Review: JetBrains AppCode for Objective C

By tim, on November 3rd, 2011 Follow tim on Twitter

I have been trying out JetBrains AppCode, a new IDE for Apple’s Objective C. The company is best known for its IntelliJ IDE for Java, and AppCode essentially takes the same core IDE and reworks it for Objective C. AppCode is itself a Java application, but unless you have a religious objection to this

…continue reading Review: JetBrains AppCode for Objective C

Adobe MAX 2011 and the future of Flash

By tim, on October 14th, 2011 Follow tim on Twitter

The unstated theme of Adobe MAX 2011 last week was this: what is the future of Flash? The issue being that with HTML 5 ascendant and Apple wrecking the idea of Flash as an ubiquitous web plug-in, should Adobe be frantically retooling its design tools for HTML and apps, or does Flash still have

…continue reading Adobe MAX 2011 and the future of Flash

Fixing a slow Windows XP PC

By tim, on December 23rd, 2010 Follow tim on Twitter

Yesterday I investigated a Windows XP machine that had become so slow it was unusable. It was a Dell Dimension 2350 with 1GB RAM and a 2.00 Ghz Celeron CPU – not too bad a spec for XP – that had been out of use for a while and was being brought back into

…continue reading Fixing a slow Windows XP PC

HTML 5 Canvas: the only plugin you need?

By tim, on November 26th, 2010 Follow tim on Twitter

The answer is no, of course. And Canvas is not a plugin. That said, here is an interesting proof of concept blog and video from Alexander Larsson: a GTK3 application running in Firefox without any plugin.

GTK is an open source cross-platform GUI framework written in C but with bindings to other

…continue reading HTML 5 Canvas: the only plugin you need?

25 years of Windows: triumph and tragedy

By tim, on November 22nd, 2010 Follow tim on Twitter

I wrote a (very) short history of Windows for the Register, focusing on the launch of Windows 1.0 25 years ago.

I used Oracle VirtualBox to run Windows 1.0 under emulation since it more or less works. I found an old floppy with DOS 3.3 since Windows 1.0 does not run on DOS

…continue reading 25 years of Windows: triumph and tragedy

First impressions of Microsoft Kinect – great hardware waiting for great software

By tim, on November 12th, 2010 Follow tim on Twitter

The moment of magic comes when someone walks through the gaming area and Xbox flashes up the message that they have signed in. No button was pressed; this was face recognition working in the background during gameplay.

So Kinect is amazing. And it is amazing: it is controller-less video gaming that works well enough

…continue reading First impressions of Microsoft Kinect – great hardware waiting for great software

What chance for MeeGo in the age of the iPad?

By tim, on May 28th, 2010 Follow tim on Twitter

Today is Apple iPad day in the UK; but the portable device I’ve been playing with is not from Apple. Rather, I downloaded the first release build of MeeGo, proudly labelled 1.0, and installed it on my Toshiba NB 300 netbook, which normally runs Windows. You can choose between the evil edition with Google

…continue reading What chance for MeeGo in the age of the iPad?

Microsoft - make up your mind about Moonlight

By tim, on April 25th, 2010 Follow tim on Twitter

I’ve been trying out Microsoft’s Office Web Apps, as provided for the release version of SharePoint 2010. The cross platform story is uneven, whether across Mac/Windows/Linux, or across different browsers, or even across different versions of Windows and Office. So far it does mostly work though, even if there are problems with certain tasks

…continue reading Microsoft – make up your mind about Moonlight

Apple locks down its platform just a little bit more

By tim, on April 11th, 2010 Follow tim on Twitter

How much money is enough? “Just a little bit more”, said J D Rockefeller; and Apple is taking a similar line with respect to control of its mobile platform. It is no longer enough that all apps are approved by Apple, sold by Apple, and that a slice of any sales goes to Apple.

…continue reading Apple locks down its platform just a little bit more

Why programmers should study Microsoft’s random failure and not trust Google search

By tim, on March 9th, 2010 Follow tim on Twitter

The bizarre story of the EU-mandated Windows browser choice screen took an unexpected twist recently when it was noticed that the order of the browsers was not truly random.

IBM’s Rob Weir was not the first to spot the problem, but did a great job in writing it up, both when initially observed

…continue reading Why programmers should study Microsoft’s random failure and not trust Google search

Tim Anderson’s ITWriting

Recent Comments

Blogroll

Archives