Mr eel
Zombie Dogs!
This is probably one of the best titles I’ve even seen for a news item. Boffins Create Zombie Dogs. After reading this I’ve realised something; I will be able to become a zombie! *sob* Finally!
WebObjects is Now Free (kinda)
Very quietly, Apple have now started offering their WebObjects web-app framework for free. Well, free with MacOS X Server anyhow. That’s pretty significant when you consider that previously it could cost thousands to licence.
Just a bit of background for anyone who’s never heard of WebObjects before. It’s a server side Java framework for running large scale dynamic websites. And lots of other fancy stuff apparently.
I haven’t known what to think of Java on the server-side. So far my exposure has been limited to following arguments in the Ruby vs. Java religous war — which is thankfully limited to only a few folk bickering, but which gets a bit nasty nonetheless. So I’ve never even thought to look at WebObjects. I might have to change that. Apparently WebObjects is a really cool framework and being Java based it scales really well. That’s something I’m concerned about since I am investigating a framework for web-apps and it the future it may need to support alot of users.
Since it’s Sunday, I’m gonna download the new developer tools and have a play. This means learning Java too, so I might not get to far, but what the hey. Here I go!
A Shop - Web Application Stylee
It’s always nice to see people getting a bit more adventurous with javascript. For example here is a nice website offering Mac Dashboard widgets. Some really slick animation, dynamic loading etc. It’s pretty sweet.
Now, I think it has the same problems as a website created entirely using flash — you can’t bookmark the pages — but I think it shows that javascript based web apps with sophisticated behaviour are entirely possible.
Oh yeh, and the Flip Clock widget they offer is really sweet too.
Nintendogs Yaroooooow!
I have never ever been into the dopey pet toys some folks used to tote about. Too fiddly, too limited, too demanding and unrewarding. Say I make a hardcore monster pet, what can I do with it? Feed it some more probably. Dull dull dull.
But… Nintendogs looks like something a bit more sophisticated than that. Firstly, it’s all about looking after puppies and puppies rule. Secondly the stylus based controls look like a barrel of fun, in that it allows you to interact in some really interesting ways; beyond just pushing a feed button.
You can check out some videos here. So god-damned cute!
There is Always a Way
Anyone who’s had a bit of a snoop about it iTunes music store lately may have noticed that you can now view some good quality film clips. Lovely! The only problem is, you can’t download them. Not even if you wanted to pay for them. In fact Apple have gone to some lengths to stop you from accessing the files. For example, they obfuscate the location of the temporary files on your hard drive. How nice of them.
HA HA FUCKERS. Thank you Lazy Web. Some enterprising folk have found a way around it. This is very clever.