Technorama

The new handwriting. we should each have our own ;)

Just open gconf-editor Install gconf-editor, navigate to the key /desktop/gnome/font_rendering/dpi and adjust to values you need.

Alternatively use gnome-tweak-tool, and update text size to 1.1 or above even.

Labels: Ubuntu

Isn't it amazing, in 2011 how many sites are still designed for legacy desktop computers?

Some quick steps to make sure when commissioning, that your website really is accessible on mobile, touch pads, netbooks and laptops.

* Acquire the range of target devices. E.g. Android mobile phone like HTC Desire. Asus netbook and 14 inch regular laptop for testing the website.

* Web pages should fit within 600px maximum width, and ideally be less than that, 500px for mobile (5cm, 2 inch wide display area).

* Set page text size at a minimum of 12pt.

* Don't embed any legacy files like Adobe Flash or Apple Quicktime.

* Check all forms and menu systems are fully usable and submit-able using all the test platforms and browsers.

* If using an external company to develop the site, make sure they deliver their test specification and report. Verify it meets all these requirements before signing off on the project.

* Hold back 30% of final payment for 3 months while any initial issues are found and ironed out.

Easy ;)

p.s. Note: Adobe has announced it is abandoning Flash on mobile, we're now after the "beginning of the end" of the Flash file embedding problem that has persisted since the 90s.
9 Nov 2011. Adobe abandons work on Flash plug-in for mobile devices.


BBC Quote:
'Adobe says it now believes the alternative HTML 5 technology offers the "best solution" because it is "universally supported".'

Labels: Adobe, Web

Don't you just find it frustrating when an organisation you are buying a service from like graze.com sends you an email with a "noreply" from address? Any reply by me querying my order will result in a bounce. It's pretty unprofessional.

Luckily no company dares to do it with their postal address. Imagine getting your order letter:

From:
Online Books
No Street
No town
No county
NO1 4BG

So why do firms get away with these noreply bulk emails? Email is a two way communication, that's why I have a valid from address on email I send to companies I am trading with.

As part of email 2.0, invalid email addresses should be rejected by SMTP servers, preventing companies sending these emails to people.

Labels: email

I'd like to see better code produced by compilers. Using genetic techniques, that is a process which mimics evolution: mutation + selection, inheritance, cross over (parents), and cross-entropy (providing better samples for next iteration). Could be applied to optimisation, compiling the same function, and testing the speed with which the next iteration operates as the deciding factor. These results can be used to adjust weights, which can be stored per CPU architecture/OS and used as defaults for future optimisation.

A simpler option is just to use iteration, and measurement, per CPU architecture to determine the best compiler optimisation settings and weights.

Labels: Compiler, GCC

Just upgraded to Ubuntu 11.10. First feedback:

Bugs:
* Time after login to desktop is v.sluggish, 20 seconds.

* Default keyboard repeat rate is v.slow.

* Loading Ubuntu Software Centre by clocking on link on left of desktop took around 30 seconds to open.

* Default DPI is wrong, text is very small.

* /var/log/syslog is full of AptDaemon: messages recurring every 5 mins.

Positives:

* Ubuntu software centre is going to some-way to catch up with Android and iPhone. Looks fantastic, and great to see free as well as paid Apps, but are they all under reasonable licences? However, despite being in the UK, all prices are listed in US$??


My system is an 8 month old top of the range Acer Aspire Timeline X 3820T, 4GB Ram, Intel i3-370M.

Labels: GNU+Linux, Ubuntu

This BBC article reminds me of when Gosplan was predicting fashion.. building the platform shoe factory.. by the time all up and running.. no one thought platform shoes were cool any more. see Adam Curtis docus for more on this.

UK Data Protection Act has a series of clauses covering "automated processing"

Labels: DataProtection