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CLImax 1.5d2 re-released
Any old-school scripters out there might be happy to hear that I've re-released CLImax 1.5d2, which I recently rediscovered on a long-lost backup. CLImax is an AppleScript command-line interface for...
View ArticleNew Parallels Desktop Beta
A new beta update of Parallels Desktop has been released that updates Parallels Desktop for Mac to Build 1862 Beta.This update fixes the disk caching policy problem that PD Tweaker was created for. If...
View ArticleGreat PS2 Games for Young Kids, Part Two
Well, it's been (ahem) about a year and a half since I promised a "part two" to my earlier post on Great PS2 Games for Young Kids, Part One. And it's time for the next installment. Three more games...
View ArticleVideo Game Tips for Parents
I want to talk a little about a couple of lessons that I've learned from several years of experience with my daughter and video games. If you haven't done so already, I'd also recommend reading these...
View ArticleSwitched to Blogger Beta
Yesterday I moved this blog to the new Blogger Beta. I went whole-hog and switched to a new template as well. I'm still tweaking it, and XHTML compliance is temporarily gone. But for the most part...
View ArticleWhen Benchmarks Attack
In my professional life I've found myself measured by an external benchmark many times. One time that comes to mind was when I was writing disk drivers for Mac OS 8. The disk driver's job in Mac OS 8...
View ArticleBlogger: Image as Blog Header
I'm going to do a brief series about how I wound up customizing my Blogger template (styles and widgets) after switching to the Blogger beta. First up, how I replaced the header with an image.Why...
View ArticleBlogger: Condensed Label List
This is a continuation of the series about customizations I made to my Blogger template after switching to the Blogger beta.This time I'm going to talk about the condensed list of labels that I've put...
View ArticleJapanese PS3 commercials
Everyone knows Sony's marketing can be, uh, interesting. Most people have seen the US commercials for the PlayStation 3, but not so many people have seen the Japanese commercials.Since the Japanese...
View ArticleBetter Food, Just as Fast
Do you find yourself going out to dinner a lot, or bringing home takeout food more often than you should?We sure do. Even though we've been making an effort to eat lighter meals at healthier places --...
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Oh, baby baby
Please welcome my son Archer Douglas Thaler, born on Jan 30th 2007 at 5:10am. He was 7lbs 11oz, 20 inches long, and came out pink and screaming -- just the way they're supposed to.There are a few more...
View ArticleCrazy Del.icio.us
Do you use del.icio.us? If not, you might want to. I've been using it for a while now, and the more I use it the more I like it. What is del.icio.us?It's a social bookmarking site. Here's a description...
View ArticleBASIC for the iPhone
This year C4[1] played host to Iron Coder Live. The API was "iPhone" and the theme was "conspiracy". The winner was well-deserved. But I had fun doing a hack of my own.There was just one problem: I...
View ArticleMarkdown Scripts for MarsEdit
I've created a few AppleScripts for MarsEdit to simplify the process of using Markdown to post to any weblog (like, say, Blogger) that doesn't natively support it. Translate Markdown to HTMLThis script...
View ArticleWhat should TV shows cost?
While reading Daring Fireball today, I saw that Apple has posted a press release scolding NBC for wanting to more than double the cost of their content.Apple® today announced that it will not be...
View ArticleMicrobenchmarking
I want to talk a little about a technique that can be very useful. Like all programming tools, however, it's a double-edged sword and can easily be abused. I'm talking about microbenchmarks. A...
View ArticleMarsEdit Markdown Scripts updated to 1.0.3
No piece of software, however simple, is bug-free.Daniel Jalkut was kind enough to point out to me that my Markdown scripts for MarsEdit didn't deal properly with Unicode text.Silly me. I'd forgotten...
View ArticleDon't be a ZFS Hater
John Gruber recently linked to— and thus gave credibility to — a MWJ post ripping on a fairly reasonable AppleInsider post about ZFS. Representative quote:“We don't find HFS Plus administration to be...
View ArticleZFS Hater Redux
MWJ has responded to my last post, Don't Be a ZFS Hater, with a post of their own: You don't have to hate ZFS to know it's wrong for you.I don't like the point-by-point quote and response format — it's...
View ArticleThe Case Against Insensitivity
One of the most controversial parts of my earlier post, Don't Be a ZFS Hater, was when I mentioned off-handedly in the comments that I don't like case-insensitivity in filesystems.Boy, did that spur a...
View ArticleRemembering Apollo 11
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.I hope you're listening to the mission audio, or following the JFK Presidential Library's webcast. The landing itself will be replayed at...
View ArticleThe Economics of School Supplies
I'm interested in economics for one particular reason: incentives are fascinating.There's the psychology aspect: how can you influence people's behavior? To really do this well you need to understand...
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A Christmas Present to Myself: My New Office
I've moved my home office from one room of the basement to another.I know, how boring, but this has given me a much-appreciated chance to completely rip out everything and get rid of the mess and...
View ArticleVariants of CompareAndSwap
I ran across an interesting issue the other day while trying to make a cross-platform atomics header work on Mac OS X.Compare-and-Swap (hereafter, CAS) is one of the fundamental atomic primitives:...
View ArticleOptimization Goals
In my day job, I've worked with many different teams of programmers. Game engine, game tools, OS, SDK, middleware, test engineers, you name it. Many of the people I work with are the best in the...
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