FCHouse

My new I/O device!

Posted by Carlo - 23/04/08 at 10:04:02 pm

In these days there is a tool I would like to build, seriously. I am trying to understand if what I think is doable and if it would be of any interest apart from me.
I was thinking of a sort of “clip” to be applied on the hands (theoretically between the thumbs and the forefingers) in order to track the movement of the hands and of the fingers. For the movement of the hands the issue is not this big, an accelerometer is enough. The problems could come up when thinking of the finger movement. My idea is that it should be possible to “sense” the movement of the muscles on the back of the hands.
However… I feel that there is no technological barrier for it. Now the few of you still reading this could ask themselves: what are you talking about?
I am talking about a next generation input device, capable of replacing keyboards and mouse. It would allow everyone to use a “virtual keyboard” without being limited by a physical object. It would also be the next step in a multipoint cursor (like Tom Cruise in Minority Report).
I am pretty sure that this would be quite early in the adoption curve, but this would also mean being able to change the things…
…where can I go to understand the technology limitations? I am not interested in the gloves ’80s style, I am interested in what’s next!

Do I really have to call the psychiatrist?

Welcome to the London Geek Community!

Posted by Carlo - 11/04/08 at 01:04:23 pm

Tom Morris wrote a very nice introduction to the London Geek Community. I am still integrating, but the guys and girls around are very friendly!

Read Tom’s page on the Community and follow his advices!

Google App Engine: a few thoughts

Posted by Carlo - 08/04/08 at 02:04:03 pm

When I read about it I was very interested. An integrated solution to rollout web applications in a solid and easy framework? That is nice! I know that some similar solutions already exists, but if Google does something like this…

I took my time to watch some video, read some documentation, and have some personal thoughts about Google App Engine.

My first question was: why Python? It is not widely used… well, I do not know why, but I think Google will roll out solution for different languages. It is just a detail.

My second question was: why Django? I love XML/XSLT. I love it because it is standard. It merges standard data form (XML) with a standard stylesheet (XSLT). Well, another detail.

The first concern, however, was of a different sort. Even if the example posted in the video was a sort of “Use me like a Front End Controller”, the App Engine is not MVC. I think Model-View-Controller framework for web applications are very stable and flexible. I am a little concerned about it. I believe that a wider set of requirement to support a dictionary and an MVC implementation would have higher the initial learning curve a little bit, but would have speed up the real development. Did not they choose Python, that is not precisely the best language to keep low the initial learning curve?

My second concern is about the data storage. I believe that every data interaction should be done via objects, as it is done in Google App Engine, but with a difference: I think that mixing SQL code with programming code is Evil. Having a persistency layer you can implement a object-oriented way of retrieving and manipulating data, SQL can be avoided.

Apart from these technical digressions, I believe that the solution has been moved in the right direction: removing some barriers.

Clearly the move is very intelligent if you think that one of Google targets is to remove IT from companies: you will not need an IT guy to manage your server any more.

 

BarCampBrighton2: RDF presentation

Posted by Carlo - 15/03/08 at 02:03:59 pm

I am following a VERY interesting presentation from Tom Morris about RDF. I had underestimated the potentiality until now. Still the syntax is NOT as easy as it should be (a little too geeky), but the Semantic Web is something getting nearer and nearer!

My mind is already running fast to catch some details and get it working in a real example…

BarCampBrighton2: listening to the first presentation

Posted by Carlo - 15/03/08 at 01:03:47 pm

I am following the first presentation at BarCampBrighton2. It is about Android, the new Free* mobile phone OS. I still do not know why the asterisk :)

The first minutes were lost because the projector was not interested in coupling with the Windows computer of the presenter. I was so mean to suggest to use a Mac :) In the end we are watching the presentation from a Asus EEE PC: very nice indeed!

UPDATE: The presentation was quite nice. In the end I think Android is targeted to a small market niche of “Geeks” while the iPhone is more for “Design Lovers“

Now it is the time for Android!

Posted by Carlo - 12/03/08 at 05:03:13 pm

After the great iPhone SDK announcement, after a hundred thousands download, right now it is the time for Android to show something… Different!

It is the time to distribute open applications, not linked to a Big Brother that defines what is right, what is wrong and who gets the money. It is time to think about how simple is the iPhone interface and how complex is to handle Apple.

Yesterday i was talking to a friend, and we were discussing about iPhone applications. In the end my point was that to create some innovative, mobile delivered service, you do not need the iPhone. You do not need it because tomorrow there will be another iPhone, and the day after a new Nokia, and than an Android. Mobile phones are like computers: they pass. The era of the death of software is here: Google, SalesForce.com and many others are teaching it. The fact that the SDK is finally out is tiring, because the iPhone hype is now something “cool“, but the market is much more than the simple iPhone.

So I will warmly welcome Android, I will welcome something different, something capable of destroying the iPhone. Our society is constantly evolving (or it should be), so everything is destined to be forgotten, and the Apple first phone will be no different.

I am quite tired of loving and hating Apple. Lately it seems to me that the Cupertino company is going nuts, playing the role of God more than ever in their little domain. Do they understand that they seem no “different” any longer. Do they realise that they are becoming the same as IBM thirty years ago (do you remember 1984, don’t you)?

Welcome, Android, whenever you will be here (soon, I hope)!

Think Different!

WebKit: the (unstable) alternative to Safari

Posted by Carlo - 11/02/08 at 01:02:56 pm

I am constantly looking for the best browser to use. Luckily I can avoid keeping IE in mind, but then I am fought between Safari, Firefox, Flock, Camino, Opera… choosing is not simple. There are features that I would use every day, but in a browser I do not like, and there are browser I would use always without some nice feature.

Firefox is not at its best under OSX, slow, sometimes bugged and not well integrated with the OS. From the other side it has a lot of interesting extensions (Firebug amongst all) that can make the geek side easier.

For now my choice is Safari. It is perfectly integrated, is is quite fast and I feel comfortable using it. It has some major drawbacks, though. Opening 15 tabs can slow it down a LOT, sometimes it become unresponsive for a dozen of seconds and so on. It is a matter of priority.

Today I have downloaded again WebKit. What is webkit? Let me keep it VERY simple (and a little superficial): WebKit is the base upon which Safari and other browsers are built. Please, if you feel offended by this definition, try providing a better one (You can win a teddy bear if you are able to write it in a small sentence your grandma can understand).

Long story short: using WebKit is sometimes dangerous (it is less than a Beta), but the version I am using now is extremely good: No crashes, faster than Safari, lighter… MY BROWSER! :D

 

You can download your Nightly Build Here: http://nightly.webkit.org/

 

PS: I have just discovered that a particular operation involving AJAX, hyperlinks and other stuff is able to make the browser crash completely… Well, in the end every browser has a drawback!

MacBook Air: a personal view.

Posted by Carlo - 27/01/08 at 04:01:10 pm

I was one of those who followed the MacWorld, few weeks ago, in any possible way. I was interested in the banner “There is something in the Air” but I am still undecided if I am one of the Lovers or the Hater of the new Apple laptop.

One thing is essential before starting to discuss about the MacBook Air: it is NOT a normal laptop, it is NOT a desktop replacement, it is NOT intended to break the market as the MacBook. The Air is something different, different target, different specs required and different power. I have read a lot of reviews, a lot of people trying to analize the MacBook Air as if it was a new version of the MacBook Pro. I am sorry, you cannot expect to have everything you need in such a small shell, let’s face the truth!

Battery: It is not replaceable! A lot of people I know, when hear the news that the battery is a non-replaceable, started to breath fire. Hell on Earth, a laptop where you cannot switch battery! Well, let me think how many people I know walks around with a spare battery… let’s see… Yes, I think ONE of them. One, indeed! one on hundreds I know. Being honest I had the need for a replaceable battery maybe once in six years… and I did not have one, therefore it was useless. The target of this laptop is to be compact and light, and if you want to travel as light as you can, you do not bring a spare battery with you!

No integrated DVD reader! ALLELUIA! Yes, I need the DVD reader, I use it… probably as much as I use the external Hard Drive that sits on my desk (and that never leaves the desk, BTW). Apple did not present a laptop without drive, but with an external drive! It’s the best solution! The more sceptic are bothering that you cannot use the external drive with another Mac, but it is because of the power consumption, that is three times the power a normal USB port can provide. The USB port of the MacBook Air is extremely powerful, and Apple decided NOT to provide an external power chord for it: you need to travel light, don’t you?

Only one USB and no Firewire! Shame! Well… A second USB port would have been advantageous, but in the end you can live without it. I have two USB and a firewire on my laptop, and I try not to use all of them together. It uses less power, and I have less cables around. Do you need an external Hard Drive? Plug it in and out! Do you need the DVD? Plug it in and out? Do you need to attach your Firewire camcorder? You do not need a MacBook Air!

What a tiny Hard Drive! Well, when I bought my MacBook, one year ago, the normal drive was 60GB. The Air does have a 1.8inch drive, not a 2.5inch like every other laptop. This is because it has to be light. Obviously it does not have 60GB, but 80. Do you want to have the fastest, next generation hard drive, being a Early Adopter? You pay to receive less, for more money! Your choice!

Price! It costs too much! Well yes, it costs a lot. Miniaturisation  has always been expensive. You can buy a normal MacBook for much less, receiving more features (more processor, HDD, etcetera) for some pounds and inch more!

In the end I think that the MacBook Air is spectacular, stylish and… fantastic. I cannot see the time to see them in the Apple Store! I also think that the MacBook Air is designed for specific applications. I will never keep into consideration one of them: it is not powerful enough to support my development and my photos (Aperture is slow on my MacBook).

Requirements drive technology!

And the requirements the MacBook Air fulfil are clearly more dedicated to those who travels with their own computer everywhere, whitout the need of power. I think about Managers, Professional Bloggers, Journalists etcetera. I cannot stand those who are overcritic just because they cannot play the latest game on it, or because it is the last item from Apple.

Let’s see that shiny thing for what it is: a small, stylish, lightweight (in many senses) brand new computer.

I will not buy it, because the next laptop should be able to deliver a little more power than my MacBook, but I do not think the MacBook Air is a bad thing. I am one of those who needs his entire world with himself on his laptop. I need my laptop to be the Desktop replacement. I am not a MacBook Air user!
Last thing: do you know why there has not been so much hype on it? Because the target of the Air is different, smaller and more silent!

Cheerio!

Twitting…

Posted by Carlo - 29/11/07 at 02:11:41 pm

Some days ago I open a twitter account. Why did I do it? Because the time to write a blog post in these days is hard to find, but the time for a twitting some words is much easier to be found between a project plan, some code and some dreams.

If you have twitter and you would like to follow my (pretty insane) thoughts you can see my profile here.

I have had some problems when I tried to register, but now the registration process seems to be fixed. The “gmail email sucker ” that finds your gmail contact already on twitter is not working though.

Using twitter from an iPhone is gorgeous, and it is the perfect ShoutBox! On myMac I have seen that Twitterrific is really nice!
Cheerio!

Gmail goes IMAP!

Posted by Carlo - 24/10/07 at 08:10:24 am

When I open the account on gmail it seemed to be the perfect solution for you email! Perfect, but for one simple detail: it only supported POP! I am used to IMAP, especially reading my mail from different laptops, iPhone and simila, therefore an IMAP protocol would be perfect! Google always told us that having an IMAP account would have meant to have folders, things that was against the gmail tagline: “Don’t sort, Search!“.

This morning I found the news that Gmail has implemented IMAP, converting your tags into IMAP folders! Brilliant! I have already set up my accounts on mail.app, on my iPhone and I am happy! :) I think that this move has been taken for a better iPhone support… good for it, but better for everyday life!

Oh, By The Way, here is the link for your iPhone configurations (but you can use the same values for every mail reader!) Enjoy!

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Carlo Nicora is at home in London.