Month October 2007

Η Συνέντευξη της Viviane Reding

Στις 11-12 Οκτωβρίου η επίτροπος για τη Κοινωνία της Πληροφορίας και των ΜΜΕ της ΕΕ, κα. Viviane Reding, επισκέφτηκε την Ελλάδα στα πλαίσια της συνάντησης του ERG. Το adslgr.com πήρε μια σύντομη συνέντευξη από την Επίτροπο που παρουσιάζει κάποιο ενδιαφέρον και επιβεβαιώνει κάποιες από τις αρχές και βάσεις της ΕΕ σχετικά με τις κατευθυντήριες σε ό,τι αφορά τη ρύθμιση των τηλεπικοινωνιών. Είναι κρίμα που παρά την υποστήριξη της ΕΕ η απόδοση της ελληνικής Ρυθμιστικής Αρχής, της ΕΕΤΤ, δεν μπορεί σε καμία περίπτωση να συγκριθεί με αυτή πολλών άλλων ρυθμιστικών αρχών στην Ευρώπη.

Arduino

I foresee countless hours of fun with this. I'll try to find one or --- if I don't --- I'll build a board over Xmas. If only my undergrad PIC/digital design courses were that much fun. Check out the video from Makezine for a short introduction.

Photo by Nicholas Zambetti. Taken from arduino.cc

Κάποια στατιστικά για το ΜΠΛΟΟΓΚΛ

Πέρασαν τρείς μήνες (!) παρουσίας του ΜΠΛΟΟΓΚΛ στο ελληνικό διαδίκτυο και επι τη ευκαιρία είπα να σχολιάσω μερικά από τα στατιστικά που συγκεντρώθηκαν το καιρό αυτό. Κάποιο μέρος αφορά σε τεχνικά στατιστικά — καθώς αυτά έχουν ιδιαίτερο ενδιαφέρον — όμως θα επεκταθώ και σε κάποια στατιστικά γενικότερου ενδιαφέροντος. Από τις αρχές Ιουλίου 2007 λοιπόν μέχρι […]

NIN is Free.

So, last week Radiohead broke the mould for music distribution by an 'established' band and allowed their fans to pick the price for their upcoming album. Then, yesterday, Ian Brown from the Stone Roses and The Smiths' Johnny Marr both praised the move. And now, Trent Reznor (NIN) announces that after 18 years he's going to take over the distribution of his works, hopefully under a similar model. Is this becoming a trend? Does is signal the beginning new era? Maybe it is.

The UI Ghosts

A common joke amongst Mac developers is talking about the Apple HIG, or more specifically the subject of how Apple manages to flout every single principle in user interface design and especially its own in successive revisions of OS X. I've written about this, in one way or another, several times ever since Jaguar came out in August 2002 and the first signs of this disturbing trend became obvious. New UI widgets, new styles and disregard to the HIG continued over the years with Panther, Tiger and now Leopard --- each revision bringing its own flavour of user interface widgets, colour themes and designs, each proving that Apple has no idea what 'consistency' means and that contrary to what they may tell you you should write your own custom widgets or you're probably screwed if you don't (Apple probably writes and uses more undocumented and custom widgets and controls than anyone). With Aqua so close to becoming part of UI history and Leopard just around the corner, bringing with it yet another completely different UI theme to OS X, it should probably not be surprising when Apple's own Developer Connection web site sports such an inconsistent look. The UI ghosts of yesteryear are still around!

Shuttleworth's Interview at Open Season

There is a very interesting interview with Mark Shuttleworth, the guy that started and funds Ubuntu development through his company, Canonical. The interview is interesting for several reasons: First it exposes what many linux users don't get: compiz fusion and the eyecandy is nothing but the icing on the (missing) cake. There needs to be additional effort to turn all this amazing technology into coherent, useful software. Second, it demonstrates some of the issues behind Open Source development and some ways that they can be resolved. Finally, it covers the major problems facing OpenOffice.org, tries to explain why they're there and takes a look at the rest of the industry and its relations to Ubuntu and linux. Worth listening.

Downloadable fonts and CSS

One of the main gripes of designers and users alike about the Web is its inherent dependence on the few, largely mediocre (e.g. Trebuchet, Times New Roman, Courier New) or poor (Arial, Comic Sans, Verdana etc.) fonts that Microsoft commissioned or designed more than a decade ago. This year CSS turns ten and along with it comes yet another proposal on the Web's Typographic liberation. Or sort of. This time it might work, although scores of technical and legal questions remain. A List Apart has the details.

No Really. It's up to you

Checkmate from Radiohead. One of the bands with the highest artistic integrity from the early 1990s to date, redefine music distribution by offering their new album In Rainbows on their site at a price specified by the buyer, ala Magnatune. No Really. Radiohead Rock!

Guitar Rig 3 is out!

Guitar Rig 3New amps, new effects, new presets and some new features. Woot! If this is anything like the upgrade from version 1 to 2 then we're in for a rockin' upgrade. :) The order has been placed (the 'software edition' obviously as the new Kontrol is somewhat pointless if you have the previous version). A review is forthcoming, when I get some free time that is...