PHP is a remarkably easy language to get started with but from there, if my own experience is anything to go by, developers seem to experience a “rollercoaster ride” in terms of productivity. Some people refer to PHP as the “Visual Basic of Open Source”, which is both a complaint and a complement.

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Bruce Tognazzini is the founder of the Apple Human Interface Design Group (and he also has done many other important things). He has been writing a column called “Ask Tog” for some time now, and the column is about his field of expertise; User Interface.
The first article of his I read was […]

A great read for anyone looking to import their email into their new GMail accounts. Definitely seems easy enough. I would like to add that GMail rocks and I will probably add that everytime I write something on it.
via: Kottke

First this article isn’t a “How to Save Apple” article since I don’t think they need saving. It’s simply some thoughts on what could happen if Apple made Mac OS X totally open source.
Apple runs Mac OS X based on a kernel that any developer can work on. However, the innovations they have made with […]

The FG Store is now open, but is only 83.46% done. However, you can still purchase as many items as you wish so enjoy.
Through the power of Amazon Web Services each storefront runs from a combined 6 files, yet includes over 30,000 items. If you wish to purchase all 30,000 items I have no problem […]

If you are like me, you feel that, despite the glowing features and sexy, ego-boosting looks of your dual G5 (for a fun party treat, just take off the side cover and watch all your nerd friends go “whooooaa”), only having room for two hard drives seems, at best, frustrating.
If you are also like me, […]

Inspired by a sci-fi programme (described on the site as “vintage”), this computer is built to look as aesthetically wonderful inside as out. The site covers all the modded details with descriptions and photos.
Let’s hope that one day machines like this are actually available for purchase. For now (and as always) […]

My first response was:

What in the hell is a ratfish?

Then I saw a picture of it.

I still don’t know what a ratfish is, but I do know it’s ugly.

This, however, is Scott’s personal journey, in search of the perfect communal gaming experience. Scott occasionally joins us for our Friday Night Follies LAN gaming sessions in the basement of the Case House. When he bought a house in Austin, Texas, he decided he wanted a space for LAN games. This is the story of […]

To separate yourself from the competition you have to innovate. Imitation may be one of the greatest forms of flattery, but doing so does not entice users to leave what they currently have. I argued this point in my article, Don’t Make Linux Desktop a Windows Clone, and now it seems Jono does the same.
However, […]

Joel Spolsky has written a striking article on how Microsoft has lost the API war to web development and what it means to their future. Outlook: not too good. If you can’t control the developers you can’t win the platform wars basically. Glad to see a different and reasonable outlook instead of the same Linux […]

My current project at work has me writing a small utility application in C#. I have the functionality all working, so I’m currently trying to get it to have better performance. When I noticed that it was using a ton of memory, my first thought was that garbage collections weren’t happening correctly, or else my […]

Lewis Powell writes: Dasher is a unique take on text input. It is designed for people with limited ability to use/access a keyboard (handicapped individuals or people using handhelds). It arranges letters on a screen according to frequency of usage in sequence, and helps you input text reasonably fast.
Don’t judge a website by its cover, […]

From Lewis Powell comes this hilariously sad tale of deception and deceit with IM over a 4 year period.

Now, I don’t have the best memory in many respects, but associating a semi-random string of characters with a person I know to an arbitrary degree of familiarity, is something I am particularly bad at. Hell, I […]

To be honest I have no idea what this does since I only spent about 3 weeks programming in C++ and that was more than 6 years ago. However, thought I would toss it out there to anyone that digs C++ or is look into it.

My favorite text editor (yes it’s more than that) is given its due justice in this series of tutorials over at Linux Gazette. Sooner or later you are gonna have to learn Vim (Vi) or Emacs, might as well learn the better one :-P.

Editing with vi can be a nightmarish experience for newbies of unices. […]