Let's All Hate The Effin' Windows Registry!

Read This Now!

I am 100% on-board with this one, and am currently writing registry-free applications!

BTW, that reference comes from another favorite blog.

N95 Update: Nokia Nirvana

Yes, it's been a long time since posting; that's what being on-site without Internet access will do for you. That's another whole post for later though.

Since last reviewing, I have installed a Podcasting application and a Handy Weather screen-saver, both of which are super-cool groovylicious. The weather is not real-time, it's just daily-level forecasts. And it's not free, but I will probably fork out the $14.95US when the trial period expires.

Another big application install is Fring, which performs Skype interop! Yes, I am getting to all my Skype buddies anywhere WLAN is available! Did I mention Nirvana in the title already?

Battery life so far is quite satisfying; I can easily go several days without a charge, especially if just using it in phone mode.

Still issues with certain apps being picky about whether they will use a WLAN connection or not. The Weather app only works over a packet data connection. I am attributing this so far to the operating environment, not a specific application. I will eventually research this when it bothers me enough.

I also had a WtF moment when I tried to connect to one of my workstations via USB in Mass Storage mode. On the upside, N95 presents a nice menu of options, so you can decide what you want the device to appear as on the USB. However, the phone would not allow me to connect, because there was an application accessing memory; it turned out to be the Podcasting application, which had a media player open.

The 5-megapixel camera is still the most stellar feature on this device. My wife had a good time taking images at a recent outdoor party. A couple images were blurred; I think that was due to excessive zoom, which is mentioned in the documentation (yes, I read the manuals). For the most part, pictures are crisp, and the water in the pool shots sparkled brilliantly.

The worst thing about it so far, is that the credit card bill finally came. After all, it was expensive.

But it is worth every penny.

nokian95

Paris Hilton Ain't No Lindsay Lohan

Good, I have your attention.

Sure they're both hot chicks, but are they interchangable? Maybe if you're filming a porno....

Dude! What's with all this SEO-driven lingo? Paris Hilton!? Are you selling out for traffic or what?!

Sorry, I am desparate for some traffic. Have you seen the number of Diggs on this blog?

We have a similar problem; they think if your title is Software Engineer, that you are proficient at 100% of development tasks. That just ain't so.

The same for Java Programmer. I hate to break it to the Personnel Manager, but I'm afraid that sector is so fragmented, you might not even get someone with relevant skills. I asked one interviewee what was his favorite "J" acronym, and he couldn't even name one! I'm sorry, but that's effin pathetic.

All the gak aside, ask for what you need, not some generalization of what you need.

Nokia N95 Update

I am really digging this phone. Everything works up to expectations, but I haven't really got into every crevise of the thing.

Here is the good:

• Phone features are top-notch. My Cingular/AT&T SIM worked flawlessly.
• Battery life seems like an eternity, compared to the Motorola Razr V3 I had previously.
• Thicker than a typical cell phone, but still fits easily into a hip pocket.
• The display functions very well in direct sunlight.
• The speakerphone and volume in general are very good.
• WLAN features also top-notch; locating available networks is only a few "clicks" away. Too bad there is no easy way to enter a 128-bit WEP key.
• Web browser is adequate; I did not tax it much, yet. It did bring up this blog with no issues, and has support for Feeds.
• UPnP (aka Home Network) works surprisingly well; you can get support via Windows Media Player 11. Beware! Not all media formats supported (guess whose are not...)
• The MicroSD slot and USB/Removable Storage features are indispensible. Wouldn't be much of a media player without it. Mine came with a 1GB card, very adequate.
• The 5-megapixel camera is awesome! Plus, when you use it as a camera, you hold it like a camera! Complete with shutter-release button in the anticipated location.
• I successfully configured POP3 email with little hassle.
• The system is very good at allowing you to control which connection to use, when it needs a data connection.

Here is the bad (and I'm reaching):

• The GPS is functional, but getting a "fix" can be very slooooowwww since you need to "see" the GPS satellites. Also, make sure you have good bandwidth for downloading maps (i.e. don't use your cellular data provider if you can avoid it).
• It is easy to "jog" the sliding keypad while in a pocket, which regularly triggers the "keypad locked" message, and activates the display, draining battery life. Some kind of physical "lock" or more rigid retention would be welcomed.
• The FM radio does not want to play through the speakers; it wants you to use the headphones. Ironically, there is a Play through Loudspeaker option, which is only available when using the headphones, but not available otherwise.
• I experienced problems retrieving email over a WLAN connection (thank God it asks you to choose a connection); retrieving email over my wireless data provider worked flawlessly.
• Other than UPnP/Home Network, there is no way to access remote file systems via networking.
• I could not find a way to alter the text color of the main display. It wants to use black text, no matter what colors are in my background image. Some alpha-blended text background or contrasting font outlining (like on the Razr) would help make the text stand out, no matter what the background.

And there just ain't no Ugly on this thing.

These features are unrated at this time:

• Office-interop applications.
• Bluetooth, Infrared, USB.
• VoIP.
• Video player.
• Lifeblog software.

nokian95

Unmanaged Code Considered Harmful

Yes, I am spoofing the title of the famous Considered Harmful article. Add me to the pile....

Not to mention totally dating you as a dinosaur, it is just not where things are headed.

I just want to break in here and say Wikipedia is just awesome for providing citings.

Managed code is the new virus that will take over the programming organism, and we will all be in the trusting hands of the JITter. Don't try to slip one past the goalie, or you will be suspended from the CPU party.

Soon there will be so much surplus compute power, even device drivers will be written in managed code, what with hypervisors and all doing the heavy lifting, and operating system is just another user-level application; how ironically wonderful.

The pigeons have come home to roost, Bobby Boucher....

With all this emphasis on the managed universe, and the reductio ad absurdum of operating systems into "normal" applications, what is the real need for all of those unsafe unmanaged instructions?

Can we dream even bigger? Can the managed code virus spread "over the wire" to the embedded platform? And we're not talking about Smart Phones or Pocket PCs, but DVD players, toasters or whatever. Can it infect the last bastion of progamming immunity? I mean, .NET Micro Framework, how far away can it be?

If we have our way, i.e. transistor densitiy will continue to increase, then it is inevitable that enough transistors will be assembled cheaply enough to give one an entire server on a wafer; plenty of power to run a normal programming environment, the managed code environment.

I just want to break in here and say Wikipedia hit 100% on citings for this post.

Nokia N95: The Anticipation Is Maddening...

After much research, I have settled on the Nokia N95 SmartPhone. What was the kicker? The 5 megapixel camera with macro mode. I love macro photography; even though I don't own a suitable camera for it. Anyway, I read a bunch of reviews, and this is the one.

But wait-a-minute! That ain't no Windows Mobile phone, that's one of them-there Symbian OS phones!

Believe me, that was a tough one to swallow. Good thing I know Java....

And You Wonder Why You Like To Work Alone?

This post cites a book that explains exactly why:

Quote of the Week: Why Brainstorming is a Bad Idea

It also explains why I never like anyone else's ideas, either....Unless it is on my list already.

What Did We Ever Do Before Factories and DI Containers?

What else is there to say after the title, really? Funny that I'm talking about it like it has been around since the mainframe.

Oh yes, I remember now; it wasn't really that long ago. There was tedious initialization protocol everywhere something got constructed, and in a "real" system, that's a lot of places.

Of course, that information didn't just evaporate; it just got transformed into metadata. Anything can be solved with another level of indirection, whether it takes the form of anno.attributes or XML configuration verbosity.

And of course, there's the wonderful ability to control lifecycle policy, etc. Ahhhhh.....

Now remember how gak you feel when you have to go back to a codebase that doesn't use those techniques. Yes, I just worked on some. Work up some bile with me as you visualize a seemingly-endless if/else chain, checking for hard-coded strings, with even more hard-coded constructor sequences.

Now it's hard to implement a nice dynamically-loaded-module class and object factory cough use ATL cough in C++; That darned Windows LoadLibrary() is so hard to use, and that GetProcAddress() just can't find a mangled name to save its life.

Let's face it, some platforms make it way easier; dynamic platforms like Java/.NET allow even amateurs to build factories cough get an open source DI container cough, and let's face it, this is for the better.

Now some dinosaurs won't get it, but they are going extinct; next they will be telling you the world is flat, and how can you argue with such an arcane point-of-view?