Simon Willison’s Weblog

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All that specialist equipment, ‘barista’ training, and trouble spent over making a good cup of coffee – then when you ask for a cup of tea, you get a tea bag dumped in a mug, and over-boiled water from an urn poured over it.

Jon Hicks

# 1st September 2007, 8:33 am / jon-hicks, tea

The use of double underscores creates a separate namespace for names that are part of the Python language definition, so that programmers are free to create variables, attributes, and methods that start with letters, without fear of silently colliding with names that have a language-defined purpose.

Ka-Ping Yee

# 1st September 2007, 1:30 am / ka-ping-yee, python

A meeting must fight to exist. It must defend its existence to its attendees who should constantly be asking "Why are we here?"

Rands

# 31st August 2007, 5:50 pm / meetings, rands

The biggest mistake I made in Leonardo was making "foo" and "foo/" mean the same thing.

James Tauber

# 29th August 2007, 8:52 pm / urls, james-tauber

At one point I thought I hated programming because I was just so sick it... It turns out I don't hate programming, I just hate programming in Java.

Russell Beattie

# 25th August 2007, 1:09 am / java, russell-beattie

The other interesting thing about the 1.0.2 update is that Apple didn't try to prevent the hacks that are out there [...] one would have assumed that Apple would have done something in this release as a sort of "shot across the bow" but they didn't, which bodes well for a future, more open platform.

Russell Beattie

# 22nd August 2007, 10:08 pm / iphone, russell-beattie, apple, update

In 1997, I chose to suppress a similar finding: users tend to click on banner ads that look like dialog boxes, complete with fake OK and Cancel buttons.

Jakob Nielsen

# 21st August 2007, 6:34 pm / usability, jakob-nielsen, coverup, bannerads

I've been using Vista on my home laptop since it shipped, and can say with some conviction that nobody should be using it as their primary operating system - it simply has no redeeming merits to overcome the compatibility headaches it causes.

Joel Spolsky

# 20th August 2007, 3:58 pm / joel-spolsky, windows, vista, microsoft

Has any customer in the history of DVR technology ever stepped up and said "you know, this DVR thing is terrific, but what I'd really prefer is to lose the ability to skip commercials so that I can satisfy the needs of businesses in every stage of the value chain?"

Jeffrey McManus

# 19th August 2007, 8:43 pm / jeffrey-mcmanus, dvr

This is all your app is: a collection of tiny details.

Wil Shipley

# 15th August 2007, 11:53 am / wil-shipley, attentiontodetail, john-gruber

By picking up its marbles and going home, Google just demonstrated how completely bizarre and anti-consumer DRM technology can be.

Ken Fisher

# 14th August 2007, 12:41 pm / google-video, google, dontbeevil, ken-fisher, arstechnica, drm

[On Blueprint] I'm somewhat conflicted with its release because I don't think it should be used. Don't get me wrong, it's great, but don't use it.

Nathan Borror

# 14th August 2007, 10:42 am / blueprint, css, nathan-borror, structuralclasses

Open source is neither an industry fad, nor a magic bullet.

Microsoft FAQ

# 13th August 2007, 1:54 pm / open-source, microsoft

I've been in this web standards game for five years now and probably have over 100 standards-based sites under my belt. I can count the number of times I've be involved in a redesign where no changes were made to the markup on one finger.

Jeff Croft

# 11th August 2007, 9:37 am / markup, html, css, jeff-croft

In an effort to improve all Google services, we will no longer offer the ability to buy or rent videos for download from Google Video [...] After August 15, 2007, you will no longer be able to view your purchased or rented videos.

Google Video e-mail

# 11th August 2007, 8:33 am / google, drm, dontbeevil, google-video

Erlang fits all the characteristics of an OO system, even though sequential Erlang is a functional language, not an OO language

Ralph Johnson

# 8th August 2007, 7:47 pm / erlang, programming, java, object-oriented-programming

Inline images are stored as data URI:s in the intermediate format (and usually also in the source documents), but since not all browsers support this format, the renderer replaces the data URI:s with HTTP pointers to an image cache directory.

Fredrik Lundh

# 7th August 2007, 10:52 am / django, datauri, http, fredrik-lundh

The recent announcement that Mozilla's next JavaScript engine, Tamarin, will also be a container for functionality written in Python and Ruby (and, one assumes, beyond) is proof that JavaScript is the new Parrot.

Aaron Straup Cope

# 29th July 2007, 9:17 pm / javascript, aaron-straup-cope, mozilla, python, ruby, tamarin, parrot

E-Trade financial tried using a RSA fob as a second factor of authentication, but as of their 11/07/06 financial report their fraud losses continue to increase. That said, they considered this program a success because users indicated they feel safer and are more likely to provide assets.

Usable Security

# 20th July 2007, 10:31 am / usablesecurity, etrade, rsa, rsafob, security, usability, securitytheatre

Every mashup attempts to expand until it can do social networking. Those that can't are replaced by those that can.

John Panzer

# 19th July 2007, 8:26 am / john-panzer, mashups, social-networking, jwz

Does the idea of redefining the role of the Internet browser appeal to you? Do the terms HTTP, RSS, Microformats, and OpenID, excite you? If so, then this just might be the opportunity for you.

IE Team Job Ad

# 18th July 2007, 7:43 am / http, rss, openid, microformats, microsoft, internet-explorer

I heard that Foxconn - the place that makes the iPods and iPhones - consumes 3,000 pigs a day.

Bunnie Huang

# 14th July 2007, 12:59 pm / ipod, iphone, china, bunnie-huang, apple, pigs

An OpenID provider should catalogue the sites that a user logs into and automatically construct a homepage for them. That way, not only do the users have the convenience of having their favourite websites automatically bookmarked and readily available, but (with a little help from the consumers), they don't have to log into the individual sites at all.

Bogtha

# 13th July 2007, 7:26 am / openid, ideas, reddit

Could someone please send, to whomever the hell teaches communication skills/techniques at Microsoft, a copy of the Chicago Manual, and perhaps a sixth - grade grammar text? I swear, there's almost no one from that company who can write a proper English sentence.

John C. Welch

# 12th July 2007, 6:23 pm / microsoft, john-c-welch, writing, english

You don't need business development people. If you're successful, companies will come to you. The deals will still be distractions and not worth doing, but at least you're not spending any effort trying to get them.

Mark Fletcher

# 12th July 2007, 5:50 pm / businessdevelopment, deals, mark-fletcher, startups

... if you're in an email conversation with one other person and you're both using Gmail, don't bother quoting at all.

Charles Miller

# 12th July 2007, 5:18 pm / email, charles-miller

It's easier for our software to compete with Linux when there's piracy than when there's not. Are you kidding? You can get the real thing, and you get the same price.

Bill Gates

# 11th July 2007, 3:09 pm / linux, china, bill-gates, piracy, salon

MooTools is not compatible with any other javascript framework. If you "definitely need to work with prototype" (which you don't, since the frameworks each provide all the functionality you need to use only one or the other) then learn how to do what you want to do in prototype. Otherwise, learn to use MooTools to do all the things you want to do. They simply do not work together, and I promise they never will.

Tom Occhino

# 8th July 2007, 7:29 am / libraries, mootools, javascript, prototype-js

WS-* is North Korea and REST is South Korea. While REST will go on to become an economic powerhouse with steadily increasing standards of living for all its citizens, WS-* is doomed to sixty years of starvation, poverty, tyranny, and defections until it eventually collapses from its own fundamental inadequacies and is absorbed into the more sensible policies of its neighbor to the South.

Elliotte Rusty Harold

# 7th July 2007, 9:40 am / rest, web-services, ws-star, korea, northkorea, southkorea, elliotte-rusty-harold

The music companies are in a dying business, and they know it. Sure, they act all cool because they hang around with rock stars. But beneath all the glamour these guys are actually operating two very low-tech businesses. One is a form of loan-sharking: they put up money to make records, then force recording artists to pay the money back with exorbitant interest. The other business is distribution.

Fake Steve Jobs

# 5th July 2007, 12:03 pm / music, riaa, apple, fakestevejobs, loansharks