frankus

49 ms·

511.
by frankus 14y ago
Touch screens are about the worst imaginable driver interface systems. I'm astounded that they're as popular as they are, but I guess cargo-culting of successful interface metaphors is nothing new. First, the parts of a car that the driver
512.
by frankus 14y ago
This is a bit of a hobbyhorse of mine. I'd like to see a bluetooth handset that snaps onto your wrist when you're not talking on it. It could display the time/caller ID/SMSes/notifications like the Pebble, but when a call comes in that you'
513.
by frankus 14y ago
The use of intermediate variables is something I'm conflicted about. On the one hand, they can make code easier to reason about. Also, when using a crappy debugger that doesn't display return values you can more easily see what's going on.
514.
by frankus 14y ago
If they can get it working correctly with multitouch trackpad gestures I'll be stoked.
515.
by frankus 14y ago
I think we'll have a Google Maps iOS app in short order. They'll have to do some hardcore OpenGL hacking (reimplement CATiledLayer) to get it working as smoothly as the current maps app without using private APIs though (cf. https://github
516.
by frankus 14y ago
The thing to remember when you see a headline like this about an observational epidemiology study is that you're basically looking at educated superstition. The authors can go to great lengths to remove all of the confounding factors they c
517.
by frankus 14y ago
Measuring fuel economy in miles per gallon is like setting up a budget in months per thousand dollars. Big improvements to inconsequential expenses would result in huge mpkd improvements, but they wouldn't save you a lot of money.
518.
by frankus 14y ago
MPG comparisons are pretty intuitive, but where MPG comparisons fall apart is when you're comparing comparisons. Let's say you have a 10-MPG truck and a 50-MPG hybrid, and you drive both equally far each year, and you've got a $40k budget t
519.
by frankus 14y ago
I don't think the OP is proposing to phase out the current method of navigating and selecting text, but rather adding an additional shortcut for people who do a lot of text editing. So the question you have to ask is "will this get in the w
520.
by frankus 14y ago
The problem with an iWatch replacing all or part of the iPhone or iPod's functionality is how to get audio to user's ear(s) in a non-awkward fashion. One option would be to add a bluetooth headset (probably stereo), but adding another devic
521.
by frankus 15y ago
Apple's event invites are geeky Rorschach tests. You see what you want to see.
522.
by frankus 15y ago
Another cool thing about this (aside from not needing to carry around it's own oxidizer) is that a car-sized pack would be small and light enough to make battery swapping a reality. Li-Ion and older technologies make battery swapping hard b
523.
by frankus 15y ago
That's what really separates consumer electronics from cars: processing data requires (from a theoretical physics standpoint) a minuscule amount of energy, and there's a lot of room for improvement even with current technology. Moving heavy
524.
by frankus 15y ago
I (mostly) agree. I think 2-factor is a fine idea, but I have friends who are still using something along the lines of "password1" on all of the online accounts. A good first step would be reinforcing the idea that you should never use yo
525.
by frankus 15y ago
Price is generally a pretty good indication of resource intensity if you're comparing two things with generally similar level of externalities and subsidies/taxes. If anything I would say the fuel cost understates the externalities, at leas
526.
by frankus 15y ago
To borrow from Joel Spolsky, what this shows you is that you can prove anything with a contrived example. More specifically, for any comparison that isn't night-and-day, you can almost always find a reasonable set of assumptions that leads
527.
by frankus 15y ago
Yes, I could be accused of being a rampant fanboy, but this is just so different from my experience having an out-of-warranty no-AppleCare 15" MBP with the same issue being replaced (for free and with minimal hassle) that I find it hard to
528.
by frankus 15y ago
I keep that particular quirk (along with their appointed senate) in my back pocket for whenever I need to name an area in which US law is more democratic/liberal than Canadian law :)
529.
by frankus 15y ago
The filesystem is in pretty much the same situation as databases. Computers have supported multiple user accounts for decades, but every user of a web service typically runs as the same user(s) on the server. I realize that there are huge s
530.
by frankus 15y ago
Does this work with something like Plates or Weld.js, or does it replace them, or does it shun that approach altogether?
531.
by frankus 15y ago
It seems like standard operating procedure for web apps has been to immediately throw out the user account system of whatever data store is being used and use one account with full CRUD access (or worse), with a (mediocre to disastrous) hom
532.
by frankus 15y ago
I found myself thinking whether one could make an heir apparent to PHP that removed the suckiest aspects and left the same basic "no configuration, just a bunch of files" model in place (any inherent problems with that model notwithstanding
533.
by frankus 15y ago
I'm beginning to get a clearer picture of what I believe is going to replace (or more accurately, make irrelevant) current search engines. Most of the pieces are already in place. Let's say I'm in the mood for a donut, but I can't remember
534.
by frankus 15y ago
> how do you specify the object on which the outlet should be created? The trick is to set your workspace to assistant mode (the split screen that usually has the interface on the right and the implementation on the left -- the button w
535.
What Export-Oriented America Means(the-american-interest.com)
2 points by frankus 15y ago|0 comments
536.
by frankus 15y ago
I'm interested in pretty much the exact opposite of this product. I've worked on a few apps where I need to pre-render some high-quality images and include them in the app bundle. In some cases they are relatively difficult to hand-draw in
537.
by frankus 15y ago
I think there's tremendous potential for this idea. I often find myself wishing I had the hacker equivalent of a gym buddy: basically someone who keeps me motivated to keep working on something and makes me feel like a bit of a loser when I
538.
by frankus 15y ago
I uncovered a bug when naively recompiling a universal (iPad/iPhone) app with the 5.1 SDK. The app had high-res assets for the iPhone but not the iPad. Apparently the @2x modifier takes precedence over the -Landscape and -Portrait modifiers
539.
by frankus 15y ago
I saw a tweet from him the other day saying he's got a 2650x1600 display (HP ZR20W, I believe). So that just barely fits. The simulator now scrolls, however, so you could in theory test retina iPad apps full size in portrait mode on an 11"
540.
by frankus 15y ago
Building an iPad with the same pixel density of the iPhone results in a screen just under 8 inches diagonally. For the most part tap targets on the iPad are the same number of pixels as on the iPhone, so it sounds plausible.

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