11/18

So, I don’t often get on a soapbox but this time I am flaming mad.

CODE UPDATE BELOW

Our friends at the worlds biggest software company seem to not be playing fair when it comes to their new iPhone application.

As it would turn out, their new Voice Enabled version of Google Mobile uses functions not available to normal developers and that may explain why it was delayed from launching when it was supposed to..

Google’s mobile application is actually truly innovative and it was built in part by Nicholas Jitkoff, a brilliant developer responsible for the kick ass mac app Quicksilver. Nickolas and fellow Google engineers like him really care about the ways humans interact with computers and this is evidenced by how slick the voice search works on the phone.

Here is a quick demo of it in action.

It appears that Google got Apple to allow use of officially undocumented features of the SDK to allow them access to the light sensor or proximity sensor, that used in conjunction with the accelerometer is what kicks off the voice search.

Pretty cool huh? Well therein lies the problem. Say I wanted to get access to those sensors to create a voice recorder that acts in a similar manner NOOOOPE NOT POSSIBLE! Why? Because you don’t have billions of dollars and can’t be trusted to use features that Apple has not properly vetted.

To quote Michael Arrington from Tech Crunch “Who knows why Apple delayed the application, or why they tend to treat every application developer equally poorly.”
My guess is that not EVERY developer is treated poorly, in fact it may be quite the opposite, some get treated way better then others. Either way, not cool Apple/Google, not cool at all.

<code>
It’s my guess that Google is using the undocumented proximityStateChanged method in UIApplication.

Funny thing is that I’m not the only independent developer who wants access to the same features.
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/165539/iphone-proximity-sensor

</code>

<update>

Confirmed: Google is using proximityStateChanged and now SO CAN YOU! (more on that below)
John Gruber over at Daring Fireball did a similar but more concise writeup and too says that Google is playing with the undocumented methods.

A proximityStateChanged discussion started on the iphone-dev irc channel and the very talented drunknbass mentioned that we could subclass UIApplication and just override the method.

All and all that is what I tried and I actually got it to work! WOO HOO!
So if you wanna try it just download my proximityStateChanged test application and try it for yourself.

Download: ProxAppNew.zip

</update>

11/04

Ok, so I’m not the biggest fan of Microsoft. I’ve been a pretty loyal mac user for the last two years, before that I ran XP at work and OSX at home.
Now, my computing consists of about 65% OSX, 30% Debian Linux, and 5% XP, the unopened copy of Vista Premium lays dormant on my bookshelf.

But I honestly have been following the Windows 7 development and the early press is right, it is a VERY slick OS. It’s funny the software-walmart-esk giant that I grew to disdain got knocked a couple pegs down. As luck or intelligence would have it the new big dog Google has taught the world that being cool while growing to giant proportions results in a happy but totally controlled populace.

Like hamsters suckling at the water bottle, we get our daily dose of cool from GOOG and we NEVER EVER bite the hand that has feed us.

This shift has left MS in a terrible spot, just like the washed up stripper who’s looks have passed; it now finds itself having to really really work hard for those dollars.

Enter Windows 7
I’ve gotten a hold of a PDC harddrive with the Win7 install and I put it on some spare hardware laying around the house. I must say it is very slick, the UI is well thought out and very very pretty, and it works… fast, really really fast.

All good things to say… couple it with MS’s new PowerShell stuff and a Cygwin install and you’ve got the python developer in me hooting and hollering.

Good Job MS… you could certainly use a nice big win.

One of my favorite features
Aero Shake

11/04

So, I’ve spent the last week or so talking up the new gig that I’ll be starting. Yes, as some of you may have heard I’ve been talking to the folks who run the Deathstar about the possibility of long time employment.
Seriously though, things should get mighty interesting.

I’ve been asked if I had lost my damn mind in taking a job at a place that 18months ago sent not so nice cease and deists. But hear me out, for starters I’ve kinda always wanted a research gig, the open endedness* of my brain likes to be able to question conventional thought and build the things that make my life easier.
*(not a real word)

Not many people would think that a vacuum controlled by a Nintendo Wii remote is that useful, but if you had a vacuum that knew your houseplan would vacuum it without bumping into things and tell you when to clean out the bag… well that is a whole other thing.

THAT my friends is what R&D effectively is, it’s a forum to test wild ideas in the hopes that you can some how make something useful.

So, when I was asked a couple weeks ago to test the waters with a HUGE mega-company like AT&T in an R&D like role I jumped at the chance. The division that I would be working in is run by people that I can say genuinely appreciate the need for creative engineers and they wanna stock the pool with them. So I get a two-fer; work on cool stuff AND work with cool people.

Not looking so bad now is it?

Plus the folks who work there really love open-source software which is a very big deal to me. I get enough shit from my fellow OS pals about not being open enough w/ my code. I am setting on a whole slew of checkins that I need to write testcases for but that is a post for another date.  Back to talking about “work”; my director is an active contributor to a Ruby framework and he really enjoys spending his weekends and afternoons coding improvements. Those are the types of managers most geeks dream about, the kind that can actually write code and it’s all the better if they then give it away.  See, it’s the guys and gals who do it on the weekend who make software cool and I’d be a fool to pass on the chance to work as passionate as I am.

While yes, I will probably continue to poke fun at the hand that will soon feed me. I just hope that they keep giving me the room to build cool stuff.

To me, it sounds like a damn cool symbiotic relationship.

10/28

Dear Mr. Kamen,

First off, thank you for making the world a better place. Seriously, your inventions have changed humanity and even now you still get up every morning and manage to kick more and more ass each day. Before I get to complaining, I’ve really gotta say that your brain-controlled robotic arm is effing magic...effing magic.

Ok, so on Monday I got a chance to ride a Segway and it really is AMAZING. The girlfriend got us a 2 hour Segway tour around a local park for my birthday. I’ve gotta tell you NICE JOB MAN! Congratulations of figuring out a way to combine all the douchebaggyness of a Porche driver with the social awkwardness of a computer science grad.

The looks people give a Segway rider are priceless, most sound like ”that man is an effing douche” unless the person you run across happens to be on a bike in of which they’re more like ”I payed $172 for this girls bike on craigslist and I have more self-respect then you”.

By the by, I’m totally OK with people thinking I’m a douche so that isn’t what bugs me, in fact if you can get a model out there with a Lamborghini yellow paint job and 24” spinners that would be the model I’d buy. No, my complaint is that now that I’m no longer ridding a human transporter, every step is a mini-letdown.

Thanks Dean Kamen, thanks for ruining every step I take until I order my douchey yellow Segway.

EFF YOU DEAN.

Take care,
Chris Hughes

P.S. Kudos on inventing the insulin pump.