engtech

From the comments on the blog:

   "I'm reminded of the guy who decides that there should be 
    one standard because there are n divergent implementations. 

    So he goes and writes his own. Now there are n+1 divergent implementations."

That is probably the most likely outcome, but kudos to Jeff for trying.

The idea of Markdown is great, but I found the implementation of links is less than obvious. (haven't tried it in 4 years, so there was probably other issues that I had that I've forgotten)

The problem I inherently always end up having with "parses to HTML" syntax conventions is there are always warts where the syntax is harder to remember than the HTML it is supposed to parse to.

There is a grey area where you can have a Genuine copy of Windows that you paid for (and that can still Windows update) but was derived from an OEM license that was transferred to another machine.

This is still desirable compared to torrenting because a pirated copy will end up failing the Genuine check, will no longer get updates, and will happily be a part of some botnet some day.

I suspect that you can buy a used license for Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 easily.

Really, just visit a friend/relative and find a dusty old PC that has a license sticker on it and ask if you can have it.

Windows 8 Pro upgrade for $39 dollars ($15 for newer PCs). [1]

That's... reasonable.

I might consider buying a copy of Windows 8 Pro at that price and then waiting until it hits SP1 to install it.

I might even spin up a VM to try it out.

I like that the $39 upgrade applies to anyone with Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7. I think they're realizing that a lot of people don't upgrade OS because they don't want to upgrade their hardware.

(like my old Win XP laptop that I use as a VNC terminal to other machines).

The only reason why I wouldn't want to jump in with two feet is that I have a general dislike for the Xbox dashboard and I suspect that Metro would be very similar to it.

[1] You can use this tool to check that you have a genuine version of Windows http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=52012

[2] Windows OEM licenses are transferable if it included the hardware

http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/licensing/sblicensing/pages/...

[3] Windows retail licenses are transferable

http://www.microsoft.com/About/Legal/EN/US/IntellectualPrope...

Here's a direct link to a PDF for Windows 7 Home Basic in English

http://download.microsoft.com/Documents/UseTerms/Windows%207...

[4] Windows Anytime Upgrades are pretty much considered to be OEM

   17. TRANSFER TO ANOTHER COMPUTER. (retail)
   a. Software Other than Windows Anytime Upgrade. You may transfer the software and install it on another computer for your use. That computer becomes the licensed computer. You may not do so to share this license between computers.
   b. Windows Anytime Upgrade Software. You may transfer the software and install it on another computer, but only if the license terms of the software you upgraded from allows you to do so. That computer becomes the licensed computer. You may not do so to share this license between computers.
   18. TRANSFER TO A THIRD PARTY. (retail)
   a. Software Other Than Windows Anytime Upgrade. The first user of the software may make a one time transfer of the software and this agreement, by transferring the original media, the certificate of authenticity, the product key and the proof of purchase directly to a third party. The first user must remove the software before transferring it separately from the computer. The first user may not retain any copies of the software.
   b. Windows Anytime Upgrade Software. You may transfer the software directly to a third party only with the licensed computer. You may not keep any copies of the software or any earlier edition.
   c. Other Requirements. Before any permitted transfer, the other

One of the best technique I have ever seen as a user/customer is being able to do the entire call to action without having to log in / fill out forms.

eg: if you're going to sell me something, try to convert me into a longer time customer / account holder AFTER you've sold me a product.

It essentially means creating accounts on the fly based only on an email address.

I had hoped this article was going to be able how to convince your friends to communicate with a medium other than Facebook.

I hadn't heard this expression before: "Hurt People hurt people"

So simple, but something great to keep in mind when you are hurting others or when others are hurting you.

I'm unhappy that my iPad 1 is essential on it's way to brickdom.

I had bought it planning to pass it on to my toddlers as it reached about 4-5 years old.

Unfortunately I don't think there will be any supported iOS 5 apps at that point.

I may have to jailbreak it just to get a newer version of the OS on it at some point (assuming that someone gets the newer OS working on it).

For $129 you could buy most of your frequently used apps on Android.

But already being tied into iTunes is a huge momentum.

When she says 1 hour of video games or at most only 30 minutes of TV, I'm sure she means on average. So 7 hr video games a week or 3.5 hr of TV a week.

I interpreted it as "someone who doesn't ignore me".

Rather ironic point given that she works at a game company.

We all have a list of demands/requirements (eg: non-smoker, likes dogs, will put up with my !@#$).

Not all people are as blunt about it as this women.

What's always funny about these lists is that they are only based on your previous experience and are not necessarily real predictors of future success.

If anything a good catch is someone who you want to be with despite the fact they don't score well on your list of requirements.

I've always thought OK Cupid had one of the more interesting matching algorithms because they ask the users questions to get an idea of them, and let people rank how important a match on specific questions are to them. eg: religion (or lack of) are very important to some people, and not as much to others.

"It's true that kindle books don't work like regular books, but being ignorant of that fact isn't an excuse."

Have you tried explaining to a non-technical person about remote wipes?

I had a 20 minute discussion on this subject with a 58 year old friend of mine who has a doctorate, presents at conferences, etc.

I spent the first 15 minutes convincing him that the ebook publish had the right to do a remote wipe.

He remained unconvinced that an ebook publisher would ever do a remote wipe because it would be bad for business.

Here's a fun game to illustrate why we should be interested in protecting consumer rights to maintain their own libraries of digital goods.

Go back through the New York Time Best Seller list in 5 year increments, and see at what point you start reaching books you've never heard of and that are no longer in print.

It's pretty revealing that except for novels that are in school curriculum or transferred to another medium (book, TV) the majority of best sellers are only relevant for 15-20 years.

If you're in your late 30s or old, try to find a new copy of some favourite novels from your adolescence. Good luck.

so true: "In devops is turtle all way down but at bottom is perl script. "

https://twitter.com/DEVOPS_BORAT/status/248770195580125185

Thank you for the clarification, guys. I hadn't realized Nature was British/UK.

Does anyone understand the title of Nature article?

"Italy puts seismology in the dock" ?

is it meant to be "in the dark" ?

Hey, my comment got used in his slides when he shows an example on hacker news.

Awesome!

Microsoft could buy Always and re-purpose the Maxi-pad brand.

The ipad software keyboard is hard to use for any length of time because you have to switch between several virtual layouts to hit every key.

It slows you down if you're writing code instead of English words.

Having punctuation characters hidden away probably reduces the overall complexity of people's passwords as well. I strongly suspect that people switch to alphanumeric-only passwords for anything they would enter into an ipad/iphone keyboard.

If wordpress.com can exist offering to host people's blogs, I think someone could create a site that does these techniques in the backend and provides a nice content management front end.

what I find really weird is why iOS 6 doesn't run on iPad 1? I know there's an issue with memory, but I think if you disable background apps you essentially get past that.

iPad 1 is stuck on iOS 5, which is 17 million units according to this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad

I was confused because I thought violentacrez was some how related to the now-defunct mommy-blogger-hating blog http://www.violentacres.com/

Just a coincidence, I guess.

And that just goes to show you the danger of writing anonymously on the Internet, the next person to use the same nickname as you might be a drama-causing pedo.

Does anyone know if there's some source for "violent acres / violet acres" that they're both riffing off of?

I had to talk to rogers about getting some money back after finally cutting all of my services with them.

Because my old cellphone number was the account number, they started giving me information about the Department of National Defense employee who now owns my old cell phone number.

Hows that for a security failure on Rogers' part?

Invasion sounds a bit like Wild Cards and Bitter Seeds, both of which I loved.

I hadn't realize that Wild Cards is finally back in print!

http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Cards-George-R-R-Martin/dp/076536...

http://www.amazon.com/Bitter-Seeds-Ian-Tregillis/dp/07653612...

The Scalzi and Bacigalupi books are so worth it.

Bacigalupi is a great author. I really liked the Wind Up Girl, and about 80% of the short stories in Pump 6 were good.

Old Man's War is a recent classic. I've read all the books in the series, and the first is the best.

I've read all the Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean collaborations, and honestly I don't care for McKean's artwork. It took me a while of looking at the preview to realize I'd already read Signal-to-Noise. Forgettable.

I haven't read:

   Cory Doctorow: Pirate Cinema 
   Lauren Beukes: Zoo City 
   Mercedes Lackey: Invasion 
   Kelly Link: Stranger Things Happen 
   Kelly Link: Magic for Beginners

Although I own the Kelly Link books. Never got around to them. My wife liked Magic for Beginners.

Nitpicking, but missing disclosure:

OP works for a company named Instrument that does work on several things for Google. Google is a competitor to Facebook.

   My name is Thomas Reynolds. I'm a Technical Lead at Instrument, lucky denizen of Portland, active Crossfitter, a foodie, a cocktail enthusiast and all-around nerd.

   http://weareinstrument.com/work/

   In late 2011, Google came to Instrument and tasked us with designing an online product experience for the global launch of Google's first phone with Android 4.0, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

   Partnering with Google, we crafted a new identity for their “Developers” brand to educate and inspire those who embrace their open-source platforms.

   To welcome the arrival of one of the biggest days in sports, we created “Game Day”, in partnership with Google, to speak directly with football fans around the world about the many helpful features of Google Search.

For me the advantage of a todo list of adequate size is staying productive in the face of blocked tasks (eg: the "it's compiling" problem).

I think the real secret is to disable internet access on your dev machine (and instead keep it in another room), but I find a todo list is all about keeping in flow by any means necessary and avoiding the subtle allure of the web.

If you can't handle a couple of 1000 hits in a short time period... does wordpress still default to not having any caching solutions at all out of the box?

When someone asks you to talk about a hobby or book that you feel passionately about, it's probably wise to stay away from politics and religion.

Although I think it would be a great near miss to find out I was going to suffer religious/political persecution before accepting a job.