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Very good technical documentation skills are a must for any Software Engineer - to explain how a system works in detail forces you to think about the flaws present within the design. “Bad smells” of documentation often can be a sign of weaknesses on your product. Is this section too verbose or did we make it too complex for the customer? Should we explain ancillary parts of our system (either operating system components or other applications?) within our documentation besides the inherent risks (out-of-date documentation)? ...

If you haven’t heard of Tor, it is alternative internet - one with privay in mind. I’ve recently started to watch a lot of technical talks online. The two main guys behind Tor are some of the best speakers I’ve seen. They describe in great detail how open source works and the myriad of open source projects around Tor in this talk: and in an older talk they describe how countries have tried to censor Tor and how they have combatted some censorship (interesting for the technical measures deployed): ...

Just a quick post about a great application I’ve seen mentioned by Cali Lewis: Stitcher. If your a talk radio fan like me, you’ll really appreciate this app! Ever since I switched from an iPhone 4 to a Galaxy S3 and stopped using Apple’s Podcast application it has been frustrating to keep up to date with podcasts. I’ve used BeyondPod on Android (which I’ve praised before - excellent Google Reader integration). I then tried to search for a third party podcast application on the iPad that would synchronise with Google Reader. First there were none, then some (like Feedler and Instacast) but all have been bitterly disappointing with Google Reader integration. Instacast could import OPML (after a messy bundling of feeds in Google Reader) and Feedler could read the feeds (but not handle the video and audio contained within the feed item properly). To be honest I’d given up hope, I said to myself I’d chalk it up to fate and just buy a Nexus tablet when the iPad 2 was no longer serviceable. But - happily - I was wrong and had been looking in the wrong places… ...

I recently bought a Samsung Chromebook (Wi-Fi, 11.6-Inch). I am fascinated by living tied to the web, indeed my honours computer science thesis deals with this in relation to mobile applications (and hybrid half-app/ half-website). Spurred on by the excellent reviews this Chromebook has gotten ("It’s $1,000 worth of design made with $100 worth of materials" - The Verge and “You simply won’t find a netbook this nice for that little money.” - Engadget). ...

Lately both Google and Microsoft have been advertising their respective browsers on British Television (received in Ireland by the vast majority of the population). It’s interesting the different approach each company is taking. Chrome ad: To me the Chrome ad is very family oriented, stressing the utility of the web and the ease of reaching people and staying in touch. No surprise they didn’t feature Facebook, which is what the vast majority use to keep in touch. ...

Fresh from the “interesting but pointless facts” desk comes this little kernel (I apologise!) of truth: In 2002, the British Film Institute depicted popcorn as “the most profitable substance on the planet, more than heroin, more than plutonium”. Typically, the popcorn we eat costs less to produce than the very container it comes in. - Foodie World Further research indicates that isn’t quite true - antimatter is the most expensive substance in the world. But for a common, everyday item, it’s very expensive indeed. There’s a lot less risk in production then Heroin and a lot bigger market the Plutonium, for instance. ...

I’ve recently undergone a tonsillectomy - the process of removing the lymph node tissue hanging idly at the back of your throat. I know I write mainly technology articles, but I thought a departure was warranted from the usual faire. My main takeaway from having it done is twofold: it’s not as bad as you think and it’s as bad as you think. They seem like contradictory statements, so I’ll need to explain myself right? Okay. ...

I’ve seen an article by Miguel de Icaza, a great developer oft criticised for his love of Microsoft technologies on Linux. His latest piece is about his love for Mac OS X as a desktop and how he used to feel guilty about it (given his very impressive open source credentials). I used to feel the same also. Android even as a platform more closely follows my ideals, yet I am exclusively an avid iOS user at this point. But as I’ve learned more, the importance of pragmatism is clear. I use my personal iOS devices for countless hours a day and I really just want them to work. I want them to work in the way they were designed to do: quickly check email, browse the web, make calls, check messages and so forth. ...

I recently finished reading Steve Jobs, the biography by Walter Isaacson. I can’t add much more then the extensive coverage that it has recieved in the press to date. Instead I paraphrase really badly a friend of mine, Noel Hudson: All that book thought me was dropping acid and treating people really badly works as a life strategy. While that’s not entirely true it is a humourous look at the books tone. It has a grain of truth, Walter Issacson really focuses on the warts and all representation of Steve Jobs. He defines him very much in terms of how other people percieved him, whether that should have been the mainstay of the book is up for debate. Overall it’s a good book, what I liked most is the history lessons of the creation of the mac and how the Disney/Pixar relationship went down before the merger. I also felt Walter Issacson left it hanging at the end and that he knows much more that he can’t publish due to Apple’s corporate strategy being tied to Jobs so much (like the comment he made about cracking the UI for a TV). ...

I recently read an article that posed the question “Does your dock reflect your priorities?” - which is an interesting question. Further breaking that idea down leads to: What apps do I need the most? What apps should be next (or be higher priority)? iPhone dock Phone app: pretty self explanatory Safari: Still the best mobile browser I think (though if Google ever gets going on a proper Chrome browser for Android that may change) Tweetbot: I like Twitter the most of the social networks and tweetbot is the Swiss army knife if twitter clients Music (aka. iPod app) : I use my iPhone in my car and sometimes at work to listen to music iPad dock Safari: Safari on iPad is not as good as the iPhone version - it can be more full featured I think! Mail app: E-mail on the iPad is one of the most popular uses, it’s got just the right amount of screen real-estate to do it justice Photography folder: I don’t know why I mistook myself as being interested in photography, but here’s a folder I almost never use (bar camera app) Music: I like it uses the screen real-estate better then the iPhone version and it’s much nicer to browse music on Tweetbot: Tweetbot for iPad is the best Twitter client for iPad hands down (on the iPhone it’s more contested) and sync with Tweetmarker makes it much easier moving between iPhone and iPad versions. Final thoughts I guess I’ve learned I make pretty bad use of the dock on both devices. Evernote or Lastpass should probably be in the dock on either device - probably with a feed reader as a close run after that (Reeder or Mr. Reader). These apps feature on either home screen as you can see from the screenshots above. Food for thought I guess! ...