Privacy Fail: How Facebook Steals Your Friends Phone Numbers | Kurt von Moos.com. Ouch. Facebook sends the iPhone address book to their servers and stores all contacts there when you activate the function "sync profile pictures with address book" - according to the description of the function, the user believes that only the pictures from Facebook are added to the contacts they have locally, but in reality the entire address book is facebookized. Without the user being aware at that moment what is happening.
Linkblog - 25.7.2011 - 10.8.2011
Kindle Cloud Reader. Nice story - under Chrome it is installed as a Chrome application with offline storage of the books. This is very practical on Linux, because there is no native reader there. And on the iPad it should also work similarly - I have to check that out too (although there is also the normal Kindle Reader there).
mutle/vim.safariextension - GitHub. Another VI keyboard control for Safari, which I actually quite like - but unfortunately it doesn't have link navigation, so you apparently still have to use the mouse. Too bad, because that's actually something like the killer feature - on the other hand, both this one and vimlike are open source, maybe I should just sit down and combine the two (or build a patch for one of the two that adds the missing features).
vimlike-onsafari - Safari keybind changes like VIM. - Google Project Hosting. Hmm, thinly documented, but the essentials seem to work. So the navigation keys and following links. And unlike previous tests, it no longer gets confused when styling the link hints.
Update on UIKit lighthouse platform. Hmm, I didn't notice that - QT also has support for UIKit, the iOS framework, in 4.8. So you can build iOS apps based on QT. This raises the question of how this works with PyQt or PySide - Apple doesn't like interpreted code only when it is loaded afterwards. The app itself can be written with it, though.
Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions 30. What are Local Snapshots?. Not a bad idea what Apple came up with. The first rumors about local snapshots sounded rather strange, but what has become of it - automatic snapshots for on the go, when you don't have your backup drive plugged in, are quite practical. Not for real recovery in the sense of a disk crash, but for the usual "oops, I'm stupid, I didn't want to delete that yet" situations. However, I would like it if there were a GUI in Time Machine for this, where you can turn local snapshots on and off - yes, I know, you can do it from the command line, but I'm not an Apple user for nothing, I want pretty graphical buttons to press!
Map Tunneling Tool. Cool - you can enter your location on a map and it will show you the antipodal point on the other side of the Earth. We are pretty much in the South Pacific, southeast of New Zealand. Spain has it good, they come out directly in New Zealand.
Sankra Software: Disable OS X Lion Resume per application. Since Apple implemented this feature a bit "aggressively" (it is also activated for apps that do not explicitly say "turn this on, I can handle it"), it can sometimes be quite annoying - some apps then perform both their own "new program start" action and then the system's action afterwards - for example, some editors open two windows on the same file if both the editor and the OSX say "Restore Window". Therefore, it is not impractical to be able to disable this feature per application. Although, of course, this will be forgotten at the latest when the application is updated, and you wonder why the windows no longer open automatically because the application has switched from its own control to system control. But hey, software is the last remaining adventure ...
Modula-3 Resource Page. Continuing with niche languages - Modula-3 has always fascinated me because it was a pragmatic and practical extension of the Wirthian language world and at the same time integrated a lot of interesting language constructs into a familiar imperative language system. And development continues to this day, the download even has binary packages for Darwin (the Unix foundation of OSX), although currently only 32bit (and I guess no bridge to Objective-C and thus to the Cocoa APIs).
Magpie Guide: Welcome. Since we're on the topic of niche languages: Magpie is yet another language for the JVM. This one looks a bit like a mix of Scala and Ruby, but the concepts are quite different. Particularly nice is multidispatch - generic functions that choose the appropriate version based on all their parameters and their types. Reminds me a bit of CLOS in that aspect. Additionally, there are full closures and functions, and blocks are first-class objects in the system. Additionally, there is an approach to metaprogramming with quotations, although I still consider the Lisp approach unbeaten (simply because in Lisp the structures of the parse tree correspond 1:1 to the actual syntax and the lists as internal representation, while in languages with Algol-like syntax the whole thing is much more indirect). What I personally also find pleasant: Magpie is very text-oriented, not so heavily reliant on special characters. It reads more pleasantly to me.
"As far as legal knowledge is concerned, Interior Minister Friedrich – after all a lawyer – still has a lot of catching up to do." via Internet-Law » Friedrich uns graut vor Dir.
the "useless" language. Quite a crazy language - something like Forth, but all commands and syntax consist of single characters. There are also quite strange restrictions for function definitions (maximum 64 characters per line and only one if or while or similar in a function). Particularly fascinating is the U->C compiler written in U. The developer of the language has written an entire book about programming in U. But beware: the author's color choice is an acquired taste ...
Groklaw - A Brief Explanation of Microsofts Anti-Google Patent FUD ~ by pj. Since the whole patent mess around Android is already somewhat opaque, I think it's good when sites like Groklaw comment on it: "Again, Google is pointing to the main issue, not that Microsoft and its satellite helpers are meanies, but that what they are doing is illegal. They are attacking the open source community, with patents as the weapon and not just as individual companies but as an artificial group designed to 'strangle' Android. And if you look at the mobile litigation going on as we speak, ask yourself: who is suing and who is being sued? Does it look coordinated to you?"
Ricoh GXR Mount A12 Preview: 1. Introduction: Digital Photography Review. Looks very interesting - especially the operation of the GRX is similar to my GRD, and that is really great. The GRX just looks like a camera and not like a deformed child's toy. In any case, Ricoh has done it right, at least on paper: no anti-aliasing filter and focus peaking. The missing anti-aliasing filter always excites me in the pictures from the M8 and the focus peaking is the feature from the new Sony firmware that has excited me the most. I'm curious to see what it will cost, the module (announcement is 650 dollars, but street prices always deviate) - the body is now under 300 euros really cheap to get. And around 200 euros for the additional viewfinder. If the module is cheaper than the two currently available A12 modules, then the GXR could be a pretty brilliant alternative for Leica-M lenses.
Xcode4 / Objective Pascal - Available Files. If you want to play around with Pascal in the Xcode4 environment, this is certainly a good starting point. It describes how to integrate FPC into the environment, there are ready-made templates for projects and even more fun: it describes how to program iOS devices in Pascal. Back to the Future! Or Back from the Future?
extpascal - Ext JS wrapper for Object Pascal. Well, I always wanted to program my web applications with Pascal and give them an Ajax-GUI. Because it's possible. And every RIA hipster gets a heart attack when they see the sources.
sausage.js - examples - The Core API. Interesting small JavaScript library that makes navigation in large documents much easier, without overwhelming you with navigation buttons - just hover with the mouse on the right, there are visual markers for the size of the document sections and where you hover, a button appears that you can use for a direct jump. In my opinion, much less aggressive in its presentation than Flexible Nav. However, Flexible Nav of course has the advantage that you don't have to hover to see the navigation.
Okito.net — On SproutCore 2.0. About the current version of the framework that powers icloud.com (it seems some developers violated their NDA when they took a closer look at icloud.com). SproutCore has been around for a while, but version 2.0 has brought many changes and is a rewrite in essential parts. The goal is still to build native-looking applications using only JavaScript and the browser.
Pascal Script | RemObjects Software. More like a curiosity you find on the net - a scripting engine that has a syntax very similar to Object Pascal and can be integrated into Delphi and Lazarus (FreePascal RAD IDE).
Killer rat daubs fur with poison-arrow plant toxins. Title says it all. Gives the term "rat poison" a whole new meaning ...
Get Started Guide « PhoneGap. Just blogged for future reference, because I will definitely need this again when I play around with Phonegap and Android. Quite bumpy, it would be nice if Phonegap simply included a ready-made project template. But well, it works anyway - my Hello World appears. On the simulator. And I don't have to touch nasty Java for it, just nasty JavaScript.
Python, SymPy and Quantum Physics. So far, NumPy/Matplotlib and SymPy have been two separate worlds for me - this blog post shows how to connect these two, meaning to work out your function definitions symbolically with SymPy and then transfer them to NumPy to perform numerical investigations. This is particularly interesting in connection with the qtconsole of ipython, because it only displays matplotlib plots inline, while SymPy plots open in a separate window (as they run via pyglet), which is rather inconvenient for saving the results of your work.
wsgi_lite. Since I sometimes program "raw" against WSGI, this is not entirely uninteresting for me - a slimmed-down WSGI that defines simpler calling conventions for middleware and applications and thus further reduces the code somewhat. For entire apps, it usually doesn't bring much, as you typically write apps with a web framework, which already eases this part for you.
Allergology :: Allergens Allergies Allergologically Allergic. A doctor and a book he wrote and a database that is essentially the content of the book, with a search function. Often, you don't need much more than that when you want to check if, for example, the relevant fruit is known to trigger allergies or is rather unlikely.
Issue 438 - pyglet - pyglet 1.1.3 fails on Snow Leopard. Oh man, this is really annoying. Pyglet is used by Sympy to output mathematical expressions. Unfortunately, Pyglet uses Carbon on OSX - and that is only 32-bit. And all my attempts to force something to 32-bit were in vain - actually, this can be done via environment variable or alternatively with the arch tool, but for some reason (probably due to internal indirect program calls) this is not done in Python as documented. Annoying, because Sympy has been on the list of things to try out for a while (not just since the QT console).
Innovations in iPython. Very interesting things happening with iPython - this is already becoming very similar to typical math environments like Maxima or Mathematica. At least if you install Sympy and such. The QT console worked for me after some tinkering and installing packages with Homebrew. However, I can't get matplotlib installed on Lion at all, something is still not working there, which is a shame - that would also be interesting with the pylab mode. Here's more about the QT console.
WSGI and the Pluggable Pipe Dream | Armin Ronacher's Thoughts and Writings. Just read it to get a good overview of what WSGI actually is, what is possible with it, and where it might also get stuck.
Gambas - Gambas Almost Means Basic. Ok, and now it gets really wild, but I thought after RealBasic I can't help but also link to Gambas, a kind of VisualBasic clone for various systems. Can work with different databases and different GUI libraries. And a port to OSX is now available (June 2011, so still quite fresh), which also sounds promising for the future, as Linux and Windows are already supported. And yes, I know, "real" programmers turn up their noses at things like VisualBasic, but it is very useful for quickly putting together graphical tools and is particularly interesting for occasional programmers.
TL Omnis. And another RAD old-timer - Omnis was one of the first RAD environments I played with and it was quite unusual for its time. No "real" programming back then, just GUI tools for wiring and connecting in combination with calculated fields, but these were very powerful. Very strong focus on graphical tools for various purposes (DB design, relationship management, reports, forms, etc.). It's quite amazing what you can find when you dig a bit. By the way, there is a free standard version of the environment, so you can just take a look at what it can do today.
Lazarus. I mean, how can I skip something like a free Delphi clone when I write about IDEs and RAD tools? So here's the link, there are also OSX versions of it. And it's definitely an active development project. And hey, Pascal was my first high-level language after Basic when I started programming. Oh, and there's a pretty solid bridge to the Cocoa frameworks with Objective Pascal. Update: wow, that brings back nostalgia! Building command-line tools in Pascal! And the IDE isn't bad at all, it can do a lot!
I didn't know HyperNext Studio at all. A HyperCard clone for Mac, with which you can also create Windows applications. However, the last version is a bit older, I don't know if it still runs with Lion. Meanwhile, it is freeware (though closed source, I guess because their last version is already a bit older). And also interesting: it offers two languages, one that is modeled after HyperTalk and RBScript, an object-oriented Basic from Realbasic (another IDE for OSX and Windows). I guess HyperNext itself might be programmed with Realbasic. Oh, and with the HyperNext Android Creator you can also build Android applications with HyperNext. The Android Creator is however paid (but not really expensive with 60 dollars). And unfortunately, it is only available for Windows, not for the Mac. Update: those who have Lion can forget about playing with HyperNext Studio, because it is PowerPC code, and there is no Rosetta in Lion. So the maximum OSX version is Snow Leopard.
Whalesong: a Racket to JavaScript compiler. Haven't had a link to the best Scheme implementation on the net for a long time. Okay, Racket is no longer called Scheme, but there is still a lot of Scheme in it. And now there is Whalesong, a backend that produces JavaScript from Racket code - and can even generate standalone HTML files that run directly in the browser.
WebKit in PyQt - rendering web pages. Since I'm once again pondering GUI libraries and tools and playing around with Python and Qt, I should of course not forget the WebKit integration of Qt, which is really beautifully simple to implement, as these rather simple examples show. And the Qt interfaces under OSX are not 100% like native applications, but already much better than those of GTK. And you can then also run your code on other systems without much effort. The blog has even more very interesting small articles about Python and Qt.
Anonymous and LulzSec: "Lock your PayPal accounts" - Netzpolitik - derStandard.at › Web. You can clearly see what kind of attitude and arrogance is behind PayPal. Fits well with their approach of imposing American export restrictions on European companies and arbitrarily blocking accounts.
CodeMirror. If you want editors on websites that color the syntax of programs. Looks quite nice and could perhaps be interesting for a few things, e.g. where I allow restructured text to be entered, or where Python code is stored in the database. It is a JavaScript library that is simply plugged into the browser in the textareas.
Harbour Project. Someone mentioned dBase. Then I ended up at dbase.com - and then the question about Clipper arose. And then I searched for it. Why do I do such things? Why can't I control myself? And where is dBase for the cloud?
Orange - Data Mining Fruitful & Fun. Wow, just stumbled upon this, I didn't know it, I think. A GUI interface with a node interface for defining data analyses and visualizations, where these nodes are programmed in Python. The entire interface is built with QT, so there is also an OSX version of it. If you need to sift through larger amounts of data, this is definitely worth a look, especially since it is open source and you don't lose anything there.
Sage: Open Source Mathematics Software. Simply because I've been thinking about worksheet interfaces lately and considering what options there are - Sage is not just a math package, but primarily a huge collection of Python modules and a worksheet interface for Python as well. Okay, you use a web browser against a locally running web server, but still, it's actually a nice thing. And meanwhile, version 4.7 with many changes is out. And you can repeat good things. It's definitely cheaper than mathematics and I also like Python much better as a programming language. Since I will probably eventually install my own server to access notebooks from anywhere, here's a blogmark on a guide on how to build your own Sage server with Ubuntu.
The Xavisys WordPress Plugin Framework - Xavisys. Interesting if you want to build your own plugins for WordPress, as it takes care of some of the standard tasks and makes the code simpler.
BuddyPress.org. Just stumbled upon it again when it came to self-hosted social networks. BuddyPress somehow always flies under the radar, but it's quite an interesting development with all the features of WordPress - including, for example, all login integrations and similar. And there are also separate plugins for BuddyPress, such as the BuddyPress Media Plugin, with which you can create your own Flickr from a BuddyPress installation. And there are countless more things, up to commercial plugins for various purposes. And additionally, you can use all WordPress themes and build on them.
On Safari. Interesting article by someone who once did a safari differently than usual - instead of the bulky 35mm DSLR, he took a Panasonic GH2 (for the large zoom range) and a Leica S2. Very interesting observations in the article and also a few nice photos.
EL34 - The home of Eddie - About. Hmm, I should check that out too - the MPW-inherited Worksheets sound interesting, the ones from BBEdit are unfortunately always more clunky than really smooth. Maybe Eddie is better equipped there. But "SVN Integration" as the only version control? Ouch. Come into the current millennium, people! (found on the shockwave, the link)
Ultimatum: Paypal will enforce the Cuba embargo in Germany. Nice, how the nonsense from the USA is to be pushed through in Europe, right? It's about time for viable alternatives to PayPal. And it's about time that they finally fall under banking regulation - because their blocking actions often block money that is already there - as was the case recently with WikiLeaks.
Creating Apps Using AppleScript Objective-C. Maybe I should just get the book here to satisfy my (rather perverse) curiosity about the AppleScript/Objective-C Bridge.
SuperCard on Lion. And since I just wrote about HyperCard, its spiritual successor - SuperCard - still exists and has been made fit for Lion again. But it's still a Carbon application, so its days are probably counted (or it will become increasingly difficult to integrate SuperCard into current developments if a switch to Cocoa does not take place). And I'm still tempted to buy it, even if it's just for nostalgia. The hacking feeling of HyperCard I only experienced again later in Smalltalk environments (and they are unfortunately also rather dead under OSX).
Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Automation Release Notes. The worst language invention since HyperTalk has received a bunch of extensions in the Lion version, especially the integration of the Objective-C Bridge into the Apple Script Editor is funny - you can directly access Cocoa frameworks in scripts with it. Even though I believe that AppleScript has probably driven more programmers crazy than it has made life easier for users, it is always interesting from a linguistic historical point of view to see what is happening there. Since Snow Leopard with the Objective-C Bridge, it has been on the rise again and even in the current XCode 4.1 you can put applications together completely with the Interface Designer and AppleScript. Unfortunately, the application structure under Cocoa is definitely not suitable for non-programmers, so XCode with AppleScript applications is not really a revival of HyperCard (the only reason why I forgive HyperTalk - it was the language in this pretty brilliant little tool with great reach).
Meedia: Meck-Pomms CDU wirbt mit “C wie Zukunft”. Dumb, dumber, CDU. Or "C as in Can't Spell". Or maybe "C as in Quite Stupid"? And this is in government ...
Trunk Notes | Apps On The Move. I've had this on my computer for a while, but only now have I taken a closer look at how to integrate it with other tools. And it's actually quite simple: Use VimWiki. I already use VimWiki for my desktop wiki, so it makes sense to integrate everything so that I can also use it with the TrunkNotes wiki. Of course, this means that various advanced features of TrunkNotes are not supported, but that's not primarily important to me; what's more important is being able to edit the normal content directly. And for that, this little hack is sufficient. At some point, I'll create a special TrunkNotes mode that also supports metadata. Just found: a clone of VimWiki that works with Markdown (which TrunkNotes uses internally) (the corresponding code is already in the developer version of VimWiki).
The strange facts of Mr. Uhl « mrtopf.de. I'll just say: read. Because why should I repeat everything that someone has already written elsewhere. And since it also concerns data protection with the VDS, also categorized for the Metaeule.
XMPPFLASK — XmppFlask v0.1 documentation. Definitely an interesting project - an XMPP bot in Python that has a similar structure to Flask, so simple definition for XMPP handlers with routing of events. Since I always wanted to take a look at XMPP as a backbone for distributed (so widely distributed) applications with online/offline capability, I've blogged about it.