Robert Spychala

link

The reason why Apple chose a non-standard layout model is probably because the ones currently standardised and proposed by the W3 cannot deliver the designs Apple is aiming for.

The iBooks 2.0 textbook format – Baldur Bjarnason

agreed

link

It looks like a human was involved in choosing what went where,” Marissa told them. “It looks too editorialized. Google products are machine-driven. They’re created by machines. And that is what makes us powerful. That’s what makes our products great.

Marissa Mayer addressing Google designers, as quoted in “In The Plex” by Steven Levy (via buzz)

ha, funny quote, but she’s a doofus.

link
The amazing iOS 5 API nobody talks about

originally appeared on http://www.de-de.com/blog/14177518904-bluetooth

There have been rumblings about some of the new additions to the iOS 5.0 bluetooth stack and hardware in iPhone 4S. ex: [link]

So let’s poke around the Core Bluetooth Framework in the Xcode documentation and see what kinds of new things will be possible with this API.

Some high level benefits of this API are:

Bluetooth 4.0 LE does not require pairing. So if a TV or another device that you’ve never seen before is broadcasting, you can see its signal and connect to it without having to go to the Settings app.
Uses less power.
Apps can be woken up and become active when sent signals via the CoreBluetooth API.
If another app is using a Bluetooth 4.0 LE device, your app will be able to use it as well! A super awesome use case for this would be that heartbeat monitor you got. Your 3rd party social network app will be able to use as well!

Let’s see how a typical CoreBluetooth iOS session might look like.

CBCentralManager *mgr = [[CBCentralManager alloc] initWithDelegate:self queue:nil];
[mgr scanForPeripheralsWithServices:nil options:nil];

If you choose to pass nil instead an array of CBUUIDs, your device will scan the radio waves for any Bluetooth 4.0 LE signal. Note that this is probably not the optimal way to do things since it will use the most battery. Now, if there are Bluetooth 4.0 devices broadcasting in your area, your delegate will get called whenever an advertisement payload is detected.

Note that a Bluetooth 4.0 LE device that has another iPhone (or another client) connected to it will stop broadcasting itself.

- (void)centralManager:(CBCentralManager *)central 
    didDiscoverPeripheral:(CBPeripheral *)peripheral
    advertisementData:(NSDictionary *)advertisementData
    RSSI:(NSNumber *)RSSI {

    ...

}

Quite a number of previously impossible things are now made simple with just the above 2 API calls.

Billboards would be able to broadcast coupons to nearby patrons - no cell reception needed.
A jukebox might advertise the song that’s currently playing with a link to purchase
Your car could broadcast its stats so that when you pull into a gas station the service mechanics will know whether you need an oil change.
Your company badge might broadcast your email address so that connecting at business events becomes even easier.
Your TV could broadcast the link to the current TV channel’s website.

All of the above is just the beginning. The API allows your iPhone to stream data from the service once it is discovered and connected to, etc. Just like the older Bluetooth spec, but simpler. In the spec’s simplicity lies its power.

This is just one thing that is no possible yet (though it would be super cool if they were on Apple’s todo list):

iPhone to iPhone CoreBluetooth communication

Now we just need to wait for some devices to come out into the market that the iPhone 4S can connect to :)

link
Rackspace Signup Process

Too much human intervention. Needs to be more automated. The great feature of most VPS providers is that the signup process feels very automated.

What I experienced with RackSpace:

A welcome email. Cool I dig those.
Another email saying my secret answer has been updated. This was part of the signup process - no need for another email.
A verification call from a human to ask me what I will be using the servers for and if I need help managing them
An individual email from the same sales person, complete with a custom gothic font.
Yet another automated email with an invitation to a webinar for sometime in the next day? who uses webinars?
A confusing email saying my “ticket” for them sending the confirmation email has been closed.

This process could be easier. Here is what we do, here is the CC form to enter your payment info, here are the links to the API docs, and here are the links to the client libraries and sample code we recommend. That’s it.

Fanatical support should not feel like a sales call.

link
Installing The Nest The Hard Way

Why the hard way? Well, if you’re gonna bring the dry wall cement and paint out, you might as well do a couple things!

Last week we got the Nest and I decided we would need to paint the area where the previous thermostat was. You can do without this if you choose to use some of the braces that come with the Nest and the size of the braces is bigger than the previous thermostat footprint. Our thermostat’s footprint unfortunately was way too big. Regardless, having it directly against the wall gives it a nicer, more polished look.

The “before” look:

Now comes the process. It took about 4 days to complete.

Taking off the cover we find the wires and label them using the sticker kit Nest provides.

Now, one of the “extras” I wanted to do is get rid of the switch socket space that we don’t use anymore.

Here is a closer look:

We do this by getting some chicken wire out, thanks @twepius!

and literally jam it into the part of the socket hole we want to patch up. Of course be sure to turn off electricity to the switch in the breaker box.

nice.

Now we take out sheet rock cement and start applying it into the places we want to fill.

Use sheetrock compound like it’s going out of style.

Now what I found, no matter how quickly you want to have the sheetrock dry, do not apply heat to it. Meaning no dryers, etc. Just let the chemical process do its thing. This might take a day or 2, depending on the humidity. It’s been raining here in NY and this took longer than expected. 3 days for multiple applications of the compound.

Now, apply more sheetrock compound to fill out the holes and give the wall a flat surface.

BTW, if you’re doing this in winter and have the thermostat offline for a few days, make sure you have an alternate source of heat!

Now, sand the wall, apply more sheetrock compound if needed.

And sand again. And paint!

and after a few hours of drying and a few coats. it’s done! now the fun part, installing the hardware.

Apart from the Nest, I decided to install some Lutron Vierti dimmers. If you want to turn your house into a Starship Enterprise deck, might as well do it right :)

Here is the dimmer with the base of the Nest being screwed to the wall.

And it’s done!

After a few minutes of downloading patches the Nest figured out its configuration and works as expected. I’ll post a review of its day to day use. But so far we’re very impressed.

The “after” look:

De-De Blog: We Are New At This

dedegroup:

We’re a small company today with big ambitions for tomorrow. Our name stands for Design & Develop and we’re passionate about building technology products.

In the coming months we’ll be launching apps, platforms and services that bring something useful to peoples’ lives in a range of areas…

link
Thinking about the future Blackberry app store

bijan:

But the open question in my mind is the quality of the new apps coming out. These current Java apps are just clunky.

Does Blackberry need to provide a SDK for developers? Is it just a limitation in the current stack and hardware? Or something else? Or is the UI framework sucky for these 3rd party apps?

I need to dig in more on subject.

Yes. Although I haven’t myself developed bb apps, the whole process seems horribly similar to J2ME development.

Java is great, but RIM needs to improve the stack considerably to make it something that most iPhone developers would consider.

Last time i checked, J2ME required developers to implement their own scroll bars to get simple functionality in canvas views. Ugh.

Using ASCII Art on Google Adwords - Brilliantly Innovative!