jherdman

Really? Why ever not? What do they prefer?

Agreed. Also, { foo-bar: 'baz' } is not valid either. This is kind of a shame per the JSON argument as well.

You're right: the temptation to build from scratch is strong, and probably inappropriate. I think we're dealing with two fundamental problems:

1. Most developers don't grok JavaScript. The object model (prototype-based) really throws off a lot of folks, and the fact that JavaScript can't seem to make up its mind if it's classical or prototypical doesn't help. There are numerous other problems as well made evident, and worse, by the lousy code you see floating around.

2. Fixing and improving JavaScript moves at a glacial pace due to the rate of turnover in browser versions. Chrome has it right insofar that they make upgrades automatic, easy and transparent. As always IE is a major problem, and MS' refusal to adopt a Chrome-style upgrade process isn't helping any.

Bloody amazing book. I just reread it a few weeks ago.

I'm not really sure this is HTML5. Looking at the source code, you don't see many of the hallmarks of HTML5. There HTML tag itself is distinctly XHTML 1.0 Strict, and the lack of any true HTML5 tags (e.g. SECTION, NAV) imply to me a hybrid -- a platypus, if you will. They do, interestingly, use HTML5 data tags.

Autotest is not CI. A key component of a good CI setup is having a "pure" system that builds your application code. The purpose of this is to ensure that a machine, other than your own, can actually build your software. This is to reveal hidden dependencies, or sometimes differences between your dev box and the production environment.

I disagree. It's pretty obvious that though a great number of changes came through with Rails 3, one of the goals was to have a short uptake path. This is readily observed through the decision to maintain Prototype as the default JS library, ERB, and others, despite the gross popularity of the alternatives.

Introducing Arel, and improving ActiveRecord in general, serve to bolster this attitude and approach. That is, to improve the state of the defaults, provide an easy path for uptake, whilst now offering the alternatives cleaner means of tying into the Rails system.

To address your side nodes...

#1. A hat tip would have been nice, but I don't think too many folks were truly upset in the long run.

#2. Meh. The only thing I really miss from DM is the declaration of attributes. Arel is pretty tight. Check out Mongoid. It's pretty slick.

#3. Ex-Merb user too. AR does the trick sometimes, but I'm happy to have the freedom to use Mongoid, Sequel, etc.

You're probably right with respect to using a secondary device as the medium with which interactivity and TV content are brought together.

Your last point is a pale shadow of a greater problem that PVRs are trying to solve. People are ipso facto inundated with too much content from all angles, period. I sometimes find myself wondering if we as a society are addicted to this constant influx of content and stimuli.

I had a really good conversation yesterday at the Dev Lunch in Toronto about so-called Smart TVs. Here's a quick summary:

* TVs are about media consumption, not about interaction in the PC-sense of the word.

* When one wants extra content or information regarding the media they are consuming, they tend to use a secondary device (e.g. iPad, notebook)

* Most devs in the room merely wanted a device that would allow them to better manage and consume the media they wanted

* It's not clear what sort of apps (besides the aforementioned management tool) would be beneficial to write for a Smart TV platform. This is likely a function of not groking what a future with a Smart TV might be like.

* Over and over again, it was noted that the TV is a social device. You watch it with friends, be it in a bar, or a home. It's not clear that interacting with a Smart TV could be a social activity.

I'm interested to see what happens in this sphere, but I frankly can't shake the feeling that it's a dead end. Mostly dumb boxes that enable consumption, and management of media are probably the most likely thing to succeed, a la TiVo.

I'm really not sure how I feel about this. I've been churning it over and over in my mind since I heard about this via the grapevine whilst in my favourite bar tonight. The only thing I've left with thinking is this: for better or worse, Node is the most successful CommonJS platform available today. Server-side JS should thrive, but I'm not sure Node is the thing to do it.

Node, to me, feels like it's the thing that JavaScript the language should be on the client-side; JavaScript on the server-side is beholden to the slow pace of the client-side and is not developing the things it needs, at the pace it needs.

I can't help but feel that JavaScript is the wrong match for this. Maybe Clojure is better. Maybe something else is. I just can't ignore this gut feeling that thing isn't write with this picture.

The title is misleading. Can this be edited to denote that this is only for Gmail and not a generic mail client?

* System Shock 2 * Tie Fighter

I'm waiting. Targeting Webkit is no better than targeting IE.

> If you don't, we're haggling over the price, not over the principle.

Sure, haggle away. I see no problem with this. I don't see the need for Heroku (or anyone for that matter) to support a user's desire to haggle. I do think, however, that a warning should be given if your usage surges suddenly so that you can react appropriately.

> Heroku should almost certainly have user defined cut off points. They should require every new user to set a maximum monthly bill to something they can afford (or "unlimited").

And then what? They shut you off? That would go over just as well! Here's a thought: understand what you sign up for and take some responsibility for your actions.

Why not? Did that not just humble you a bit with the sheer grace and awe yielded by hundreds of years of evolution? I don't know about you, but my world just got slightly more awesome knowing about this.

I take it this means you weren't around for The Dark Ages? The time when animated GIFs ran amuck, standards were wept for acceptance, and the kingdom of Geocities was strong?

Interesting, but dictionary.com and m-w.com claim that it's a contraction of "al(though) be it".

  * http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/albeit
  * http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/albeit

Yes, you're right, but "albeit" is the word you're looking for, not "all be it".

Yup. My company uses it amongst the devs to stay in touch. I also lurk on #nodejs.

Many thanks! I learned something new today.

Isn't this because the GPS on the iPhone is assisted and not true?

Congrats, guys! I'm just starting to take a look into CouchDB at the moment. I look forward to getting to know it better.

> I thought about trying to import them and have them breed, but apparently most species like humidity and standing water...

Thank you for not doing that. The last person to have an idea like this introduced those god damn Starlings to North America. Mice came here in the same fashion (i.e. human intervention).

That's pretty neat. I've been meaning to learn about Clojure. This is just the thing I needed to encourage me to get off my duff.

You've made me second guess myself. I was getting bit by this bug http://trac.macports.org/ticket/18235. It does not persist any more. Apologies.

Well, since I can't comment on that convoluted site, a quick gotcha with 'pbpaste' and 'pbcopy': they don't work with screen.

EDIT: This issue no longer exists. Kindly ignore my comment.

How is this a problem with the web any more than anything? As soon as a thought leaves your mind and is engraved on some sort of medium (be it someone's memory, paper, or a webpage) it's out there for good.

Publishing thoughts on web, like print, demands rigour from the author and the reader. Read actively, write like you have an audience, and be skeptical.

This is an interesting point, though what we have with Android is something slightly different in that there's a certain degree of individual vendor responsibility to provide updates for your device as needed. Thus vendors will compete on a few different fronts:

* Hardware. I.e. design, reliability, technical specifications * Commitment. E.g. providing firmware updates * Marketing. * Icing. By this I mean the vendor's "above and beyond" software offerings, such as a more polished UI, add on software packages, etc.

I have to admit that I find Android exciting as an economical experiment. I am not, however, an Android device user. For me Apple's relentless attention to detail has kept me captive (for now).

Android is a "commodity" OS, if you will. That is, anyone can build a device and put Android on it. Given that Android isn't complete shit and that people ARE building devices and using it, this trend is rather expected.