Author Archives: Angus Hardie

Apple Developer Program improvements

Apple has made some big changes to their developer programs, which I think are a big improvement: 1) You can now apparently develop and deploy to your own iOS device without a program membership. (Possibly only with Xcode 7, I’m not … Continue reading

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New Bujold Book!

Wonderful news: Lois McMaster Bujold, one of my favourite authors, has announced a new novel, due sometime in 2016. If you haven’t read Bujold, I strongly recommend going out, getting a copy of one of them and reading it right … Continue reading

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Updating wordpress plugins via svn:externals

WordPress usually needs plugins for things, but it’s a pain keeping them updated, unless you want to use the built in auto-updating (which I don’t use for various reasons) That was until I discovered this method of using svn:externals to update … Continue reading

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MOD releasing open source stuff

MoD releases code to GitHub Well done to the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at the UK ministry of Defence. They’ve started to release code on github. I can’t imagine that getting approval for this was easy, and it probably required a … Continue reading

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Prison Architect

I’ve been playing Prison Architect recently, having picked it up in a Humble Bundle deal. Interesting idea and great fun. Plus not so lifelike that I would be uncomfortable playing.  

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Is Yosemite going to be released today?

October 16th has arrived, the Apple event is scheduled. Will this be the official release date of Yosemite? Enquiring minds want to know… update: yes it looks like it will be

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Google XSS game

http://xss-game.appspot.com/ It teaches a bit about Cross-site scripting (XSS) bugs that, as the page helpfully describes, are one of the most common and dangerous types of vulnerabilities in web apps. Worth checking, even if you think you know the material.

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Webkit Javascript Optimizing JIT compiler(s)

Is your JIT compiled javascript function running too slow? No worries, just wait and the javascript engine will recompile it and then replace the function with a faster version! But that’s not fast enough either? Webkit will compile another version … Continue reading

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SQLEditor 2.7 – the customizable object palette

The newest and latest feature to arrive in SQLEditor 2.7 [55MB Zip] is a customizable object palette. For a long time, the object palette in SQLEditor has looked like this: There were three fixed objects, that could be dragged from the … Continue reading

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Teddy the Guardian – a smart toy and medical sensor device

I just saw details of this new stuffed/plush toy bear that contains medical sensors, which seems absolutely wonderful as an idea. The idea is that instead of having to persuade a child patient to put up with various medical devices … Continue reading

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The Journal of Cartoon Overanalyzations

For all of your cartoon analysis needs: http://cartoonoveranalyzations.com/

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SQLEditor 2.5 – now with native database drivers and process separation

I’m really happy to say that SQLEditor 2.5 [60MB zip] has just been released. This has some interesting new features that have been in development for some time. Native database drivers have been something I’ve been hoping to support for ages, while … Continue reading

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Corporation must maximise profits (?)

I’ve had this post sitting in my drafts collection for ages, but after reading yet another person make this claim about corporations, I’ve decided to post it. I believe that my sources are correct and accurate, note that the main … Continue reading

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Exporting SVG from Cocoa

Following from my previous post about SVG exporting in cocoa, here are some details on how this is done in SQLEditor. The example code is extracted from the live SQLEditor code base, but it’s been altered to simplify in a … Continue reading

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A memorial to lab mice

Statue of a mouse knitting dna (imgur)- apparently a memorial to laboratory mice. Regardless of opinions about lab use of animals, I think a statue remembering them is correct and proper.

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New SQLEditor database connection panel

The database connection setup panel in SQLEditor has been something I’ve been hoping to improve for a while. This is the first attempt at a redesign:   The connections are now listed in a collapsable sidebar and can be both added and … Continue reading

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SQLEditor, SVG and Cocoa

One of the new features in the latest SQLEditor 2.1 beta release  (v2.1.0b2, about 5.7MB) is SVG export. This allows you to create a diagram in SQLEditor and then export it to SVG format. SVG format is a vector diagram format … Continue reading

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Using NSDockTile for debug info

Often when I’m working on an app or something I end up running several different versions of it in a short period of time. There’s usually some bug that I’m trying to fix and I want to make sure that … Continue reading

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Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 were released before first iPhone

Xbox 360 released November 16, 2005 in USA Playstation 3 released November 11, 2006, in Japan Original iPhone released June 29, 2007, in USA - superseded 5 times The consoles are still competitive platforms. Nothing in the phone world lasts that well. This … Continue reading

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Is “Maximising Shareholder value” required – no it’s not

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/blog/maximising-shareholder-value-irony The idea only dates from about 1976, it doesn’t seem to be in any law and it probably doesn’t lead to the best outcomes anyway.

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