Vanilla Forums 2.0
Phil Nelson The smoothest forum package you’ll find right now hits version 2.0 (finally). I missed this when it happened on July 21st, but better late than never.
“Lost” Rod Serling Interview From 1970
Serling interviewed by University of Kansas professor James Gunn. Part 1 and Part 2.
This video was to be part of the professor’s film series “Science Fiction in Literature,” but was not included due to rights issues with Serling’s work. Blame CBS. Via SF Signal.
Venture Bros. Season 4 Part 2 Premieres Sept. 12th
Straight from Jackson’s blogmouth, with a bonus list of the upcoming episode titles and a nice collage of screen-grabs.
My Predictions For The September 1st Apple Event
I agree with almost everything Jesper of Waffle Software has said on his blog in the past. This is no different.
- Huge capacity iPod Touch (128gb?) with FaceTime-enabled cameras, iPhone 4 guts, and Retina.
- Goodbye iPod Classic.
- The Shuffle goes away, and in it’s place there is now an iPod Nano at the $99 price point, right in between the old Shuffle ($49) and the current Nano ($149). I doubt Steve will actually kill the Shuffle on stage, but it will quietly be taken off the store, lead to a remote field and abandoned to rot with its ancestors.
- Newly-christened iTV Developer Program
- TV Show Rentals for $0.99
- Wifi Syncing for iOS devices
- Streaming content from the iTunes Store (like, say, the aforementioned TV rentals.)
I’m not super sure about the Shuffle. The $49 price point is part of why the Shuffle exists in the first place, but I don’t know a single person who owns one. The primary market seems to be children whose parents wish to reward for less than $100, or people who work out and are afraid of breaking their iPod Touch or Nano. The price point is hard to argue with , though, as a gateway to the larger (more expensive) Apple ecosystem.
Wouldn’t it be something if the Nano got Facetime?
Yet Another Box2D Javascript Port
Being an optimized version of the original Box2d-JS port, which is based on Box2d 1.4. Does your head hurt yet?
This version depends on jQuery instead of Prototype, and uses SVG instead of the Canvas tag. Check out the demo.
box2dweb – Another Box2dFlash Port for Javascript
This one uses the even newer Box2d 2.1. It, like the previously mentioned port, is extremely short on documentation aside from the standard Box2d docs.
Box2Dflash 2.0 Javascript Port
An (automated) port of Box2dflash 2.0, which is a bit slower than the older (and dead) Box2D 1.4 JS port, but is less complicated to use and has fewer dependencies.
Patent-Trolling “Intellectual Ventures” Using Over 1,000 Shell Companies
Possibly the worst patent trolls ever. Their business model is to threaten companies into paying them for use of their (often dubious) patents, using shell companies so the action can’t be traced back to them.
Just so we’re clear on Extra Future’s position: Intellectual Ventures is a jackass company run by jackasses. The fact that it exists is an indictment of the problems with the US patent system.
Custom Sixth Scale Rod Serling Action Figure
Costing $55 for the unpainted head of Mr. Serling, I wish I had the kitbashing skills an the cash to buy this little guy and have him sit on my desk, silently judging me. This guy used the body of a Cigarette Smoking Man figure, which looks great, but a blue shirt and red tie? Rod wouldn’t have been caught dead on TV in anything but a black tie and a white shirt.
Quirksmode: Introduction to Range
A useful overview of Ranges in an HTML Document, with examples for (of import to myself) getting the text a user has selected so you can do stuff with it.
Of note: None of the examples here seem to work on iOS WebKit.
Writing better dialogue
The fourth in a series of “Scriptcasts” by the screenwriter John August. I find that John’s advice in screenwriting applies to writing for the web, as well.
Netflix App now available For iOS
For the price of an $8.99/month Netflix account, you can now carry the service in your pocket. If you’re in the US, that is.
H.264 To Remain Royalty-Free Indefinitely
This is good news. I can’t help but think WebM had something to do with it.
via Lukas Mathis
Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight Relaunches as NYT Blog
A great pickup for the NYT, and makes a lot of sense for Silver, too. If you’re not familiar with FiveThirtyEight, it is the work of statistician Nate Silver doing his mathamagic on US Politics. He modeled the 2008 US election nearly perfectly. Do yourself a favor and read his introduction post.
Fighting Terror With Freedom
Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg has given a second incredibly-well-written speech in support of the so-called “Ground-Zero Moqsue,” which manages to have some lovely pull-quotes such as:
But if we say that a mosque and community center should not be built near the perimeter of the World Trade Center site, we would compromise our commitment to fighting terror with freedom.
and:
This is a test of our commitment to American values. We must have the courage of our convictions. We must do what is right, not what is easy. And we must put our faith in the freedoms that have sustained our great country for more than 200 years.
It is incredibly rare that I agree with anything a modern politician has to say, but I agree with the hell out of this.
Video of Boosters Separating From Space Shuttle, Splashdown
The video is 7 minutes long, from separation to splashdown all from a camera attached to one of the solid rocket boosters. Incredible footage.
Motorola’s Android 2.2 Rollout
After a leaked Android 2.2 ROM became available through unofficial sources, Motorola sent cease and desist letters to websites hosting the update, according to IntoMobile. The reasoning may be sound — after all, folks who jumped the gun on Froyo for Sprint’s HTC Evo 4G ran into bugs that had to be patched later — but it doesn’t look good when lawyers try to stop people from making their phones better.
Sometimes “open” means never being quite sure what the hell is going on.
Danish Something Awful Forum Goons Build Space Rocket
They’re planning to do a test launch on August 31st, 2010. They’ve been answering questions in this Something Awful thread.
Sequoia Voting Machine Hacked To Play Pac-Man
Without breaking the tamper-evident seals:
We received the machine with the original tamper-evident seals intact. The software can be replaced without breaking any of these seals, simply by removing screws and opening the case.
I don’t know about you, but my votes sure don’t feel safe.
“Twitter isn’t your audience. It’s your community.”
Andrew Mayne for Hidden Frequency:
[…] It’s easy to tell the difference: The guy on stage at the concert is in front of his audience. The people in the stands are in their community. When the concert is over the audience vanishes but the community continues; with or without the man on stage.
The stage metaphor is a bit strained, but this is similar to my own philosophy on Twitter and other social media sites. Unless you have millions of followers, treating Twitter like a broadcast medium means you miss most of what it’s good for.