Joakim Nygård Archive Linked About

ClickToFlash

29 Jan 2009 -

Brilliant plugin for Safari and WebKit that prevents Flash content from loading until clicked. Saves a few CPU cycles on flash based banners.

High Voltage Cable Inspection

15 Jan 2009 -

Fascinating video of a rather unusual job.

2009-01-14

14 Jan 2009 -

Post-apocalyptic The Remnants pilot looks really promising. I hope it becomes a series.

2009-01-10

10 Jan 2009 -

Palm Pre looks very cool. Could be worthy iPhone competitor. Multitasking seems cleverly done and webkit as dev platform will be interesting

Introducing the Scienta ZF Debug Bar

8 Jan 2009 -

Update: There’s a new blog post with details on version 1.4.

Since the early betas I’ve been using the Zend Framework in several professional and personal PHP projects with great joy. To aid the development process, I decided to build an easy to use debug panel. This first version requires the Zend MVC paradigm as it is implemented as a Zend_Controller_Plugin.

The Scienta ZF Debug Bar injects into every request a snippet of HTML with commonly used debug information. Time spent, memory usage and number of database queries are presented at a glance. Additionally, included files, a listing of available view variables and the complete SQL command of all queries are shown in separate panels. Combined, I believe it can cut down on the number of debug output statements like var_dump while developing - I know it did for me.

The output is a simple bar in the lower left corner of the browser window:

2009 Scienta Debug Bar

Clicking each of the sections short of the memory display will bring up a panel with more information:

To install, place the folder ‘Scienta’ in your library path, next to the Zend folder. Then add the following lines to your bootstrap file:

$scBar = new Scienta_Controller_Plugin_Debug(array(
            'database_adapter' => $db, // Zend_Db_Adapter_Abstract
            'memory_usage' => true,
            'collect_view_vars' => true));
$frontController = Zend_Controller_Front::getInstance();
$frontController->registerPlugin($scBar);

The constructor options array is optional and allows for disabling specific panels, e.g. if no database adapter is presented, the query section and panel will not be shown. More info and download Scienta ZF Debug Bar here.

This release is the first public version. As such there is surely bugs and clever features missing. Never the less, I hope it will make for a somewhat faster development process - let me know.

Update As several readers have pointed out, the look of Scienta Debug Bar is very similar to the Symfony Framework. The icons are from the excellent Silk Set by Mark James - also used by Symfony.

2008-12-19

19 Dec 2008 -

This 24 hour of flights map is absolutely fascinating, reminiscent of an invasion (by man!).

Make something that people want

3 Dec 2008 -

Only build stuff for yourself

That’s the Golden Rule of Building Stuff. If you’re planning to build something for someone else, let someone else build it.

A rather long on-screen read but definitely worth the time for anyone with ideas.

2008-11-27

27 Nov 2008 -

Clever use of proxy for ad-blocking in Safari: GlimmerBlocker. Been using floppymoose.com for a few years with joy.

One Application to Rule Your Files

9 Sep 2008 -

The Finder has always been by far the most important application on the Mac. It was the entrance to the computer, the Google of the offline. It used to be where your files were. That changed with Apple’s Digital Hub strategy.

As the iPods became a still larger part of Apple’s revenue, the importance of iTunes became clear. From being just another application designed to do one thing well, playing music, it - like the Finder - became the entrance to a certain kind of files, music, and to another computer: The one in your pocket. iPhoto does the same for photos, displaying and organizing media files in a usable way. They are both attempts at managing an increasing number of files, media types and devices.

The situation leaves the Finder in a strange position. With iTunes handling music and movies and iPhoto your photos, the Finder is no longer at the core of finding files. This creates another problem with open and save dialogs that were historically designed to be a minimal version of the Finder (they really should be full featured Finder windows, familiar and easier to use). With iTunes and iPhoto, an iLife Media Browser needed to be tacked on to access their managed content.

It is a fundamental problem of managing the thousands of files each of us keeps on computers (and phones) today. How do we find and organize them? The folder metaphor is time-tested but static by nature. The Spotlight search technology, smart folders and media browsers are first steps toward a solution, but no where near done and currently just patches to an anacronistic design.

It is worth noting that Apple has taken steps to make the data of various applications be more file-like to support Spotlight. Mails are stored as invidiual mails now rather than a single mbox file and contacts and events are browsable from the Finder. A complete overhaul of the Finder to integrate the possibilities of Spotlight, tagging and metadata is very much needed.

The SpotlightFS file system for MacFuse allows for spotlight searches simply by creating a folder with the search terms as name. Leap is also a step in this direction, relying on Spotlight to do the searching and definitely worth a look.

Files, no matter what kind they are (including mails and contacts), should be accessible from anywhere on the computer. They should behave like they were records in a relational database so that they can be displayed, ordered and filtered anyway wanted (this was, in fact, part of the goal with the WinFS filesystem that got pulled from Vista). Smart Folders should be easier to create from search terms or tags and behave like regular folders and support tagging a file simply by dragging it into that folder.

In many ways the Finder would be like a clever webapp, like Flickr with multiple views of the same data. It seems like a good idea to look online for inspiration, particularly since one of the key challenges is how to move data seamlessly between services and allow easy user generated mashups - comparable to moving file data between applications.

iPhoto and iTunes should provide a view to a certain filtered list of files and ad specific functionality, e.g. playback or retouching tools rather than attempting to solve a file system problem. A plugin architecture, much like the one for Spotlight or Quicklook, would allow for new meta data and alternative views: An iCal view displaying photos by date or a people browser showing mails, chats and documents grouped by person.

Apple has created high level APIs like Core Data and Core Animation to help developers leverage new technology. A similar Core Files with a simple but powerful interface to the file system and related metadata would be a giant leap in the right direction, allowing the Finder and third party apps to access files in dynamic groups.

With Apple saying the next version of Mac OS X, code named Snow Leopard, will focus on polishing existing features over adding new ones, I sincerely hope an improved Finder with extra Spotlight magic like described above is considered ‘polish’ :)

iPhone 3G plan in Denmark revealed

28 Jun 2008 -

Telia finally pulled the curtains on iPhone pricing and conditions in Denmark today. Unlike the other Scandinavian countries Sweden and Norway, Telia Denmark has only a single plan for each iPhone model.

The 8GB iPhone will set you back $296 (1399 DKK) while the 16GB model costs $423 (1999 DKK). Both include 6 months contracts (maximum in Denmark) with a monthly fee of $127 (599 DKK) comprised of 300 minutes (though unlimited to other Telia customers), unlimited SMS messages and 300MB of data. The total cost of ownership during the 6 months is thus $1057 (4993 DKK) and $1184 (5593 DKK) respectively.

I’m all in, especially considering I’m already spending around $100 a month using my current Nokia. Subtracting this from the TCO brings the cost of upgrading to the iPhone down to a fair $580. I’m a little worried that 300MB a month might not be enough, but it’s really hard to judge how much I’ll end up using 3G compared to WiFi and how much the Safari cache can save.

Compared to the Swedish and Norwegian iPhone plans the monthly fee is considerably higher but the contract runs for a minimum of 18 months. Here is comparable TCO for all three countries:

8GB:

16GB:

Both the Swedish and Norwegian contracts include 250 minutes, texts and MBs, selected as closest match. It would seem Danes get a better deal in all ways. Now, it’s only two weeks before the mayhem begins…

Archive