Category: Technology
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iPhone Wishlist
I’ve been an iPhone user since the first weekend the 3G came out, and so far I love it. Prior to the iPhone, I was a Blackberry user for a while. My reasons for waiting to change were: My contract with Verizon conveniently ended the same month the 3G came out. AT&T had lousy coverage…
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The Secret in Building 26
I just finished reading The Secret in Building 26: The Untold Story of How America Broke the Final U-boat Enigma Code. What a fascinating read! I’ve written before about the UK’s contribution to code breaking during WWII (Neglect of Bletchley condemned and Bletchley Park Update), but this is the first time I learned about some of…
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Smallest Exoplanet Is Most Earth-like Yet
Smallest Exoplanet Is Most Earth-like Yet | Wired Science from Wired.com This is really interesting. It’s a planet that is twice the size of earth, and it orbits a star similar to our sun. The main similarity is that it is rocky instead of a gas giant like all the other planets found so far.…
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How great is named_scope?
If you haven’t used named_scope in Rails 2.1+ yet, I suggest you learn about it ASAP. Prior versions of Rails had a plugin that could perform similar functions, but it’s nice to have it part of the core system. What does it do? It does just what it says. It gives you a way to…
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First Direct Image of Multiple Exoplanets Orbiting a Star
First Direct Image of Multiple Exoplanets Orbiting a Star | Wired Science from Wired.comGEMINI RELEASES HISTORIC DISCOVERY IMAGE OF PLANETARY “FIRST FAMILY” Wow! This is an amazing and a serious blast from the past. It’s amazing because it’s the first time we have an image of an entire solar system. It’s a blast from the…
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Bletchley Park Update
It looks like Bletchley Park may be saved for a while. Several grants are in the works to keep what I consider the birthplace of serious computing alive for future generations to learn about. In July, about 100 UK academics signed a letter to The Times condemning the neglect of Bletchley. That seemed to have…
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More Asynchronous Processing
In a previous series on using workling and starling for asychronous processing, I described how to setup background tasks. Here is a quick way to use this for emails without a lot of changes to your application. First, create lib/asynch_mail.rb: # Makes an actionmailer class queue its emails into a workling queue # instead of…
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Gadgets and Being Green
I like to think that I am pretty green. I have an efficient house, no more SUV, not a ton of garbage, etc. Recently, however, I began to wonder if it is possible to be green if you are a techie and/or into gadgets. Gadget lovers and techies have tons of electronic stuff around the…
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Google Reader and the iPhone Battery
The other day I reached in my pocket for my phone, and it was hot. It had gone from a full charge to dead battery in 2 hours. I wrote it off as an app gone nuts. When it happened again a couple days later, I started to investigate. After a lot of experiments, I…
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DVDs on iPhone
Recently, I began taking the train into Boston. The train ride is about 50 minutes, so I have a decent amount of time to read, listen to music or podcasts. Sometimes, however, I wouldn’t mind watching one of my many purchased DVDs on the way. Thankfully, it’s pretty easy to make this happen. Note, I…