Microlog Technobabble
Microlog entries filed under Technobabble
Learn to Code a Basic iPhone App
In the future, everyone will be a mobile app developer. Permalink ·
Learning to Love the Boring Bits of CSS
I’ll get around to implementing some of these tips. Eventually. Permalink ·
Build the Mac Pro That You Wish Apple Released
Sheesh, talk about a price difference. This makes Apple’s latest moves to make their computers even less user-upgradable really stick in the craw. Permalink ·
Intro to 3D Modeling: The Complete Guide
We’ll all be doing this in a few years’ time, I’m certain of it. Permalink ·
Modkit: a simple graphical programming system for Arduinos and other microcontrollers
Basically a much easier way to get going with Arduino. Filing this for future reference. See also: Google Blocky: an easy, visual way to learn to code Permalink ·
Adjust OS X’s Volume in Smaller Increments by Pressing Option+Shift
You learn something new every day. Permalink ·
Codecademy and the Future of (Not) Learning to Code
A critique written before some improvements were made, but the main point still stands: Codecademy is rubbish for learning to code, because it presumes too much rote knowledge on the part of the learner. Give me an O’Reilly book anyday (in fact, I just took delivery of Learning Javacript). Permalink ·
Sublime Text 2 Tips and Tricks
Filing this for future reference. Permalink ·
Learn HTML & CSS - a book that teaches you in a nicer way
This looks as beautiful as it does useful. Permalink ·
IntoNow from Yahoo!
Like the Zeebox network I linked to last December, this is kind of what I was talking about two years ago, but still not quite there. Permalink ·
Start Developing iOS Apps Today
Filing for future reference. Permalink ·
Do More With Your DSLR
First in a series of video tutorials, filed for future reference. Permalink ·
The Perpetual, Invisible Window Into Your Gmail Inbox
It’s funny, I know this is a thing that people do, but it’s never occurred to me to allow any third party to have access to my Gmail. I’ve got no problem OAuth-ing services on my public Twitter account. There’s an implicit line between the stuff for all to see and the stuff that’s just for me, and I guess that’s what guides my decisions when it comes to my personal data. Permalink ·
Learning Processing
Beginner, intermediate and advanced tutorials for the digital art programming language. Filing this for when I get around to catching up with Code Year. Permalink ·
Bootstrap Generator
For getting started with Twitter’s Bootstrap web/app design framework. Permalink ·
Jonathan Zittrain: The personal computer is dead
More to the point, the ‘personal’ in personal computer is dying as closed-shop devices and environments become so streamlined as to take the user and their unique requirements out of the equation. I hadn’t been much worried about it before as I always thought there was a place for both: the tinkerer that wants control over every aspect of their set up, and the average joe who just wants something that works. But now I’m not so sure… Permalink ·
Everything you need to know about buying a camera
Probably the most comprehensive guide on this you’re ever gonna find. Permalink ·
What Good Is Google+ If My Friends Don’t Use It?
I’m still figuring it out. The free Picasa photo storage is a very nice addition, though. Permalink ·
Foundation
A boilerplate framework for web projects. They could do with a better description, as who the hell knows what ‘production code’ is supposed to mean? Is ‘web’ a dirty word now? Permalink ·
.net’s top 25 books for web designers and developers
I like the broad selection; it’s not all hardcore technical nonsense. Permalink ·
A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design
In even shorter terms, the tablet is a one-dimensional medium as far as our interaction with them goes. We need more tactile interfaces! Permalink ·
CSS Font Stack
If it’s not obvious what this is from first glance, it would take too long to explain it to you. Permalink ·
Learning to Program for Journalists: The Epic HOWTO
Filing this for future reference. Permalink ·
Google Kills Its Other Plus, and How to Bring It Back
I haven’t used it in a long time — I’ve always been a quotes guy — but it does have a very specific application that hasn’t really been substituted here. When Google starts messing up search, that’s not a good sign. Permalink ·
Microdata for recipes at schema.org
A descriptive framework or microformat for recipes in HTML. It’s a bit too ‘machiney’ for my tastes (not their fault — the W3C proposal for microdata is to blame) but other than that, nicely done. Permalink ·
John Gruber comments on accusations that Steve Jobs built freedom-sapping digital ‘prisons’
Jesus, Gruber drives me mental sometimes. Maybe calling Apple products and services ‘tyrannical’ or ‘freedom-sapping digital prisons’ is overstating the point, but it’s pretty clear those words are being used for rhetorical emphasis, not absolute literalism, so that smug bullshit doesn’t play. As for the main point: if you invest so much in a closed system (like I have), it’s never as easy as just choosing to leave. Could I switch platforms tomorrow and go back to a Windows-based set-up? Not without an outlay of thousands of euro and a few solid days of software installation. ‘Prison’ might be too strong, but ‘debtor’s prison’ is an apt simile in this case. Permalink ·
Incredibly Useful CSS Snippets
Boilerplate code to cut some headaches out of the web design process. Permalink ·
Generate sound from a line of code
Not being a coder, I don’t know how useful this is for me, but it’s worth saving. Permalink ·
ifttt
As in, ‘if this then that’. Basically an easier-to-understand version of Yahoo! Pipes, taking something from one site (usually an RSS feed) and making it do something else more useful. The list of ready-made recipes is growing fast. Permalink ·
An iOS Developer Takes on Android
Very interesting to see the differences. Permalink ·
Markdown Service Tools
Adding Markdown functionality to the right-click menu in OS X. Permalink ·
From Kindle to Fire: Why Amazon Needs to Go Global
With everyone gushing over the new Kindles, Tim Carmody’s the only one who noticed that for the most part, they’re US-only (particularly the Fire, which matters diddly-squat to anyone who can’t access Amazon’s streaming media). Permalink ·
VideoJS
A free and open source HTML5 video player. Filing this for future reference. Permalink ·
Sass: Syntactically Awesome Stylesheets
“Sass is a meta-language on top of CSS that’s used to describe the style of a document cleanly and structurally, with more power than flat CSS allows.” Permalink ·
Codecademy
tep-by-step tutorials in programming basics. Looks inviting. Permalink ·
15 CSS Tricks That Must be Learned
Great tips here. Terrible writing, though. Permalink ·
An HTML5 boilerplate addon for CSS browser nitpicks
A handy method for browser-targeted CSS switching. I thought the days of CSS hacks were gone, but… Permalink ·
Bootstrap, from Twitter
“Bootstrap is a toolkit from Twitter designed to kickstart development of webapps and sites.” This looks great; thanks, Twitter. Permalink ·
Unedited Thoughts About Technology Better Left Unposted
Co-signed. There’s no reason why Apple has to be the only company making stuff that everyone wants. Why isn’t the Android platform on a level pegging with iPhone apps? Just get it done already so the rest of us can buy cheap tablets and join in the future party. Permalink ·
The Shapes of CSS
I get out of practice for five years and now CSS can do all this? Permalink ·
Side-By-Side Reference Sheet for Scripting Languages
PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby all covered. Saving this for the day when I might need it, in the distant future. Permalink ·
Responsive Design Testing
View how your site appears across various mobile and desktop browser widths (see also: 1140 CSS Grid). I’m gonna have to redesign now, aren’t I? Hmm. If only there was some way I could re-order the content… Permalink ·
CSS For Running Text Between Columns
It’s proprietary for the moment, with separate declarations for Mozilla and Webkit-based browsers. But it works! Permalink ·
A new micro clearfix hack
Filing this for future reference. Permalink ·
Don’t Fear the Internet
Basic HTML and CSS for non-web designers. Good for a brush-up if you’re as rusty as I am. Permalink ·
Rethinking CSS Grids
More on CSS grids, filed for future reference. Permalink ·
Making select boxes better
Chosen is a JavaScript plugin that turns drop-down lists into much neater text-completion boxes. Nice. Permalink ·
Hidden features of Google Search
Lots I didn’t know here, especially the conversion options. Permalink ·
Toward Better Master Passwords
Very good advice here, specifically for users of 1Password but in general too. Permalink ·
A List Apart: Fluid Images
This is such a simple remedy, I should have done it ages ago! Permalink ·
Remembrance of links past
“Since Pinboard has collected a lot of bookmarks at this point, I thought it would be interesting to actually run the numbers on link rot — the depressing phenomenon in which perfectly healthy URLs stop working just a few years after appearing online.” Link rot is the bane of the web. Permalink ·
Twitter SMS Commands
Discovered these recently; I didn’t realise texting with Twitter was so versatile. Permalink ·
Twitter sparklines
Filing this for future reference. Permalink ·
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This is the personal website of MacDara Conroy, a production journalist, music writer and mediavore in Dublin, Ireland. Read more »
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This page is a reverse chronology of Microlog entries by MacDara Conroy filed under Technobabble. You will find many more in the Archives.