Angry Rage Monkey

Apple, please stop being a crapweasle....

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:57:24 -0800

Apple,

Today you announced your push into textbooks. I think this is great, it is wonderful. Even greater, even more wonderful, is the fact that you have released a authoring tool for ebooks that is perhaps the best ever made.

iBook Author is an amazing piece of work. It really is, I am deeply impressed. I really, really, want to use it; unfortunately I can’t, because you are being a crapweasle —

And people who know me know I avoid language like that, at least in public. When I recently wrote about the worst customer experience I ever had, I could have used any number of choice terms or salacious language, but I didn’t. So when I call Apple a crapweasle, please know I am feeling extra perturbed about it.

— You see, Apple has placed an interesting restriction on books produced with iBook Author: if I charge for them, I cannot publish anywhere but iBooks. This is unacceptable. As a author and a publisher (let us be very clear, Apple is not the publisher, they are the store) I get to decide where I sell my works. Apple is attempting to do the same kind of vendor lockin that they do with apps for the iPad and iPhone, but they are doing it for a format that is open and can work on almost anything.

So I can either use Apple’s tool, and then re-author for other stores, or I can just make a single version that will work everywhere. So then what is my incentive to use iBooks Author?

But, I hear the straw man in my head saying, they don’t care if you publish the book for free. That is something good right? Kinda, sorta, maybe, but I see some big problems.

Apple doesn’t define what they mean by non-commercial. Can I put ads in my book? Can I put ads on the page with my book? Can I charge for something else and then bundle my book with it? There are a lot of unknowns, too many unknowns for me to want to risk using iBook Author even for free works.

So please Apple, I want to use iBook Author, I really do. So change the license, or charge for a version that can be used on other platforms.

But no matter what you do: stop being a crapweasle…

No caption required…

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:13:35 -0800

No caption required…

I wonder which vegetarians they where?

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:35:38 -0800

I wonder which vegetarians they where?

“Inessential.com” sucks

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 15:33:27 -0800

“Inessential.com” sucks:

Look I normally like Brent Simmons’ blog Inessential, but this post… well how can I put it… sucks.

Aside from linking to a Google search, he doesn’t explain what he means, he doesn’t cite any examples, he doesn’t talk about where is might be useful (almost nothing is universally bad), etc. All he does is make a blanket dismissal and make it sound like he is making a point.

Not every gamified app is bad. Part of the point of Foursquare is that there is a game element to it. It isn’t my thing, but I can understand why the friends of mine who love it do.

My most recent app — Mystery Theater – Five Minute Mysteries — is gamified (though I agree that the word is horrible). As just a list of episodes, it would have appeal for a core audience of Old Time Radio lovers; but the fact that I made a game opened up its appeal.

But according to Simmons my app sucks, because all gamifaction is bad. Therefor, though the transitive property, my app is too.

The simple truth is that gamification — like all techniques or approaches — has it’s place, and it bad if over applied. But it does not, in and of itself.

But do you know what does suck? Blanket judgements, and ire masquerading as argument.

More Mystery Theater Goodness!

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:10:30 -0800

At the beginning of the month I announced that I had made a new iOS app called Mystery Theater — Five Minute Mysteries. Well I am now happy and proud to announce that it is now available on Android*!

As many of you know I have a deep affection for old radio shows. So making this app was a labor of love. Since it helps to preserve these shows in a new form, and (hopefully) bring them to a new generation.

If I may quote myself:

This app contains Forty-Eight (48!) episodes of the classic “The Five Mysteries Program” which aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System from August 10, 1947 to March 27, 1950. Cast members included Jackson Beck, Staats Cotsworth, Michael Fitzmaurice, Timmy Hyler, Abby Lewis, Frank Lovejoy and Ian MacAllister. The famous Rosa Rio played the memorable organ music on every episode.
Each episode presents a story. A story of greed, jealousy, desperation, theft, larceny, and even… murder! All of the clues needed to solve the crime are given to the audience, leaving only one question to ponder: whodunit?

*: And soon for Windows Phone!

HTML5 is the new XML

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:21:03 -0800

HTML5 is the new XML

Dear Apple,

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 09:31:04 -0800

Why don’t you have real time sales statistics? That way I could obsess all day long about how my insignificant (but fun!) apps — Mystery Theater, Japanese Haiku, & Haiku: A Picture in Three Lines — are doing.

Instead I can only check the day before, and am forced to be productive the rest of the time, and who wants that?

Mystery Theater: Five Minute Mysteries

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 16:36:00 -0800

Mystery Theater: Five Minute Mysteries:

I am very happy to announce that my latest iOS app — Mystery Theater: Five Minute Mysteries — is now available in Apple App Store.

If I may quote myself:
This app contains Fifty-Four (54!) episodes of the classic “The Five Mysteries Program” which aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System from August 10, 1947 to March 27, 1950. Cast members included Jackson Beck, Staats Cotsworth, Michael Fitzmaurice, Timmy Hyler, Abby Lewis, Frank Lovejoy and Ian MacAllister. The famous Rosa Rio played the memorable organ music on every episode.

Each episode presents a story. A story of greed, jealousy, desperation, theft, larceny, and even… murder! All of the clues needed to solve the crime are given to the audience, leaving only one question to ponder: whodunit?

I am not innocentBut convict me pleaseOnly of what I committedAdd be assuredThey pain and pierceAnd...

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:09:49 -0800

I am not innocent
But convict me please
Only of what I committed

Add be assured
They pain and pierce
And with my soul regretted

But that the tally known
Tallied, counted, and writ
That I’ve not admitted

Roller Coaster like sculpture in Germany (Magic Mountain by Heike Mutter and Ulrich Genth)

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:06:51 -0800

Roller Coaster like sculpture in Germany (Magic Mountain by Heike Mutter and Ulrich Genth):

It looks amazing, I would love to see it in person and climb it steps; but one part of this article struck me. It is when the artists say:

…the sculpture subtly and ironically plays with the dialectic of promise and disappointment…

Look I love big words as the next over educated pseudo-intellectual, but that is taking it a bit far. I love art, and artists, but when they start using big words to add meaning to their work, I just want to dope-slap them for the prats they are…

It is vital that we dream, that we aspire, that we strive. How...

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 20:33:48 -0800

It is vital that we dream, that we aspire, that we strive. How else will we know we are alive?

Address Is Approximate (by theoryfilmsUK)

Factoid...

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:38:54 -0800

A single Krill is approximately 1/3rd calorie.

The McRib as Arbitrage

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:22:08 -0800

The McRib as Arbitrage:

I am not a rib man myself, so the allure of the McRib has always been lost on me. But as an examination of the economic forces that drive when the McRib is available, and why it disappears from the menu; well this is fascinating.

It also occurs to me that “Pork Arbitrage” would make a great name for a Meatloaf cover band…

UIWebView is not always the answer...

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 16:00:42 -0800

Note: This is going to be a rather technical post, so apologies to the non programmers amongst you.

When it comes to drawing things on the screen in an iOS (those devices that include the iPhone, the iPad, and the iPod touch), it seems over and over again the answer you find is:

Use a UIWebView

Want to display some rich text on the screen? Use a web view. Want to show a PDF? Use a web view. Want to draw a SVG image on the screen? Use a web view.

The last example is especially egregious. Because what the so called “Experts” are saying is that every time you want to display a illustrated image on the screen, you should create a mini web browser and put it on the screen.

This approach has its places. I mean, if you want to display some help text, then yes a web view is a great way to do that. It even makes sense for displaying a PDF to the user — though using Quick Look may be a better answer. But just for a rich text label? That is insanity. The web view is not a lightweight component. You should put multiple of them on the screen just because you are too lazy to figure out another way.

And there are other ways, as it turns out. But the “Experts” — and by that I mean the people who are most active in answering posts on places like CocoaDev, Stack Overflow, and the like. Just like in Swing components can take HTML to represent rich text. This is not the same thing (and not as heavyweight) as embedding a web view. There is also a whole framework in Cocoa called Core Text, just for rendering rich text on the screen.

But far to many of these experts (enough with the sarcastic quotes) found the hammer that is the web view, and make all their problems look like nails. It also means that for genuine issues that don’t have easy solutions (like rendering SVG), have aren’t going out and making nice open source libraries to do just those things.

Odd are that someone is going to email me a link to just that thing, and I and I want to make it perfectly clear that it doesn’t disprove my point.

Cocoa and Cocoa touch are amazing application frameworks (though hampered by a language that was the height of what 1985 had to offer), but they are far from perfect. Nothing is after all. When you run into one of those odd places where it lets us down, we shouldn’t just grab the hammer, we should make sure we are using the right tool for the job. And when that tool can’t be found, we should make it, and share it with our peers.

I am far from a Cocoa Expert (though I get the job done), but even I know that.

So the next person who suggests using a UIWebView to display anything other than a HTML document, is going to get hit across the face with a brining haddock.

Why? The brine makes it sting more…

Before I started trying to acquire the rights to [CENSORED] for...

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:57:47 -0800

Before I started trying to acquire the rights to [CENSORED] for [CENSORED].com I seriously looked into trying to get the rights to The Case of the Cautious Condor, only to find out the original creators were working on an updated version. If not me, I can’t think of a better group to do it.

Its a great game, you should get it when it comes out.

And watch this space, because when I finish my negotiations with [CENSORED] about [CENSORED], I hope to have something awesome to announce!

The Case of the Cautious Condor (2012) Prologue (by bcbock)

"I couldn’t hear you over all the crazy in my head"

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 11:50:43 -0700

“I couldn’t hear you over all the crazy in my head”

Avoid DIYBin.com like the plague

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 11:21:51 -0700

Disclaimer: Every story has two sides. This is mine, and should be considered my opinion (except for the areas I can explicitly prove).

After 46 days from the day I placed my order, I finally got a refund from DIYBin. As such I would suggest that everyone avoid them like the plague, and do not do business with them.

I don’t know if DIYBin is a scam (hoping people just cut their losses), or if DIYBin is a ponzi scheme (using money from orders, to pay for their other ventures), or if they are simply incompetent.

My best guess is that they don’t actually have very much inventory on hand at all. Once you place an order they then wait for other similar orders to come in before they buy from other vendors.

This is what happened to me: I wanted a component from the Chinese company seedstudio.com, unfortunately shipping on the item would have been $60 (on an $18 component). So I looked for a US supplier. DIYBin had showed up on various google shopping searches and I was looking for good vendors, so I gave them a try — ordering the component in question, and a few other things.

Nearly a week after my order was placed, it was still listed as “pending” on DIYBin, so I contacted them. Despite the fact that their site claims they will get back to you within 1 day, it was 4 days before they got back to me to say that they were “looking into my order”.

After two weeks they finally told me my order had been delayed because of Hurricane Irene — despite the fact that DIYBin is located in Miami, and wasn’t affected much by Irene — and was then told I would have a tracking number within 24 hours.

It is important to note that by this point I was no longer asking where my order was, but for a refund. They neither acknowledged that fact, or gave me a tracking number. During this whole experience I asked for a refund more than four times, and they never acknowledged that fact until the very end. What I did get was lots of excuses, none of which made a lot of sense.

Finally I felt I had no choice but to file a dispute with PayPal. I must say that PayPal’s process is easy to use, very friendly, and keeps you updated every step of the way. This is why I can say that DIYBin never responded to PayPal’s dispute email, until the day before the deadline (when PayPal would have ruled against them).

Two days before the deadline DIYBin contacted me to say that they could not give me a refund while the dispute was still pending. This is not true. Indeed one of the ways a dispute can be settled is by issuing a refund. So either DIYBin was ignorant of the process, or (in my opinion) DIYBin was lying.

I informed them they there could indeed give me a refund while a dispute is still active, and that if I did not receive one by the PayPal deadline, I felt I would have to file a claim with the Attorney General of Florida.

I received my refund the next day, one day before the deadline.

A few facts about DIYBin (some of them catty):

Despite the fact that the order was played though DIYBin.com, the PayPal payee is Animusoft. DIYbin is either a side venture of the founder of Animusoft, or a subsidiary of Animusoft.
Animusoft claims to be a company with products and services that include industrial and military robotics and UAVs. They claim to be “working with” the Army, Navy, Airforce, DARPA, etc; but give no explanation how.
Until recently their careers page used a picture that clearly displayed the iStockPhoto watermark, meaning (most likely) they had not properly licensed the image. The image was taken down a few days ago.
Both DIYBin, and Animusoft still link to the Open Robot Kickstarter project, which ended Sept 7th, 2011; and raised only $377 of their $50,000 goal.
According to this LinkedIn profile, the founder of both DIYBin and Animusoft, and is also a Sr Software Architect with Acceller Inc

I want to be very careful to say that none of these factoids prove anything, but in my opinion, they paint a picture of someone who is overselling themselves, and the ventures they have started.

There is nothing wrong with being employed and being an entrepreneur. Lord knows companies will claim any high profile organization that has ever bought anything from them as a client. And there is nothing wrong with ambition or reaching for the starts.

However, if you do play that game, you have to be able to deliver. You have to be able to keep your promises, or you need to set expectations to what you can meet.

I don’t believe there was a deliberate attempt to defraud with DIYBin, but something closer (again in my opinion) to incompetence.

So I cannot in good conscience ever do business with any DIYBin, Animusoft, or (by association) Acceller. It is up to you to make your own decisions, but be forewarned.

Dear Open Source People...

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 08:02:05 -0700

(apologies to people who have exactly no idea what I am talking about here)

The day I will give OpenOffice [nee StarOffice, LibreOffice, NeoOffice] a fair evaluation, is the day I can receive a word doc that contains:

a table of contents
structured paragraphs (ie containing numbering and indentation via styles)
paragraph/section border

Make a handful of minor changes, save that document back to Word format, and have it be at least 99% similar to the original’s formatting.

I have been trying this experiment for more than a decade now, and I have yet to see anything that comes close.

So — random zealot who keeps insisting OpenOffice is “just the same” and has apparently never really tried to use it — until that day, no I will not consider using it.

Nor am I holding my breath…

Burning up my 15 minutes of fame a few seconds at a time…

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:29:43 -0700

Burning up my 15 minutes of fame a few seconds at a time…

After 27 years of waiting, I have Finally been summoned to Jury Duty. I am actually excited!

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 12:52:27 -0700

After 27 years of waiting, I have Finally been summoned to Jury Duty. I am actually excited!