion hints as you type based on your recent activity, or you can bring up the fuller (classic eCompletion) list by using the tab key, and use the up and down arrow keys to navigate the list and the right arrow to reveal syntax-highlighted source code for the methods listed.

It's interesting how much faster this kind of thing makes it into Squeak and Pharo than into the commercial Smalltalk implementations. There are various reasons for that, but as an end user of Smalltalk those reasons fade off into the middle distance and just make the freely available tools that much more desirable....

Technorati Tags: squeak, tab completion, auto complete

Today's Smalltalk 4 You explains how to get Pharo installed on your Windows system - from "where do I find it" to "how do I install and run it". If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, use the viewer 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.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

Technorati Tags: pharo, windows, installation, st4u

Georg Heeg, Executive Director of STIC, has issued a call for participation for StS 2011, to be held in Las Vegas, March 13-16:

The conference will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada, March 13 – 16, 2011. Presentations may be in the form of:

• Technical Presentations
• Experience Reports
• Technology Demonstrations
• Panel Discussions
• Half-day Tutorials
• Other interesting ideas ...

You'll need to send your proposals to STS_Speakers@stic.st. Follow the first link to find out exactly what details to include.

Technorati Tags: sts2011, smalltalk solutions

The Redline Smalltalk project - running Smalltalk on the JVM - seems to be moving forward. There's:

• A Website
• A Blog
• And a Twitter Feed that brings up an Eclipse plugin

Hat tip Torsten

Technorati Tags: redline, smalltalk on jvm

Looks like OS X and IOS are converging to some extent. Gizmodo reports:

Mac OS X Lion is another step in the road to a new—or better said, renewed—computer interface paradigm: Modal computing. And along the way, Apple is taking some of the most successful parts of iOS, like the App Store—with automatic installation of applications—and the springboard—rechristened launchpad in Lion.

For most people, having an app store right on the desktop is going to make life simpler. For IT admins and a lot of software vendors, it's going to create a lot of heartburn, especially when Microsoft inevitably follows suit.

Technorati Tags: osx, ios, app+store

Arden linked to his roadmap presentation from ESUG 2010. You can see all of the ESUG videos as they roll out on the STIC archive page

Technorati Tags: esug2010, smalltalk, cst

Just saw this on Facebook from John McIntosh:

Received official word today that Scratch.app Squeak.app [ed: Scratch.app had already been rejected for this reason] has been rejected. You can't download executable code from the internet, I've heard this before, no surprise. This makes it impossible to use the iPad to write software outside of typing into web browsers/text files. At this point I'll toss it back to the educational institutions to convince Apple that they should allow software engineers to be creative on iOS devices too

As John says above, not a surprise, but disappointing nevertheless....

Technorati Tags: squeak, scratch, iPad

Welcome to episode 1 of "FNV Diary" - a podcast where Michael Lucas-Smith and I document our trials and tribulations in Fallout: New Vegas. We both got the game yesterday - Michael via Steam on the PC, me via UPS truck for the XBox 360. We got started pretty much immediately :) In this episode, we talk about the early game as we saw it. If you don't want spoilers, don't listen in - we are talking about what we saw, how we dealt with what we saw, and what the options looked like. This isn't a review cast so much as a diary case (thus the title).

The schedule for this podcast will depend on how much game time we get in, which of course depends on our jobs (or, in my case, my job search) and regular lives. We should be hitting the pod-waves regularly though - you can subscribe in iTunes (or any podcatcher) using this feed, or this one for the AAC edition.

If you want to download the podcast directly, I've provided it in three formats:

• MP3 Edition
• AAC Edition
• Ogg Vorbis Edition

Enjoy the podcast, and we'll see you in the wastelands!

Technorati Tags: fallout, fnv, games, xbox

Welcome to episode 1 of "FNV Diary" - a podcast where Michael Lucas-Smith and I document our trials and tribulations in Fallout: New Vegas. We both got the game yesterday - Michael via Steam on the PC, me via UPS truck for the XBox 360. We got started pretty much immediately :) In this episode, we talk about the early game as we saw it. If you don't want spoilers, don't listen in - we are talking about what we saw, how we dealt with what we saw, and what the options looked like. This isn't a review cast so much as a diary case (thus the title).

The schedule for this podcast will depend on how much game time we get in, which of course depends on our jobs (or, in my case, my job search) and regular lives. We should be hitting the pod-waves regularly though - you can subscribe in iTunes (or any podcatcher) using this feed, or this one for the AAC edition.

If you want to download the podcast directly, I've provided it in three formats:

• MP3 Edition
• AAC Edition
• Ogg Vorbis Edition

Enjoy the podcast, and we'll see you in the wastelands!

Technorati Tags: fnv, fallout, games, xbox

Today's Smalltalk 4 You explains how to get Pharo installed on your system - from "where do I find it" to "how do I install and run it". If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, use the viewer 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.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

Technorati Tags: glass, seaside, pharo, smalltalk

It's only fitting that Peter Jackson is doing this:

“We’ve known this was coming for awhile now, but according to The New York Times it’s just become official: Peter Jackson will return to Middle Earth to direct The Hobbit. Honestly, it’s a move that makes the most sense. Let him finish what he started. Jackson’s deal is now finalized, as is the deal for Warner Bros., New Line and MGM to all help finance the two-part film, which some have suggested could cost upwards of $500 million for both.”

Hat tip Rob Fahrni.

Technorati Tags: hobbit, lotr

And there was much rejoicing:

Aspyr Media plans to bring the popular strategy game Sid Meier's Civilization V to the Mac in time for the holidays.

Technorati Tags: civ, civ V

Sean Denigris explains how to do brain surgery on a bunch of existing Smalltalk objects when you make a code change:

Now comes the problem…  I had objects floating around that already contained a non-empty OrderedCollection.  I didn’t want to add otherwise-not-needed accessors.  Luckily, because of Smalltalk’s awesome reflection capabilities, it was a breeze to reach into these objects and surgically change them.

You might wonder why that's useful, but consider this situation (which I've actually had):

• You make a code change for a running app server, such as the one you're reading this post on
• There are existing objects that have the old object shape, and need the new object shape

Just use the same sort of strategy Sean outlines above. I've done that a fair number of times over the years, both to the servers I maintained at Cincom while I was there, and to this one. It's a really handy thing to be able to do, because it's much, much better than the more standard tack of:

• Take server down
• Apply change
• Bring server back up

It works great, even in production.

I'll be receiving the game later today, and since I'll probably be cloning Macs, I'll have a chance to play it. I'm a bit worried about the early reviews....

Technorati Tags: fnv, fallout, xbox

I'd like to thank everyone who has sent me an email, contacted me on Facebook, or commented here on the blog - I really appreciate all of the kind words.

You'll be able to follow my Smalltalk work here, no matter what I end up doing - and I've left the comments for my announcement open, so feel free to add yours.

Sometime in the next few days I'm going to find out how well Mac to Mac transfer works - I need to return my MacBook Pro to Cincom, which means:

• Getting a new Mac (I'm looking at the 13" model)
• Transferring all of my apps and data to it

I've done the transfer before, back when we bought an iMac a few years ago - but that was from an old g4 based mini, and there weren't any apps on the mini that required registration. I've installed a whole bunch of things onto this Mac, so we'll have to see how it goes...

Technorati Tags: mac

Today's Smalltalk 4 You explains how to get Pharo installed on your system - from "where do I find it" to "how do I install and run it". If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, use the viewer 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.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

Technorati Tags: st4u, smalltalk, pharo, installation