I’ve just logged into Google Android developers console and I am pleased to see a new feature called “comments”. Until now, if somebody posted a comment, you had to find out by yourself, by using a site like androidzoom.com or similar.
As of today, your developer console enables you to see comment (see new “comment” feature next to red arrow on image below).
When you click on it, you can see a list of all comments, from most recent to oldest. Neat 
One day ahead of my self-imposed deadline, I have released Big Words Plus, an enhanced version of my English vocabulary training app for Google Android.
The difference between this app and most dictionaries/vocabulary apps out there is that each word comes with a sentence using the word – not only, it helps you understand the meaning of the word correctly but it will also help you remember the actual word.
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After reading Stephen’s post Why I love programming!, I got inspired to write down my own reasons for loving programming.
Firstly, I will quote Stephen here, because he said it very well: “[...] a desire to create! To keep learning! It’s fun, To make the world a better place!”
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One of my most popular app is Big Words, an app to help you increase your vocabulary. It not only features definitions of words (as you would expect) but also example sentences with the words.
The most requested feature is phonetics/pronunciation, and I am pleased to say that I have been working on this and I am only a few days away from releasing Big Words Plus. So if you’re one of the 10,000 active users of Big Words, check the Android Store for Big Words Plus on Wednesday 30th June!
As well as phonetics, Big Words Plus also now works in Landscape mode and has the ability to go back to the previous word(s) by hitting the back button (another frequently requested feature), along with a few other smaller improvements.
AdMob has sent a newsletter to its publishers today, confirming Google buyout which took place on 27th May and asking publishers to sign a revised Terms of Service to enable transfer of the account to Google. The transfer to Google accounts is due to take place on 7th July.
AdMob is an ad service with a SDK for iPhone and Android developers, enabling them to show ads in their apps. In my experience, the payouts have fallen quite a lot over the last few months – I wonder if it is because there are too many publishers for not enough ads?
Anyway, as Google AdSense for mobile apps is only available within the USA and Canada at the moment, I am curious as to the effect of Google on AdMob ads inventory – hopefully, more advertisers will flock to the network and payouts will go up again 
I’ve just checked out the HTML5 presentation at HTML5 Rocks, it’s pretty impressive.
Of course, it’s a catch 22 situation: the more HTML5 compliant your browser is, the more you’ll enjoy the presentation (which encompasses HTML5, CSS3 and the new JS APIs). They should do a video of it showing what it should look like so people with older browsers might find out about it and decide to upgrade their browsers
A few years ago, it seemed that web developers had to code their websites in two ways: to be compliant with standards and newer browsers, and for backward compatibility with IE6. Yes, IE6 was still widely used and behaved in its own manner, not following many CSS, JavaScript and HTML standards. This meant web developers had to add many hacks to their code to ensure the web page would show as desired – or as near to desired as possible – on IE6.
But, should we worry about IE6 now?
According to the latest report, the current share of IE6 is 18.11%. It’s much lower than it was, say, 2 years ago, but it is still significant (a bit over 1 in 6 but not quite 1 in 5).
Two sides to the story:
- if you don’t check for IE6 compatibility, you are excluding almost 1 user in 5. We’re not talking about a minority here, it’s a pretty serious figure.
- if you keep making sure websites look OK on IE6, you will not encourage people to upgrade their browser to a more modern one.
The question is, how easy is it for users to upgrade their browser?
- browsers are free so cost isn’t an issue.
- most modern browsers will not install on an old OS, such as Windows 98, and of course, a new Windows OS is not free. However, Linux is free and something like Ubuntu is quite user-friendly.
- it is relatively simple to install a new browser: one click to download, one click to install, a few clicks to accept user license.
- I know the above, you know the above, but what about your grandmother? She might have seen Google Chrome ads but she probably hasn’t taken notice. I certainly wouldn’t expect my father in law to upgrade his browser himself – however, I would gladly do it for him.
So my answer to “should you worry about IE6 compatibility?” is two folds:
- if you know somebody still using IE6, please, upgrade their browser for them.
- do not specifically design for IE6 compatibility because it is outrageous that IT managers up and down the country haven’t done their job properly and upgraded their systems to more modern browsers.
Too harsh? What is your take on this?
Several web apps, such as Virgin Broadband activation, require you to have a “Windows or Mac” computer. Most of them only check the useragent string that your browser sends them so you can do the following to fool them:
1. Open firefox and type about:config in the address bar.
2. Type in general.useragent.extra.firefox in the filter bar.
3. Change the value of string above to Mozilla/4.0 (compatible: MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0).
4. Restart Firefox.
It worked to get Virgin Broadband activation web app going on my Ubuntu netbook and it’s a good trick to try whenever a web app tells you you need a different OS.
Thanks to Gordon’s How to Activate Virgin Media Broadband using Ubuntu.
1. HTML5 & CSS3 standards are open so you don’t rely on the whims of one company.
2. Big websites like YouTube are already getting into the game (check out YouTube HTML5 Video Player) so you can bet the demand for HTML5 skills is going to rise.
3. You don’t need to buy a proprietary software so you can easily code HTML5 & CSS3 on your laptop, your roommate’s computer and your mum’s computer.
4. The iPad doesn’t support Flash. While you might disagree with Apple’s choice, this is the choice they made and the iPad is going to foster a new range of interactive websites – all those made with HTML5 and CSS3. Do you want in or do you want out?
5. The current big battle is Google vs Apple (Microsoft seems to have lost the race). They are both committed to HTML5 so even if one wins and the other one gets swallowed up, HTML5 will still be supported.
Disagree? Write a “Top 5 reasons to stick to Flash” and I’ll link to it here
The HTML5 test tool was updated yesterday – check out how your browser fares!
Firefox 3.5.9 for Ubuntu scores 126 (out of 300) and 4 bonus points.
Google Chrome 6.0.408.1 Dev for Ubuntu scores 217 and 7 bonus points.
What’s your browser’s score?