"; */ ?>

interesting

howto / interesting / ruby / software / tutorials — 13 Comments
30
Oct 07

How to Build DIGG in Ruby On Rails (Free Book)

    I’ve been playing a lot lately with RoR (Ruby on Rails) and of course I love DIGG, hence I was very pleased to stumble upon a very interesting work by Patrick Lenz, which is a definitely cool and enjoyable free book (pdf) on how to build a full blown DIGG in Ruby on Rails from scratch!

    I spent a couple of hours reading and trying, and I am already (!) building the app (or should I say building the DIGG) at this point of writing this post. The book uses Web 2.0 approach which covers a lot of Web 2.0 along the way – very cool! I highly recommend it to anybody who has the same passion, since it really is an awesome read!

    Please hurry, as this book is only free (since the moment of me writing this) for "32 days, 14 hours, 21 minutes, 49 seconds" more, and I guess will blend in with many other books that we have to pay for once the time is up (currently it is $26.37 at Amazon).

    For something "not very free", but "the best" on Ruby on Rails, there is another great book "Agile Web Development with Rails, 2nd Edition" that can be obtained, well, same place all other "not very free" books are obtained :) here.

    It is not in any way an intentional advertisement for any of the links above, I am just so exited reading it, that I could not stop my self from sharing with the rest of the universe! ;)

action / cool places / interesting / linux / software — 4 Comments
16
Oct 07

Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon Parties all over the World

Ubuntu LogoAccording to Ubuntu once Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) is out, there will be plenty to celebrate, whether you were directly involved in the release process or just rejoice because the next iteration of the best distribution is finally out.

    Thursday, 18th of October ‘2007 is the tentative date for Ubuntu 7.10. Many parties will be on this date, or you can pick your own date! Go ahead and put down your favorite pub, park or cafe and celebrate getting Gutsy Gibbon out of the door!

   Ubuntu Feisty Fawn

    get it while its hot :)

    Come and join Ubuntu parties all over the Globe! The schedule of already "Confirmed Parties" are here. 

picture’s source

hardware / interesting / software — 7 Comments
30
Jun 07

iPhone: 20 Things It Does Not Have

 

 

Thinking on jumping on a new and "cool" iPhone? Think twice, it might be better to hold the thought for a month or too. And here is why…

  

  • Bluetooth is ONLY good for connecting a headset. That’s it.

  • There is no file browser on the device at all. Data must be organized (if at all) in the appropriate application.

  • The camera is a simple application that has ONE button: the shutter. Pictures come out okay on the device, but nothing too fancy on a monitor, especially if it was an attempt at a macro shot.

  • SIM card is damn near impossible to open, if at all. I didn’t look into it extensively.

  • Web browser is slow, even over WLAN. Even the simple OneList web app that was created takes around 20 seconds to load over WLAN. You can not highlight, cut, copy, or paste and text from a website, and you can not save any images you find from a website either. The only nice thing about it is the tabbed browsing, which crashed on me when I went to Engadget and YouTube on two tabs. This is the only application that allows you to use the keyboard in landscape mode.

  • The keyboard sucks. It gets slightly better after the iPhone "learns" you, as the employees said, but even then, it’s not a device you can use with one hand comfortably, much less without looking.

  • You can only send one picture at a time in an email.

  • No custom ringtones (yet, as we were being told) and the alert tones can not be changed whatsoever.

  • The default ringtones are incredibly lame.

  • The only form of customization outside of a lame default ringtone is the wallpaper, which you’ll only see when you need to unlock the device or when you get a phone call.

  • "Picture pinching" or using two fingers to zoom on any content is certainly fun to play with, but not practical whatsoever. This operation depends solely on using the device with two hands.

  • No document editor or native viewer. You can not store documents on the device to be viewed, they can only be viewed as attachments when they’re sent to your in an email.

  • Visual voicemail is laggy and reacts about the same way as pushing the fast forward and rewind buttons on traditional voicemail systems. The only advantage is for those that get that many voicemail messages a day that they need to sort them according to priority.

  • NO games. None.

  • No voice dialing.

  • No speed dialing (which can be made up by the "quick list", but getting to that quick list isn’t as fast as holding a single key on a real keypad).

  • No video.

  • No MMS.

  • It’s still <4GB for $500 and <8GB for $600

  • It only takes around 2 hours to explore every menu without any options for expandability except to scrounge around for new web apps that will load slowly and nowhere near as smoothly as the native apps.

    This device looks like it was aimed at the general consumer who has the money to spend on such a flashy device, but it leaves so many basic features behind that it’s almost impossible to consider it a success as a mainstream device. It encourages the advanced user to move away from MMS and into email to send images, but leaves out any advanced features advanced users would be accustomed to, and still retains a huge price tag on top of it.

    It’s certainly pretty and Americans will buy it because of that simple UI, but anyone who’s familiar with other operating systems would be appalled. This phone needs to be unlocked and cracked WIDE open to make much better use of the multi-touch system. That, or it needs an immediate update in iTunes to rework every feature.

source
   

interesting / java / software — 6 Comments
13
Jun 07

Haptic Clock Beats The Time Into You

Haptic Java Mobile ClockHave a mobile phone that you do not want to look at? Is it that bad, or maybe it is awesome, but you are just annoyed to look at it to find out something as simple as current time? Then here is a very interesting Java Mobile application that is written by Che-Wei Wang and makes your phone to literally beat the time into you.

The Haptic Clock is a small clock program for Java powered mobile phones.  The clock conveys time through  a sequence of vibrations so you never have to pull the phone out of your pocket to tell time.

 

Haptic Java Mobile Clock

Long vibrations are the number of hours of the current time on a 12 hour clock, so 6pm and 6am are both 6 vibrations.  The shorter vibrations are the number of minutes divided by 5. So 4 vibrations is 20 minutes and 7 vibrations is 35 minutes.  Example: (3) long vibrations and (6) short vibrations means it’s 3:30.  Just in case you do want to see the time, the screen displays the time with tick marks for hours, minutes and seconds.

Instructions: Press ‘5′ to vibrate the current time. Press ‘0′ to exit program. UP and DOWN to control the speed of vibrations. Time alerts (vibrations) will occur automatically every 15 minutes on the hour.

Version:         0.06
Released:      5.24.2007
Creator:         Che-Wei Wang
License:         GNU Public License (source coming soon)

Download Beta:  Haptic-Clock.zip  (includes JAR and JAD)
                                    Beta means it may not work on your phone or worse, may break your phone. Install and use at your own risk.

Tested on:            Nokia E70
Issues:                  J2ME drains the batteries. Looking for ways around it, or a more efficient platform.

interesting / sex — 3 Comments
11
May 07

Is Your Orgasm Sneezable?

sneezing achooI like sneezing. It’s kind of like sex: there’s a buildup, a tremendous release and it’s usually messy afterward. –Laura Moncur

Ok, so you had an orgasm, that is good, may be even that is what we’re "here" for. But what if you want to get another one, and you have to go to work (given that orgasm is not part of your work benefit package)? Well, you are not completely out of luck – there are several things you can do, one of which is (no, not sleep with your boss; and no, not sleep with your secretary; not a lot of orgasms come from there either; it is all much simpler – ) sneezing.

Absurd? Well, not really – the widespread practice of taking snuff was hugely popular in the 17th, 18th and well into the 19th centuries. You think it was popular due to "having no cocaine" or the absence of Ubuntu (geeky joke)? No, it was due to the fact that it felt "reallllly gooood".  Of course it’s not a full blown 30 minute (pig’s orgasm lasts 30 minutes) orgasm, no, it’s that "mini-instant" one. But guess what, 30 sneezes will get you at least 30 seconds of that pleasure. So that lady at work who is constantly sick and sneezes every 15 minutes, may be not sick at all, just enjoying her self a little. Maybe some day, you’ll get to join her for a sneezing session…

Although it all sounds super cool, there are some things you should know. We are very shy, and do not really like to see other people, when we have an orgasm – usually most of us just can’t sneeze with our eyes open. Muriel Simmons (British Allergy Foundation) noted that "If you sneeze while driving at 70 mph, you will travel 300 feet with your eyes closed." Does it sound familiar? Have you ever had a 300 feet orgasm? :)

Some people call sneezing "An Orgasm of the Face", some are known to sneeze during the initial phases of sexual arousal, but McMahon, a San Francisco dentist who doubles as a standup comic, believes that: "Sneezing is better than sex. It’s a mini-instant orgasm. You keep your clothes on, you don’t get involved, you can do it in public and when you’re done, perfect strangers bless you" :)

Happy sneezing!

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