John Haro's Blahg - posts from a technologist and ne'er-do-well

Why Every Developer Needs an iPad.

So there are several decent PDF readers for iPad but apple today released a new version of iBooks that supports a PDF bookshelf. Some of the other readers I've used are loaded with features, iBooks in true apple fashion, does less and does it extremely well. I'm baffled that you cant side-load PDF files through iTunes, but I can get any of my books through the dropbox app wirelessly and maybe that's just better.

[UPDATE] You don't load pdf files through the same file loading interface that is available to other programs, you just drag the PDF books into itunes and itunes manages them the same way it would manage music, movies, etc.

Click here to download:

Why_Every_Developer_Needs_an_i.zip (620 KB)

Posted June 21, 2010

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Developer Days: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose

via youtube.com

From Dan Pink's talk at the RSA, animated. Like Attlassian, and on the topic of autonomy and motivating smart people, we recently started 'Developer Days' where we encourage all engineers to work on any technology related project they choose during the 2 days and then present it to the larger team at the end. Very casual, very fun.

Unfortunately nobody wanted to pair with me on writing a program in Scala that generates objectiveless meeting agendas and powerpoints filled with 3x3 diagrams.

Filed under // software development

Posted June 10, 2010

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What Makes Me Want an iPhone 4 and What Doesn't

If you care, and I know you do. I'll get a new iPhone because:

Price: I'm eligible to not get robbed by AT&T at the corner of Liberal Arts and Technology.
HD Video recording
The "Retina" display
A4 processor

I don't care much about

iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 Video Chat... or really anyone's video chat on any platform. People only want to look at themselves during a video chat anyway. People should just hold up a mirror when they talk on the phone.
iBooks on my iPhone.
Magic or magical things, or people who keep saying that something is magic. I think Apple products are generally superb, but its not going to help me kill Harry Potter now is it. What? Harry Potter is dead?

Posted June 7, 2010

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Dial *639# to find out if you are eligable for iPhone upgrade pricing

Looks like I don't have to pay full boat. However I doubt that AT&T is just being generous. Maybe this combined with new termination fee hikes are meant to lock as many people in as possible before Apple starts selling iPhones on other US carriers.

*via iPhone

Posted June 7, 2010

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Adobe details zero-day exploit, affects Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix, and Solaris

The zero-day exploit, without question, is the mother of all vulnerabilities. A recent report put the black market price tag of a good zero-day exploit — on that can be widely distributed — at just north of $50,000. Governments and private security firms have been rumored to pay more than quadruple that figure on the “white market” if the vulnerability is severe enough. We’ve got the complete security bulletin, with mitigation instructions, queued up for you after the bounce.

via boygeniusreport.com

One exploit to rule them all... all except devices that do NOT run Adobe Flash

Filed under // technology

Posted June 5, 2010

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iPad + Velcro

via vimeo.com

Smart

Filed under // Apple technology video

Posted June 4, 2010

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Google Switches Away from Windows (Mostly to Mac) Due to Security Concerns - Mac Rumors

Google is phasing out the use of Windows company-wide due to security concerns. The move comes after news in January that Google was hacked in an attack originating in China. Those attacks used a security vulnerability in Internet Explorer for Windows. News of the report comes from FT.com who cites several Google employees.
"We're not doing any more Windows. It is a security effort," said one Google employee.

via macrumors.com