on Life and Livingness - by Tom » Computer Programmer Stuff

Inside Apple’s insane developer agreement

Tom — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 20:21:00 +0000

Apple recently released a new version of its iPhone Developer Program License agreement, and it has caused quite a controversy. http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/programming-and-development/?p=2486&tag=nl.e055

If You Have a Website

Tom — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:22:18 +0000

To which you would like to drive more free traffic, watch this short video. http://www.ericstips.com/linkstrategy/

Important Web-Site Priority

Tom — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 06:05:36 +0000

Web users spend 80% of their time looking at information above the page http://www.useit.com/alertbox/scrolling-attention.html

Russian security firm rails against responsible disclosure

Tom — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:49:01 +0000

A little known Russian security firm has taken the bold step of releasing details of zero-day exploits in business software every day for the rest of January, according to reports. http://www.itnews.com.au/News/164630,russian-security-firm-rails-against-responsible-disclosure.aspx

Systems suffer new year hangover

Tom — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:41:46 +0000

Software systems across the world went haywire on 1 January because they were not programmed to handle the year 2010. http://www.itnews.com.au/News/164632,systems-suffer-new-year-hangover.aspx#poll

What Windows 7 means to developers

Tom — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:06:39 +0000

Wondering what Windows 7 will break in your applications? Justin James assures you that there’s not much need to worry. http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/programming-and-development/?p=1819&tag=nl.e055

The Jakob Nielsen Alertbox for September 14 is now online

Tom — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:59:33 +0000

Simple user testing with 5 participants, paper prototyping, and heuristic evaluation offer a cheap, fast, and early focus on usability, as well as many rounds of iterative design.http://www.useit.com/alertbox/discount-usability.html

Disabling automatic drive letter assignment

Tom — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 02:50:06 +0000

For certain situations, it may be necessary to tell Windows not to automatically mount new storage that become visible to the server. http://www.zdnetasia.com/techguide/windows/0,39044904,62057146,00.htm

Managing servers and other systems from the iPhone

Tom — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 02:31:44 +0000

Server administration can be a 24/7 job, but who wants to be tethered to a laptop all the time? http://www.zdnetasia.com/techguide/storage/0,39045058,62057245,00.htm

Researchers find large-scale XML library flaws

Tom — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 06:58:23 +0000

Researchers in Finland have found a series of flaws in the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) libraries that could pose a serious security risk. http://www.itnews.com.au/News/152232,researchers-find-large-scale-xml-library-flaws.aspx

How Little Do Users Read?

Tom — Sun, 11 May 2008 00:44:03 +0000

On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely. more

Embarcadero buys CodeGear – Borland left to focus on ALM

Tom — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:16:27 +0000

CodeGear, the development tools unit of Borland Software, has been acquired by Embarcadero Technologies. more

Google: Unicode vanquishes ASCII

Tom — Tue, 06 May 2008 03:34:10 +0000

Unicode has overtaken ASCII as the most popular character encoding scheme on the World Wide Web. Also vanquished at almost exactly the same time was the Western European encoding. more

Type and Layout Design Principles

Tom — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:25:06 +0000

Here is a link to a web design expert’s usability site. This week’s article features a couple of points near and dear to my soul. here

They exactly mirror the advice in a book I purchased twenty years ago called “Communicating or Just Making Pretty Shapes” by Colin Wheildon. It is a must read for anyone having anything to do with creating marketing or promotional material.

Cascading Style Sheet Tip

Tom — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 05:22:03 +0000

I am learning more about cascading style shhets and came across this post.

Bridging the Channel

Tom — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:11:42 +0000

A reader writes: “I have four slots for DDR2 memory. How do you set up the system for dual-channel or single-channel? Which is faster?” here

What is cross-site scripting?

Tom — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:56:42 +0000

Cross-site scripting, also known as “XSS,” is a class of security exploit that has gotten a fair bit of attention in the last few years. more

A great resource for web site planning

Tom — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:35:04 +0000

Just read some posts on theming web sites over here

Intel details roadmap to more cores

Tom — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:14:49 +0000

Intel has laid out its future product roadmap, including a forthcoming six-core upgrade to its Xeon processor line, details of its next micro-architecture codenamed Nehalem, future 32nm chips, and technology with which it plans to meet requirements for high-performance graphics and visualisation. more

Bridging the Designer–User Gap

Tom — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:23:37 +0000

Depending on how representative designers are of the target audience, a project might need more or less user testing. Still, usability concerns never go away completely. more