Cogitas Blog:
Google Android,
Common Lisp,
programming
and web design.

Let down by technology… (humorous real conversation heard in shop)

Filed under: random — Tags: , , — March 5, 2011

Conversation heard yesterday between two men in their 50s. This took place in the office store Staples, in front of a couple of Android tablets (Samsung Galaxy and a cheap Archos one if I remember correctly).

Man1 “What are they?”

Man2 “They are like the iPad I think.”

Man1 “Oh yeah, that thing.”

Man2 “Yeah.”

Man1 “But what is it really?”

Man2 “Like a laptop without a keyboard.”

Man1 “How do you type emails without a keyboard?”

Man2 “I’m not sure…”

At this point, I thought I’d help them out.

Me “Yes, you are right, these are devices similar to the iPad. The screen is a touch screen so you can interact with it by touching the screen.”

Man1 “That’s nonsense, who would want that?”

Man2 “My niece has an iPad.”

Man1 “You’d think by now, they’d do something that can read your thoughts or something. A touch screen? What next? A laptop you can shake? That’s crap technology!”

IBM predictions – dreams or reality?

Filed under: random — Tags: , , — January 4, 2011

Last week, IBM released its annual Next 5 in 5 report, predicting the technology we could have in five years. The list reads like a dream…
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Programming Conferences Calendar

Filed under: random — Tags: , , , , — January 3, 2011

It’s often difficult to keep track of programming conferences and there doesn’t seem to be a reliable website that lists them all, however I have found the following websites useful:

Linux Magazine Events Calendar
Yo Linux Seminars, Technology Conferences, Trade Shows, Exhibitions and Symposiums
DevTownStation

What resources do you use to keep track of potentially interesting conferences for devs?

Top 5 most exciting gadgets of 2010

Filed under: random — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — December 31, 2010

In terms of gadgets, how will you remember 2010?
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How do you deal with trolls?

Filed under: random — Tags: , , — December 3, 2010

How do you deal with trolls on your blog or forum? If you’ve had a blog for a little while, or you are lucky enough to have a few popular posts on your blog, you will undoubtedly have come across trolls leaving comments. The same goes for any forum with more than a few active members. What is your strategy to deal with them?
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How many words in an English dictionary?

Filed under: random — Tags: , — November 23, 2010

Developing predictive text for my Google Android soft keyboard app Big Fingers Keyboard means that I have had to build an English dictionary. How many words do you reckon a solid yet not too bloated dictionary should contain?
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New Google AdSense interface not working with Google Chrome?

Filed under: random — Tags: , , — November 22, 2010

Not having logged into Google AdSense for a while, as I’m not really using it at the moment on any of my websites, I decided to have a peek at it this morning. I was welcomed with a “Try The New AdSense” screen so I clicked. The page reloaded. I clicked again. And again. And again. Each time, the page reloaded with the same welcome screen. So I thought “could it be Google Chrome behaving in a funny way?”. Fired up Firefox and lo and behold, I managed to see the new Google AdSense interface. Oh, the sweet irony of the new Google AdSense interface not working with Google Chrome (on Ubuntu) ;-)

Are you a female programmer?

Filed under: random — Tags: — November 16, 2010

Once again, tonight, I got referred to online as “he” even though my username on that particular forum is Natalie (not a male name, is it?). I just wish programmers stopped assuming that just because it is currently a male dominated world, there are no female programmers. Take the time to read people’s name. If you don’t know their name (if it’s a pseudonym), just use he/she or “person” as appropriate, don’t assume it’s a man!

Rant over ;-)

Google Chrome OS – are users ready for it?

Filed under: random — Tags: , , , — October 9, 2010

From what I gather from What is Google Chrome OS video, Google Chrome OS is an operating system that only includes a browser. Great, as we all spend a lot of time on the internet, right?
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So Oracle is suing Google…

Filed under: random — Tags: — August 13, 2010

Last night, Oracle published a press release announcing their legal action against Google (though Google still hadn’t received the actual notice this morning apparently). The legal action is about patents relating to Java (as Oracle now owns Sun) and the crux of the matter seems to be that Android is competing with Java in the mobile phone market and Oracle isn’t happy.

You can find out more details at Oracle sues Google over Android and Java.

Are you surprised? I’m not. As sad as it is, it’s obvious that Oracle is trying to maximise their income from Java and they could make big money going after Google (Google certainly has the funds to pay them a lot of damages). Or they could lose a lot of money as Google also has the funds to hire top lawyers. We shall see what happens…

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