Blog posts in Science & Tech
Ubuntu 10.04 - Take Two
After working in Ubuntu 10.04 for a bit, I have one major gripe - OpenJDK/IcedTea. I have no idea whose decision it was to drop the official Sun JDK from the repositories (or if Oracle had a part to play in this), but OpenJDK is a pile of steamy dog-droppings.
Since upgrading (and being forced to sw…
6 Degrees of Separation
On the weekend, I was pondering the notion of 6 degrees of separation - if you're unfamiliar with the concept: the idea is that within 6 "degrees" (a degree being you know someone [one degree] who knows somebody [that you might not know - one more degree]) everybody in the world is covered. So - I k…
Blender 3D
Okay, so I know every now and then the Blender Foundation (which looks after the OpenSource Blender 3D software package) holds a competition for little movies created with their software. However, via a Slashdot article, I came across a preview of one such movie, called Sintel. I'm seriously impress…
Ubuntu 10.04 First Impressions
I just completed my upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04 and here's my first impressions.
Honestly - right now I don't care for the new colours. The dark-grey menus are actually surprisingly hard to read. And no, I'm not blind.
The move of the close, min, max buttons from the right to the left is uncomfortable a…
Does Facebook Privacy Worry Me?
No.
It doesn't.
Because I'm not an idiot.
If there's something about myself I don't want the world to know, I don't put it in my profile. Anyone who complains about Facebook privacy is a moron.
End of discussion.
Adobe vs. Apple: War of Worlds Escalating
With a new salvo, Adobe has upped the ante in the war of words with Apple.
Frankly, I don't care of either company, but I tend to lean more towards Adobe on this one (as you can tell from any previous posts on the issue in question). It's not that I prefer Adobe technologies to Apple's, or even that…
Is Valve Becoming Linux Friendly?
I came across a Slashdot article today which mentioned the Mac version of Steam from Valve, and the supposedly imminent release of the Linux version.
I'll admit, I was skeptical.
Until I found this job posting on the Valve website:
Senior Software Engineer
Description
Lead engineer and…
Give Us IPv6 Already!
I've been waiting for what seems like an eternity for IPv6 to be rolled out, as I'm sure many others have. I've always wondered what's the hold-up? By all accounts, we're rapidly running out of IPv4 addresses.
I know there have been several experiments to test the Internet's readiness for the switch…
Smartphones - Let's Hope The Tide is Turning
According to industry research firm NPD, Android phones have begin to outsell iPhones. To be honest, this is super news. As a developer looking into mobile app work, having the freedom to develop and run my custom applications as I see fit, which both Android and Blackberry allow, is of paramount im…
Apollo 11 Launch at 500 fps
Just stumbled across this video and found it interesting, so I thought I'd share.
Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch (HD) Camera E-8 from Mark Gray on Vimeo.
Thoughts on HTML 5
Since the Apple vs. Adobe over Flash issue flared up, I've seen it in several places now that HTML 5 supposedly has the capacity to completely void the need for embeddable content, such as Flash.
The problem I have with this is that the arguments focus 100% on video streaming.
What about gaming? The…
Adobe Lays the Smackdown on Apple
I am so pleased with Adobe's response to Steve Jobs' letter where he thought he would try to B.S. his way out of the Flash question.
It's good to see that others came to some of the same conclusions as I did - particularly the issue of Flash supposedly crashing Macs. Looks like that argument back-fi…
MySQL Being "Saved"
So it seems the MySQL creator Monty Widenius has joined the "should Oracle buy Sun" fray. He doesn't care so much about the two companies as he does about the future of MySQL. He's riding the whole "keep the internet free" shtick.
However, here's my problem - if keeping MySQL free was such a major p…
The Failure of Science
I've probably mentioned this many times before, but the issue keeps raising it's ugly head over and over, and frankly it's beginning to annoy me.
The issue at hand is science and scientific conclusions. It seems that scientists have lost their way quite badly. Let me explain: a scientific theory sta…
Seriously Cool Gadget for your Camera
I happened upon a YouTube video of a device which really fascinated me. The idea is that it's an SD card which you can pop into your digital camera just like a regular SD memory card, but this one has built-in WiFi, and presumably with a combination of software is able to upload images directly from…
App Store a "Crapshoot" - And Still They Come
When an Apple "poster boy" (Steve Demeter) comes out saying Apple's App Store is "kind of a crapshoot", then there's a fairly clear indication of something seriously wrong. I've maintained this all the time - Apple's rules are peculiar and are enforced inconsistently.
This is the "Windows Syndrome" …
Bladeless Fan? Don't think so.
Found an interesting new product from James Dyson which claims to be a "bladeless fan". The concept is interesting, and the R&D which has gone into the "ramp" (which helps "multiply" the airflow) is surely worth praise (4 years worth of work).
However, I have an issue with calling it a "bladeless fa…
Is "DDoS" Really a Vulnerability?
I was reading an article in the October 2009 Reader's Digest about a young fellow named Michael Calce, a.k.a Mafiaboy, who (according to Reader's Digest) was the teen hacker who crashed Yahoo.
His actions are not being brought into question on this blog, nor the lack of moral back-bone which would h…
What In The World Is Wrong With Blog Ad Agencies?
Since it became glaringly obvious that I could no longer rely on PayPerPost as a possible avenue for earning a little extra on the side from this blog, I thought I'd give another ad agency a try, this time "blogsvertise". Although they did accept my application, they said that my account was on "pro…
More Apple iPhone Stupidity
Visit my Friends and Family
If you've enjoyed my site, please take a moment to visit my friends and family, many of whom have some interesting insights, and entertaining thoughts and ideas.
- Crause Family - the family website
- Peter Crause - my father
- Justin Crause - my brother
- Cencina Photomagic - great photographer
- Shawn Adrian - talented graphic designer, bad driver, and all-round fun guy
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