Objective-C

Original image by Andrew*

Since some weeks I’m learning Objective-C and the cocoa framework. I would prefer to stay in rubyland (I think ruby opens up incredible possibilities, and would really like to see it adopted more widely), but if I plan to code for Mac and iPhone I at least should know how Objective-C works. I’m still at the very beginnings of my journey to the fabolous world of nice windows, accelerometer-based controls and multitough gestures, I’m even far from doing something useful (probably because the only computer I have at the moment is a Pentium 4 with 256 MByte Ram.. adn thus I really cant bring myself to do some programming on it, since everything is so damn slow..), but I already saw the beauty of Objective-C.

Like mentioned before, I speak ruby. I like the idea that a high-level language takes care of all the bookkeeping, of all the non-buisness logic, and lets you focus on the real implementation (and here Java and Aspect-J already go a long way, as would C#, but I have no experience with the latter), and if I can choose I will always opt for the latter (having IronRuby working on the iPhone would make my day). Cleary, in my spare time I have nothing against programmin in assembly (Sometimes I even do it just for fun), brainfuck or even whitespace (latter is clearly hilarious to play around with), but when I have to get things done, I like to have powerful tools at my disposal, and I think ruby gets the job done in a really good way. Now that I’m seeing how Objective-C handles things, I think we have found a good golden mean: it offers most of the possibilities that a high-level language offers, without loosing control. Clearly, we#re far from a perfect language, but I can totally see why Objective-C is so widely used and accepted. For now i just tried my programs in virtualized Macs (and, as mentioned above, with my current PC that means I have a shitload of patience), but I’m planning to organize some Hackintosh (a real Mac is way beyond my budget) on which I can play around.

The only thing that bothers me is how to get Objective-C / cocoa applications cross-platform compatible and more secure (I’m still very new to secure coding). As soon as I find a way to achieve both of the above, there will be some nice tools I have in mind, so stay tuned!

Pornografia, bucce di banana, lavorare poco e diventare ricchi con droghe.

Foto originale di Zach_ManchesterUK

Partiamo dall’inizio. Tempo fa ho perso il mio dominio ramsesoriginal.org, il che mi ha demoralizzato molto, e in seguito ho quasi abbandonato questo blog. Ora pian pianino sto di nuovo iniziando a usare questo blog, e postare (piú o meno) regolarmente. Ora stavo, come ho giá fatto spesso prima, analizzando gli accessi al sito. Bhe, chiaramente c’é stato un drop incredibile di visite quando ho perso il mio dominio (qualcosa come 1/1000 di visite ora.. avevo un pagerank niente male). Oltre a questo ho notato una cosa interessante: fino ad agosto dell’anno scorso, la maggior parte della gente che arrivava qui era in cerca di pornografia, richieste legali riguardanti youporn, oppure informazioni su come scaricare i video dal suddetto sito (oltre che informazioni riguardanti certi fetish .. ehm.. un po.. preoccupanti) . Ebbene, da agosto a metá ottobre c’é stato un movimento incredibile degli interessi (almeno da quel che risulta dai miei log): per un breve periodo le informazioni sul mercato immobiliare erano molto ricercate, sopratutto sulla fluttuazione dei costi e su quando torneranno alti, e se torneranno alti. E dopo siamo passati ad avere una maggioranza di richieste su 3 temi: come diventari ricchi lavorando poco, come trasportare droga e informazioni riguardo alle bucce di banana secche. Visto che tutti e 3 i post sono piuttosto datati, credo sia arrivata l’ora di aggiornare i post, quindi aspettatevi un paio di post su questi temi nel futuro prossimo.

Peró trovo interessante il cambiamento di interessi: finché l’economia era a posto, la gente cercava pornografia. Appena le cose anno iniziato ad andare male, la gente é migrata verso temi che li riguardavano piú direttamente (anche se chiaramente, non dimentichiamo la regola 34: c’é chi combina le cose). Questo quasi quasi mi da una speranza che internet man mano diventi sempre piú anche uno strumento per “sopravvivere”, e non solo per cercare immagini osé di Fergie, anche per la gente che non ha un background informatico.

E vorrei concludere dicendo che, combinando droga, pornografia, banane e diventare ricchi lavorando poco si raggiungono delle frasi molto divertenti.. alcune delle quali sono reperibili nei miei log delel ricerche. La frase migliore trovata? “Come ricevere soldi per infilarsi banane nell’ano mentre fumo crack“. Fantastico. C’é gente che mi fa paura, in giro..

Indie music distribution and licensing

Cretive Commons

I just discovered a service that might intrest you (especially if oyu have a band). It’s called Tunecore (you can find it on http://www.tunecore.com/), and basically a service where you pay a small yearly fee (as low as 20$ is already a good plan), and you will get some services, like for example upload to various online music stores (amazon, iTunes, and many more), publicity, maybe even soem concerts, and much more. And as a bonus, since today, they even offer you the ability to use Universal Music’s services (yes, the real thing, one of the big 6 music majors), like professional remastering, the possibility to get to play at the real big events, and so on. You will keep the whole copyrights, you just buy some services. I just tought you might be intrested.

Ok, after the prising it, just a few considerations from my side: I would recommend also putting the music on some “free” sites, like last.fm and grooveshark (there are maaany more, those two are the biggest ones, and they are great, chek them out!), maybe even some video on youtube. This way you get some “free” publicity, and your fans can listen to the music and if they like it and want it on their iPods (or Zunes, Walkmans, whatever), they can buy it on one of the many stores.

And the last and biggest advice on my side: use a Creative Commons license (http://creativecommons.org/license/). There are many variations, with different variations, but summing it up it allows fans to remix the music, make videos, or even just use it as a ringtone. It’s a way to let your fans listen to your music without giving up your rights or criminalizing your fans (having a song as ringtone when more then 6 persons can hear it means you just committed a crime under standard copyright). I would recommend a CC 3.0 by-nc-sa license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ ), it means: If you got this song, you can reuse it, remix it, remaster it, create derivate work, as long as it’s not commercial and you attribute the original creator. It’s a great way to distribute your music.

Sorry for the lengthly post, I guess no one of you is still reading, anyway, rock on!

Arranged Marriage vs. Love Marriage

Mysterious bride, original by sparktography

While studying for my Project Management course, I tried to apply its rules and classifications to the “AFK” life.. and I must say, I think I must redesign my life architecture, since the conclusions where surprising.. Just the license agreement seems to be problematic.. The best thing would be the find a cross-licensed alternative. Any ideas?

• • Love Marriage: Resembles procedural programming language. We have some set functions like flirting, going to movies together, making long conversations on phone and then try to fit all functions to the candidate we like.
  • Arranged Marriage: Similar to object oriented programming approach. We first fix the candidate and then try to implement functions on her. The main object is fixed and various functions are added to supplement the main program. The functions can be added or deleted.
• • Love Marriage: It is a throwaway type of prototype as client requirements rises with time thus it is a dynamic system and difficult to maintain.
  • Arranged Marriage: Requirements are well defined so use of waterfall model is possible.
• • Love Marriage: Family system hangs because hardware called parents are not responding.
  • Arranged Marriage: Compatible with hardware Parents.
• • Love Marriage: You are the project leader so u are responsible for implementation and execution of PROJECT- married life.
  • Arranged Marriage: You are a team member under project leader parents so they are responsible for successful execution of project Married life.
• • Love Marriage: Client expectations include exciting feature as spouse cooking food, washing clothes etc.
  • Arranged Marriage: All these features are covered in the SRS as required features.
• • Love Marriage: Acceptance test possible you can try before you Buy.
  • Arranged Marriage: Product is sold on an as is where is basis. Product once sold will not be taken back!