The introduction of the <picture> tag

Chrome 38 is introducing extensions to HTML5. Welcome the <picture> tag. The tag will allow a simpler and more elegant way of sending multiple versions of a graphic, making responsive design that much easier to implement.

<picture>
    <source media="(min-width: 45em)" srcset="large.jpg">
    <source media="(min-width: 32em)" srcset="med.jpg">
    <img src="small.jpg" alt="">
</picture>

It's also introducing some new ES6 feature- which will make storing and interacting with data simpler.

Picasso meets Photography

Some friends on Facebook sent this to me. It's one of the best examples I've ever seen. As one wrote "It makes my head hurt." I can only imagine how a young Picasso would have loved this photo.

Add Eclipse to Windows 8 app Menu

So I install Eclipse and it doesn't appear on my Windows 8 Metro Interface. What's up with that? Why am I unable to have it appear.

I still don't know why it did not appear (apparently there is some issue with zip files) but thankfully the solution to the problem is simple and straight forward.

1. Make a shortcut of the .exe in question.
2. Right click and cut the shortcut.
3. Navigate to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
4. Right click and paste the shortcut (you can edit the name if necessary)

And there it is - you've added your .exe to the Metro Interface

Overloading UI Controls

I have an Android, a Galaxy S3 and wanted to decrease the size of the displayed font. One of the ways to do so is to go to settings and select an option that allows the user to change the font size via the volume controls. I've wondered more than once whether this was overloading the UI - especially as there was no indication on the screen that the volume was the font-size controller. (And of course a link from this indicator to the settings control.)

Low and behold I overheard someone on the subway speaking to a friend that the font-size on his messages had zoomed too large and he didn't know why that happened or how to change it back to the default settings. I was able to change it for him. Somehow he had gone to settings and selected this without knowing. To add more pain to the situation the menu associated with messages does not provide the user with a means of changing font-size.

The lessons to be learned? When overloading UI controls give an indication to the user what is being done and link back to the admin section to allow the user to change the settings. And second provide multiple ways to change the settings. It can be as simple as a "more" link.

The End is Near: The End of Moore's Law that is

The jist of the article is this:

"The cost curves are kind of getting flat," Samueli told reporters at an evening Broadcom event at the Tank18 wine bar in San Francisco's trendy South of Market district. Instead of getting more speed, less power consumption and lower cost with each generation, chip makers now have to choose two out of three.
Moore's Law isn't making chips cheaper anymore

The core issue (from a Singularity point of view anyway) is: "Does computing power continue to double every 18mths or so?" If costs and energy consumption level off - that's not good in the long run as now exponential growth works against you in those areas. But, I'm confident that solutions will be brought to those issues as well.

Sexting and everything lives on forever

What's interesting is in the epilogue: When almost everyone sexts then sexts, by themselves, will no longer be career ending. But we, as people, will continue to find ways to embarrass ourselves.

Is it GIF or jiff?

The Kmart ad has resurrected the GIF v jiff war that raged in the early 1990s. I thought this was settled but then some pseudo-intellectuals bring it back up. I don't know why I'm so exercised about this but I am. It was an interesting debate 20 years ago as the community was trying to come to terms on how to describe things.



Do we say GIF (hard G) or jiff?
Do we say J-P-G or jpeg?
Is it dub-dub-dub or www?
Do we say "forward slash", "slash" or leave it out all together?


It doesn't matter what Steve Wilhite says, nor does it matter what CompuServ had in their original documentation. This is not 1993. The pronunciation, as chosen in millions upon millions of conversations over the last 20 years have settled the question.

I got the following quotes from twitchy.com

That awkward moment when Kmart can't pronounce "gif" in their national commercials.

— Lauren Stricos (@laurenstricos) November 29, 2013

Not only is the KMart commercial annoying, but they improperly pronounce GIF.

— Amazing Rando (@scout_6) November 27, 2013

The Kmart commercial about "giffing out" pronounce "gif" incorrectly. I mean I use the hard "g" sound too, but on tv let's try harder.
— Hannah Murphy (@hanner2012) November 27, 2013

I don't know why I am so irritated that this religious war is being refought - but, there it is. I find it ridiculous that people make these claims. If they believed what they were saying (as opposed to being pretentious) they would be saying "jiff" instead of "GIF" in their conversations. And yet, I haven't heard it called "jiff" in close to 20 years.