Bart De Waele » Items by Bramus!

Siri vs. Scotland

Posted: February 4th, 2012, 12:57pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Many in Scotland find that their voice-activated virtual assistant can’t understand them …

The iPhone’s Siri doesn’t seem so smart in Scotland →

Upside Down, Left To Right: A Letterpress Film

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 1:33pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

A short film about letterpress and one of the few remaining movable-type printing workshops in the UK, situated at Plymouth University, featuring Paul Collier.

Black

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 12:15pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Dutch ISP XS4ALL was ordered to block several IP addresses and domain names (presumably) linked to The Pirate Bay (full list here). In response, they blacked out their homepage.

Roughly translated from Dutch:

For the first time in history a Dutch ISP was forced to revoke access to a foreign site. The Den Haag court ordered XS4ALL to block several IP addresses and domain names.

The judge ruled that the freedom of information — a European civil right — is less important than the interests of the entertainment industry. A wrong decision. So XS4ALL will appeal.

XS4ALL has three issues with the ruling:

An IP block is way out of line (one of the blocked IPs only shows the word “yeah” when surfing to it).

“BREIN” (to keep things simple: the Dutch RIAA) can update the blacklist any time they want

A block won’t solve anything

psd.js

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 10:03pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Impressive new addition to the list of javascript codec/file format implementations:

psd.js is a general purpose file parser for PSD files created in Photoshop. Given a PSD file, it can parse out information such as image size and color modes, image resources, layer info, image contents, etc.

Written in Coffeescript. Works in modern browsers and NodeJS.

psd.js →
psd.js source (github) →

Permalink for 'Bram.us/2012/01/31/Everything_you_need_to_know_about_Facebook%e2%80%99s_IPO'

Everything you need to know about Facebook’s IPO

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 9:26am CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

(click to enlarge)

Rumor has it that the IPO filing will be tomorrow.

Facebook Timeline Movie Maker

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 11:58pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Here’s my resulting movie →

Cool concept, needs some technical/ux work though. Some quick quirks I noticed:

Can’t change the loading background image. It now shows a photo of a friend of mine, instead of a photo of me
Videos can’t be saved/embedded
Loading of “saved” video is slow (most likely because they’re built on the fly?)
Editing photos is not really fast: one. by. one.
One can only edit after having watched the entire video
No fast forwarding
No way to adjust an already adjusted video by going to the link (if it’s your video)

Timeline Movie Maker →

Moonrise Kingdom

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 11:29pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, MOONRISE KINGDOM tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore — and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle. Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff. Edward Norton is a Khaki Scout troop leader. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young girl’s parents. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as the boy and girl.

Next to an impressive line-up: Directed by Wes Anderson. Due late May 2012.

CSS calc() in Chromium/Chrome

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 11:17pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Three days ago this was committed:

This is the parsing stage of calc. The expressions are evaluated and expression trees are generated. CSS values are not created yet – that will happen in a subsequent commit.

Looking forward to the next commits, as this feature will make things — such as flexible columns with a little border in a responsive layout — easier.

Note: calc() already works in IE9+ and Firefox4+ (with -moz vendor prefix).

Chromium Changeset 106166 →

Permalink for 'Bram.us/2012/01/30/The_Civil_Wars_%e2%80%93_Barton_Hollow'

The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 2:40pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Wow. Really … Wow!?

Also: Johnny Depp has a brother?

Game of Thrones, Season 2

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 2:34pm CET by Bramus!

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‎A very small man can cast a very large shadow.

Can’t wait ’til April 1st. Guiding soundtrack reminds me of Kanye West’s Runaway (Let’s have a toast to the douchebags)

Archetype

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 2:03pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

RL7 is an eight foot tall combat robot. Only problem is he’s starting to remember once being human. Now on the run from an all powerful corporation that will stop at nothing to destroy him RL7 desperately searches for the truth behind his mysterious memories before it’s too late.

Now this thing ain’t even a trailer, it’s a short movie, that had no budget, created by The Incredible Hulk and Green Lantern concept artist Aaron Sims. He also had something to do with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and The Thing so it seems.

By getting some buzz, his eventual goal is to have a full feature film made on this idea.

Open Your Eyes to the New Vimeo

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 1:23pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

We made zillions of improvements that cover the front end, the back end, and the parts in between to create a Vimeo that is bigger, faster, smarter, and more fun.

Opt-in at [vimeo.com]

Permalink for 'Bram.us/2012/01/30/%c3%9alfur_%e2%80%93_Black_Shore'

Úlfur – Black Shore

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 1:17pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Lovely track (reminds me of Múm), great video.

Marina Bay Sands Skypark BASE Jump

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 11:17am CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

(via teusje)

Every Presentation Ever: Communication FAIL

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 5:01pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Ever feel like your communication fails? Avoid this!

Reminds me of the (Belgian) De Wakkere Bakker commercials.

Acko.net Redesign

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 4:17pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

The last design was meant to feel spacious, the new design is spacious, thanks to generous use of CSS 3D transforms.

Webkit-based browser required, video of the result embedded for those without Webkit.

Making love to Webkit →

Rickshaw

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 3:52pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Rickshaw is a JavaScript toolkit for creating interactive time series graphs

Rickshaw →

HTML5 Please

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 3:48pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Look up HTML5, CSS3, etc features, know if they are ready for use, and if so find out how you should use them – with polyfills, fallbacks or as they are.

Awesome resource, listing all newish stuff, along with the fallbacks/polyfills you’ll need to use.

HTML5 Please →

Also see When can I use and HTML5 readiness

Permalink for 'Bram.us/2012/01/26/Concept__Ubuntu%e2%80%99s_HUD'

Concept: Ubuntu’s HUD

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 3:38pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Say hello to the Head-Up Display, or HUD, which will ultimately replace menus in Unity applications. Here’s what we hope you’ll see in 12.04 when you invoke the HUD from any standard Ubuntu app that supports the global menu.

To me, this seems:

good to keyboarders like me (I’m a fan of QuickSilver/Alfred, shortcuts, etc.)
unusable to all other users

Problem is that you have to know the name of the action you want to invoke. Sometimes — especially when you’re new in a program — you’ll want to skim through the menu/options to get to know the app or to get to the action you want.

However, it does seem like a quick jump to voice control: instead of typing, just say what you want. An ideal situation would be to keep the menu as we know it, and provide the mechanics/features of the HUD via voice control.

Introducing the HUD. Say hello to the future of the menu. →

Dear Zinga

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 3:31pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Nimblebit, author of Tiny Tower, reaches out to Zynga, whom blatantly have copied/ripped off the entire Tiny Tower game aspect.

(click to enlarge)

Where the magic happens

Posted: January 24th, 2012, 5:08pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Wat?

Posted: January 24th, 2012, 2:40pm CET by Bramus!

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Hilarious talk on Ruby/JavaScript funkyness, by Gary Bernhardt:

Array(16).join("wat" - 1) + " Batman!"

Via Lode. Original on destroyallsoftware.com

Permalink for 'Bram.us/2012/01/24/ACTA_%e2%80%93_Anti_Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement'

ACTA – Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

Posted: January 24th, 2012, 9:50am CET by Bramus!

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Smoked by Windows Phone

Posted: January 22nd, 2012, 1:35pm CET by Bramus!

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I’ve got $100 that says your smartphone isn’t as fast as Windows Phone

Yosemite HD

Posted: January 22nd, 2012, 12:04pm CET by Bramus!

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(via michel)

Hello.

Posted: January 20th, 2012, 6:12pm CET by Bramus!

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Is it me you’re looking for?

So it begins.

Posted: January 20th, 2012, 1:48pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Megaupload Taken Down On Piracy Allegations →
Anonymous Attacks Justice Dept as FBI Shuts Down File-Sharing Site →

Worth noting: the takedown of MegaUpload is not the result of SOPA (which is back off the shelf), as SOPA hasn’t been approved yet (and hopefully never will — which could be the case as supporters of the bill are dropping out). The takedown however is a fine example of what SOPA could do.

iBooks Author

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 5:42pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Create and publish amazing Multi-Touch books for iPad.

Just announced at Apple’s January 19 Education Event.

UPDATE 2012.01.20: Be sure to read teusje’s comment in the comments below. Not everything is love, peace and happiness.

Teenager lays eyes on a record (LP) for the first time

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 5:34pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

This is… This is… What? What?! This is huge! This is like ten CDs in one. How many songs does it have on it?

(via kottke)

MacBook Air

Posted: January 18th, 2012, 11:14am CET by Bramus!

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From an intriguing but impractical high-end niche to the industry standard in just four years.

— John Gruber (★)

Homemade Synthesizer

Posted: January 16th, 2012, 11:09pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

(via joren)

Recursive Google Image Search

Posted: January 16th, 2012, 11:04pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Feed Google Image Search one transparent .png and then rewire the result as input for a new search. You’d get this:

That’s 2951 images.

NSFW warning: Obligatory flashing boob (it’s the internet, right?), screengrabbed from Spartacus: Blood and Sand (recommended TV show!), at around the minute mark.

Permalink for 'Bram.us/2012/01/16/SOPA_shelved_until_%e2%80%98consensus%e2%80%99_is_found'

SOPA shelved until ‘consensus’ is found

Posted: January 16th, 2012, 10:57pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

After the Obama Administration publicly opposed against the act, SOPA has been shelved:

Though the administration did not issue a formal veto threat, the White House’s opposition signaled the end of these bills, at least in their current form.

A few hours later, Congress shelved SOPA, putting off action on the bill indefinitely.

Putting SOPA on a shelf →
Controversial online piracy bill shelved until ‘consensus’ is found →

Heimat

Posted: January 16th, 2012, 2:56pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

(via teusje)

Permalink for 'Bram.us/2012/01/15/Don%e2%80%99t_be_Evil__TM_'

Don’t be Evil (TM)

Posted: January 15th, 2012, 8:07pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Mocality, Kenya’s largest business directory, received some confusing calls by customers in the directory. A bit of analysis led to Google, who was doing anything but not being evil:

Since October, Google’s GKBO appears to have been systematically accessing Mocality’s database and attempting to sell their competing product to our business owners. They have been telling untruths about their relationship with us, and about our business practices, in order to do so. As of January 11th, nearly 30% of our database has apparently been contacted.

Google, what where you thinking? →

Play your world with Google Maps

Posted: January 12th, 2012, 11:56am CET by Bramus!

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Coming to Google+ in February. WebGL powered.

HTML5 Sectioning Element Flowchart

Posted: January 11th, 2012, 9:25pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

An easy-to-understand HTML5 sectioning element flowchart to help you get to grips with some of the new elements in HTML5.

HTML5Doctor Sectioning Element Flowchart (PDF) →

The future belongs to the Curious

Posted: January 11th, 2012, 12:44pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Promotional video for Skillshare.

Skillshare is a community marketplace to learn anything from anyone. We believe that everyone has something they want to learn and something they can teach to others.

Startup lessons from a crime boss

Posted: January 10th, 2012, 2:07pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Interesting things happen when we cut out the middleman. In addition to reducing cost, we often end up creating an internal byproduct that can be productized and sold to a completely new customer. (Amazon Web Services is an example of this.) Sometimes the middleman’s market is so huge, that a freaking enormous business can be built simply by providing their customers a lower cost and more efficient option.

Everything I need to know about startups, I learned from a crime boss →

(via kottke)

getUserMedia Moustache

Posted: January 10th, 2012, 1:24pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

This demo uses getUserMedia (formerly known as HTML5 <device>) to get data from a device camera, then copies it into HTML5 <canvas> in order to analyse the pixel data. It then peforms facial recognition in order to superimpose a marvellous magical moustache.

Special Opera Developer Build required.

Magical getUserMedia moustache →
Opera getUserMedia Labs Build →
getUserMedia: accessing the camera and privacy UI (how to) →

iOS Multitasking in Detail

Posted: January 10th, 2012, 1:13pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Interesting video on how memory is done while “multitasking” on the iPad:

There are five sections to this video demonstrating:

An app going from active to background to suspended

Instacast HD requesting extra background time to finish a podcast download

TomTom running indefinitely in the background

Batman Arkham City Lockdown and Real Racing 2 HD competing for big chunks of device memory

Batman Arkham City Lockdown forcing several smaller apps out of memory

PxLoader, A JavaScript Preloader for HTML5 Apps

Posted: January 10th, 2012, 11:38am CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

PxLoader is a Javascript library that helps you download images, sound files or anything else you need before you take a specific action on your site (like showing a user interface or starting a game). You can use it to create a preloader for HTML5 games and websites.

As used in Cut The Rope. Resulting code when used looks like:

// Create the loader and queue our 3 images. Images will not
// begin downloading until we tell the loader to start.
var loader = new PxLoader(),
    backgroundImg = loader.addImage('images/headerbg.jpg'),
    treesImg = loader.addImage('images/trees.png'),
    ufoImg = loader.addImage('images/ufo.png');
// callback that will be run once images are ready
loader.addCompletionListener(function() {
    var canvas = document.getElementById('sample1-canvas'),
        ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
    ctx.drawImage(backgroundImg, 0, 0);
    ctx.drawImage(treesImg, 0, 104);
    ctx.drawImage(ufoImg, 360, 50);
});
// begin downloading images
loader.start();

PxLoader →

Cut The Rope, now in your browser too

Posted: January 10th, 2012, 11:35am CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Cut The Rope, originally on iOS, has been ported to HTML5, and is serving as a promo for IE10

In bringing Cut the Rope to a new platform, we wanted to ensure we preserved the unique physics, motion, and personality of the experience. So early on we decided to approach this game as a “port” from the native iOS version (rather than a rewrite).

Cut The Rope HTML5 →
Cut The Rope HTML5: Behind the scenes →
Cut The Rope for iOS →

reveal.js

Posted: January 9th, 2012, 7:59pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

reveal.js is an easy to use, HTML based, presentation tool. You’ll need a modern browser with support for CSS 3D transforms to see it in its full glory.

Really nice. Considering converting my course presentations to this.

reveal.js →

jQuery.suggest

Posted: January 9th, 2012, 7:54pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

jQuery.suggest is a simple inline autosuggest jQuery plugin. It takes an array of terms as haystack and suggests the user the first item that matches what has been typed to this point. The suggestion is updated with every keystroke. Tab or Enter will accept the suggestion and update the input field accordingly.

jQuery.suggest →

Scrollorama

Posted: January 7th, 2012, 5:50pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

The jQuery plugin for doing cool scrolly stuff

Really cool scrolly stuff that is.

Scrollorama →

Instagram | Flickr

Posted: January 7th, 2012, 1:51pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Dan Catt, who fell in love with Instagram just a little bit, and out of love with Flickr, just a little bit over the holidays:

Christmas morning was almost magical.

The previous year on Flickr was almost as magical, once people had a chance to sort through the 100s of photos they’d taken with their dSLR, pick out the best ones, run them through lightroom and then get a chance to upload them. It was nice to look back on the Christmas mornings that people had, rather than having.

In his follow-up post he notes:

Flickr is for the story I want to remember, Instagram is for the story I want to tell now.

My first Instagram Christmas, a nervous step away from Flickr →
Instagram and Flickr, the one where I refine my argument →

Modern Parenting

Posted: January 7th, 2012, 12:02pm CET by Bramus!

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Achievement unlocked: keep a baby alive for a week.

— Tim Van Damme

Andrew Lions

Posted: January 6th, 2012, 8:25pm CET by Bramus!

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Wonderful illustrations.

Andrew Lions →

Web Typography for the Lonely

Posted: January 6th, 2012, 2:43pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Web Typography for the Lonely is an ongoing collection of experiments and writings on web typography and the possibilities of standards-based web design. It aims to inspire the web community by pushing the boundries of what is both possible and practical in web standards in a manner that is compelling and exciting to the visually-minded creative.

Web Typography for the Lonely →

Permalink for 'Bram.us/2012/01/06/Out_of_the_box_%e2%80%93_book'

Out of the box – book

Posted: January 6th, 2012, 12:49pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Most phones come with flimsy manuals with complicated language and jargon. These books, which can live on a bookshelf actually contain the phone. Each page reveals the elements of the phone in the right order, helping the user to set up the sim card, the battery and even slide the case onto the phone.

Better Instagram-Facebook Integration

Posted: January 6th, 2012, 11:42am CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

A thing I’ve been missing in Instagram — ever since I noticed that Path did it right — is that Instagram photos shared on Facebook were only an entry/story on your wall/timeline; The actual photo remained on Instagram and wasn’t actually uploaded to Facebook (*).

Behold, today:

Starting today, when you choose to share Instagram photos to Facebook, your images will automatically be added to an “Instagram Photos” Facebook album visible to your Facebook friends!

The photos will appear full-sized in the News Feed along with the caption that you’ve added to the Instagram photo, and a link to the image’s public URL. This change will also display your Instagram photos beautifully in your timeline.

Share Bigger Photos to Your Facebook Album →

(*) Yes, I know that could be achieved by using ifttt

Fireplace

Posted: January 6th, 2012, 10:16am CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

I really wanted a big-pixeled fireplace to keep in my bedroom and thought other people might like it, too. Type words to interact with Fireplace or just sit back and enjoy. The logs burn down to ashes in about 30 minutes each.

For both Windows and Mac

Fireplace →

Fishing under ice

Posted: January 5th, 2012, 5:40pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Mind boggling.

Toronto

Posted: January 5th, 2012, 5:23pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Photographer Michael Chrisman used a pinhole camera fitted with photosensitive paper to make a 365-day exposure of the Toronto skyline from Jan. 1, 2011, to Dec. 31, 2011.

Year-long exposure of Toronto skyline produces ‘dreamy’ image →

3D Nyan Cat

Posted: January 5th, 2012, 5:20pm CET by Bramus!

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3D Nyan Cat →

(via creativejs)

Streetview Stereographic

Posted: January 5th, 2012, 5:17pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

WebGL + Shader Toy + Google Maps + Panoramic Explorer = StreetView Stereographic

Streetview Stereographic →
My house on Streetview Stereographic→

Color

Posted: January 5th, 2012, 5:11pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Color enables you to share “photos, videos and conversations” with a group of people who are at the same location as you. The ideal use case for Color, is for events with large groups of people – like a concert or conference. Color ostensibly allows you to share your experience with that group; as well as augment your experience by giving you alternate views and allow you to see things that you’d otherwise have missed.

Color →
Why Color May Be The Next Twitter →

Spoon Template Component

Posted: January 5th, 2012, 5:04pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

The authors of Spoon, the PHP5 of my choice, have released a standalone version (née Component) of their powerful template engine.

This is the first version of the standalone template component. This is a complete rewrite of the previous version. There are no dependencies with other parts of the 1.3 version of Spoon.

Spoon Template Component →
Basic Documentation →

Prometheus

Posted: January 5th, 2012, 4:56pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Hitler reacts to SOPA

Posted: December 23rd, 2011, 6:10pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

One of the finer Hitler reacts to … edits, and the text is spot in.

The Messy Art Of UX Sketching

Posted: December 23rd, 2011, 5:31pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Although starting a prototype on a computer is sometimes easier, it’s not the best way to visually problem-solve. When you need to ideate website layouts or mobile applications or to storyboard workflows and context scenarios, sketching is much more efficient. It keeps you from getting caught up in the technology, and instead focuses you on the best possible solution, freeing you to take risks that you might not otherwise take.

The Messy Art Of UX Sketching →

Google Street View + WebGL powered Christmas Card

Posted: December 23rd, 2011, 12:14pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Now this is effin’ awesome: enter you address and get an interative WebGL powered Christmas card showing your house using Google Street View data. Here’s my house for example:

A Holiday Message →
My house on “A Holiday Message” →

SOPA already made its first victim …

Posted: December 22nd, 2011, 11:55am CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

The SOPA vote, which was supposed to be yesterday, has been postponed until after the winter recess. Nonetheless, it has already made its first victim: a firefox addon named DeSopa to bypass SOPA DNS Blocking has already been removed from the Firefox Addons Website.

When installed, users can click a single button to resolve a blocked domain via foreign DNS servers, bypassing all domestic DNS blockades and allowing the user to browse the site though the bare IP-address (if supported).

Most likely the plugin was removed because if SOPA comes through, the entire Firefox website (hosting the plugin) can be categorized as illegal … a fine and very sad example of what SOPA can do if approved.

✟ DeSopa Firefox Addon →
DeSopa source (GitHub) →

Permalink for 'Bram.us/2011/12/22/Editing_WordPress%e2%80%99s_Visual_Editor__TinyMCE_'

Editing WordPress’s Visual Editor (TinyMCE)

Posted: December 22nd, 2011, 11:44am CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Handy when you need it; If you ever need it.

The Hobbit

Posted: December 21st, 2011, 12:20pm CET by Bramus!

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December 14, 2012.

Inspiring Facebook Timline Covers

Posted: December 20th, 2011, 5:34pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Looks like the Timeline Cover is the new creative outlet

Get Started : Most Innovative Facebook Timeline Covers →

The Mozilla Story

Posted: December 20th, 2011, 3:47pm CET by Bramus!

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PROTECT IP / SOPA

Posted: December 20th, 2011, 3:46pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

The SOPA vote is tomorrow …

Why SOPA will cripple the Internet →
The PROTECT IP ACT And The STOP ONLINE PIRACY ACT (SOPA): New Solutions To Stop Online Infringement And Piracy→
Stop American Censorship →

Permalink for 'Bram.us/2011/12/19/Mufasa%e2%80%99s_Alive__'

Mufasa’s Alive!?

Posted: December 19th, 2011, 4:41pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Mufasa’s Alive!? — Nope! Chuck Testa!

Dubstep

Posted: December 18th, 2011, 4:24pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

That wobwobwobwob brostep didn’t exist back when dubstep originated. The stuff today is nearly a different genre.

— A user named Apclear on Burial’s Untrue

Sample Application using jQuery Mobile and PhoneGap

Posted: December 15th, 2011, 7:44pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Here is a simple application I built using jQuery Mobile and PhoneGap. Even though the application is simple, it covers some common requirements of mobile applications: database access through JSON services, multi-level master-detail views, parameter passing between views, etc.

Sample Application using jQuery Mobile and PhoneGap →

Speed Tracer

Posted: December 15th, 2011, 12:17pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Speed Tracer is a tool to help you identify and fix performance problems in your web applications. It visualizes metrics that are taken from low level instrumentation points inside of the browser and analyzes them as your application runs. Speed Tracer is available as a Chrome extension and works on all platforms where extensions are currently supported (Windows and Linux).

Google Web Toolkit: Speed Tracer →

Men In Black 3 Trailer

Posted: December 15th, 2011, 11:07am CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Grew up with MiB 1 and 2, thus expecting a lot from this (and the trailer looks quite promising I must say).

Lovely Charts for iPad

Posted: December 15th, 2011, 11:00am CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Not only looks great, but also looks usable.

Lovely Charts for iPad →

La Mer de Pianos

Posted: December 15th, 2011, 10:54am CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Set in the oldest Piano shop in France, it shows the story of a repairman who breathes life back into pianos, by harvesting parts from older pianos, or making them himself.

(via FormFiftyFive)

I Know What You Downloaded on BitTorrent …

Posted: December 15th, 2011, 10:09am CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Imagine you’d write a crawler that connects to many torrent trackers for many torrents and then log all IP addresses that are also connected. Now, that’s exactly what You Have Downloaded does: it aggregates all public data and then exposes it.

We came up with the idea of building a crawler like this and keeping the maintenance price under $300 a month. There was only one way to prove our theory worked — to implement it in practice. So we did. Now, we find ourselves with a big crawler.

Although the site doesn’t track all traffic (and thus doesn’t have a list of all IP addresses — I for one have downloaded nothing according to the site … could swear I just pulled in a new Linux distro) it works rather well. The results aren’t surprising either. Typing in a IP address from one of the trolling commenters here on bram.us gives me …

Ouch!

You Have Downloaded →

Google Maps: from: The shire to: Mordor

Posted: December 14th, 2011, 9:38pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Use caution – One does not simply walk into Mordor.

from: The shire to: Mordor →

On the Tab Labels in the New Twitter App for iPhone

Posted: December 14th, 2011, 1:53pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Nobody wants to connect or discover. People want to talk, send email, chat, share, post to Facebook, tweet, and so on. They want to find old friends; they want to find new friends; they want to see if their brother went skiing on the weekend so they can remember to ask about it on Christmas.

Also cleverly remarked:

Why Find instead of Search? Because Find implies success, while Search is an action that may fail.

On the Tab Labels in the New Twitter App for iPhone →

(via ★)

NewNewDelicious

Posted: December 14th, 2011, 11:03am CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Looks like Delicious has been overhauled, again.

Looks better at first sight, yet one issue I can’t wrap my head around is that, when adding a link, tags — the essence of Delicious — have been banished to the sidebar, where they used to be the second field in the form before. Also, autocompletion on tags has been zapped, again.

New Look on Delicious →

Polyfilling the HTML5 gaps

Posted: December 14th, 2011, 10:50am CET by Bramus!

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Polyfills help us use today’s modern features in yesterday’s browsers.

Great slidedeck by Addy Osmani on using and creating polyfills.

Leave no Future Behind: Polyfilling the HTML5 Gaps with Javascript →

Spotify Controls for Alfred

Posted: December 13th, 2011, 3:37pm CET by Bramus!

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An AppleScript so you can control Spotify from Alfred App. You will need Alfred and the Powerpack to use this.

Control Spotify using Alfred App →

HTML 5 Canvas Deep Dive

Posted: December 13th, 2011, 1:10pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Very solid and in depth presentation on getting you started with canvas.

This session is a three hour workshop that will deep dive into Canvas, starting with the basics and progressing into real world applications. Finally we will take a look at some experimental edges of Canvas, such as webcam and audio visualization.

This is a technical talk. Basic knowledge of JavaScript programming is required.

HTML 5 Canvas Deep Dive →

Sherlock Season 2

Posted: December 12th, 2011, 10:36pm CET by Bramus!

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The applauded BBC Series Sherlock will return with a second season starting January 1st. Something to look forward too, as the first season was more than excellent (plot, acting skills, execution, etc.)!

Spongebob Sqqqqqqqqqshhhhhhpants

Posted: December 12th, 2011, 10:29pm CET by Bramus!

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(via lamazone)

Game of Thrones Season 2 Trailer

Posted: December 12th, 2011, 6:50pm CET by Bramus!

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The cold winds are rising

MAMP Pro slow name resolving with .local vhosts in Lion (fix)

Posted: December 12th, 2011, 3:39pm CET by Bramus!

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An issue I’ve encountered with MAMP Pro since having upgraded to OS X Lion was that requests to vhosts served via MAMP took their time to load: after about 3 to 5 seconds of loading, the site would finally load.

The most tricky part in this issue is that it only happens if you have a domain ending in .local, such as mysite.local. If you’d rename the site to mysite.dev, it’d be — … beware, buzzword coming up … — snappy again.

Turns out, after a few Google Search Coupons, that the culprit is Bonjour (emphasis mine):

The Multicast DNS feature of Bonjour technology allows devices on a local network to connect to each other by name without a separate DNS server. By default, any hostname ending in .local is treated as a Bonjour host rather than by querying the DNS server entries in Network preferences.

Though the .local domain is not defined as a valid top-level domain on the Internet, some private networks have DNS servers that assign hostnames in the .local domain. By default Mac OS X does not use the DNS server to resolve these names. This may result in unexpected failures to connect to .local hostnames defined by your server.

To fix this problem (without having to rename each vhost) you need to add IPv6 entries for each of your vhosts in your /etc/hosts file:

::1 mysite.local
fe80::1%lo0 mysite.local
127.0.0.1 mysite.local

After that, .local vhosts load fast again. I’ve created an issue on the MAMP bug tracker for this, requesting the author to automatically add IPv6 entries to the hosts file when creating/editing a vhost. Hope to see this fixed in a future version. For now, the fix above will have to do.

Note that after restarting MAMP, the IPv6 entries will be gone … yeah, so that bug needs to fixed soon (either by Apple, or by MAMP). If you don’t want all the hassle after a restart, you might consider renaming your vhosts to .dev (anything but .local will do)

Permalink for 'Bram.us/2011/12/09/Major_Lazer_%e2%80%93_Original_Don_ft._The_Partysquad'

Major Lazer – Original Don ft. The Partysquad

Posted: December 9th, 2011, 10:44am CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Official videoclip sporting those Jian sword dancing kids for the aforementioned Original Don by Major Lazor:

Warning: girl almost cuts the dog in half at 2:16

(via geekologie)

NewNewTwitter Promo Video: Fly Twitter

Posted: December 9th, 2011, 10:32am CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

A few notes on the new design after a quick look and some read tweets:

The textarea to compose a new tweet has gone from “What are you doing?” to “What’s happening?” to “Compose a new tweet” … #hmmz.
NewNewTwitter still has these dreadful hashbang urls.
DMs apparently are not prominent anymore. One reason for this could be fairly low usage? (#3), although I’d like to see some stats confirming this.
The new Discover tab is all about storytelling, a trend which I’ve applauded before. Still some work to do (it’s nowhere when compared to Storify for example, but the basic idea is there)
…

The iOS has also been updated to reflect these new changes. Guessing that Twitter for Mac will follow soon.

More about the new new Twitter →

Google Maps: Mapping the indoors.

Posted: December 7th, 2011, 6:17pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

A new feature in Google Maps for Android 6.0, is the support for floor plans in buildings:

When you’re inside an airport, shopping mall or retail store, a common way to figure out where you are is to look for a freestanding map directory or ask an employee for help. Starting today, with the release of Google Maps 6.0 for Android, that directory is brought to the palm of your hands, helping you determine where you are, what floor you’re on, and where to go indoors.

The result looks like this:

You can also add your own floor plans, via a web interface:

A new frontier for Google Maps: mapping the indoors →

Decisions That Shaped 2011

Posted: December 6th, 2011, 11:21pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Nice!

(via teusje)

Ben Dodson: Goodbye Gowalla

Posted: December 6th, 2011, 10:45pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Ben Dodson, once a loyal Gowalla user and 3rd party Gowalla App Developer — he created Wallabee (formerly GowallaTools), and Highlights — says goodbye to Gowalla.

In his goodbye he talks about his developer love-hate relationship with Gowalla, highlights some of the points where Gowalla has failed over the years, and points out some points that have gone wrong with the release Gowalla 4

Above that he also notes some extras that could’ve been done with the whole stories aspect (about which I’ve jotted down my own ideas), to make the feature even more genius than it already was.

Goodbye Gowalla →

Facebook flaw allows access to private photos

Posted: December 6th, 2011, 9:41pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Looks like the newly appointed Facebook Chief Privacy Officers have some explaining to do:

Users are able to report “inappropriate profile photos” on a user’s profile.

By checking the box “nudity or pornography”, the user is granted an opportunity to help Facebook “take action by selecting additional photos to include with your report”.

Facebook will then display a number of additional photos that are not otherwise publicly available to the user.

The trick has also been used to get some of Zuck’s private photos.

Facebook flaw allows access to private photos →.

(via ★)

iPhone games recreated in a music video

Posted: December 6th, 2011, 8:21pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Flight Control, Fruit Ninja, Plants Vs. Zombies, Angry Birds, and Cut the Rope recreated in a music video:

Best comment on YouTube:

I used to find stuff randomly on youtube… But then i took a 9gag in the knee.

(via geekologie)

jQuery Hovercard

Posted: December 6th, 2011, 2:42pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

A free light weight jQuery plugin that enables you to display related information with the hovered label, link, or any html element of your choice.

Also comes with integrated support to show the Facebook page or Twitter handle info in the card.

Hovercard – a jQuery plugin with built in Twitter and Facebook cards →

Constructive Solid Geometry 3D Modeling in JavaScript

Posted: December 6th, 2011, 2:34pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) is a modeling technique that uses Boolean operations like union and intersection to combine 3D solids. This library implements CSG operations on meshes elegantly and concisely using BSP trees, and is meant to serve as an easily understandable implementation of the algorithm.

This library provides three CSG operations: union, subtract, and intersect

csg.js →

(via badassjs)

Hero

Posted: December 6th, 2011, 1:28pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

The making of “Hero,” a drawing of my dad composed entirely out of 3.2 million ink dots.

Audio by Bonobo

(via zofie on Facebook)

Ordered List Acquired by GitHub

Posted: December 6th, 2011, 12:16pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

I’m excited to announce that as of today, the team at Ordered List officially joins GitHub. We’re bringing along our talent, our passion, and our products (Speaker Deck, Gaug.es, and Harmony)

Ordered List Acquired by GitHub →

Path 2.0 flyout menu rebuilt in CSS

Posted: December 5th, 2011, 11:35pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

The menu from Path 2.0, rebuilt in CSS.

Path 2.0 Flyout Menu using CSS by Tunghsiao Liu →

Permalink for 'Bram.us/2011/12/05/Gowalla_%e2%87%92_Facebook'

Gowalla ⇒ Facebook

Posted: December 5th, 2011, 11:26pm CET by Bramus!

Tags: [edit]

Scott Raymond, co-founder and CTO of Gowalla confirms the rumors:

It wasn’t an easy decision, but Facebook has always been a friend of the company, so joining their team is a natural move. I’m incredibly excited to work alongside folks that have already changed the world pretty profoundly, and who have an even bigger vision for the future.

The end of the year … that’s less than 30 days away from us.

Wall Street Journal also had this to say about the deal:

While Facebook is not buying Gowalla’s technology or services, it said in a statement that, “Gowalla co-founders Josh Williams and Scott Raymond, along with other members of the Gowalla team, are moving to Facebook in January to join our design and engineering teams.”

Facebook added, “We’re sure that the inspiration behind Gowalla will make its way into Facebook over time.”

In parallel, .be fellow Maxvoltar, who ~~works~~ worked at Gowalla, announced that he’ll be joining … Instagram.

Gowalla ⇒ Facebook →
Facebook Buys More Talent With Gowalla Deal →

UPDATE 2011.12.06: Josh Williams (the other co-founder of Gowalla) added this:

Gowalla, as a service, will be winding down at the end of January. We plan to provide an easy way to export your Passport data, your Stamp and Pin data (along with your legacy Item data), and your photos as well. Facebook is not acquiring Gowalla’s user data.

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