Your Digital Pinball Machine
2.11.2016
I've had something of an obsession with digital pinball for years now. That recently culminated in me buying a Virtuapin Mini.
OK, yes, it's an extravagance. There's no question. But in my defense, it is a minor extravagance relative to a real pinball machine.
The mini is much smaller than
Can Software Make You Less Racist?
25.8.2016
I don't think we computer geeks appreciate how profoundly the rise of the smartphone, and Facebook, has changed the Internet audience. It's something that really only happened in the last five years, as smartphones and data plans dropped radically in price and became accessible – and addictive –...
The Raspberry Pi Has Revolutionized Emulation
25.7.2016
Every geek goes through a phase where they discover emulation. It's practically a rite of passage.
I think I spent most of my childhood – and a large part of my life as a young adult – desperately wishing I was in a video game arcade. When I finally obtained my driver's
Computer says NO to HTML5 document outline
9.6.2016
What a brilliant idea! For the longest time HTML5 specified, and advised developers, that it no longer mattered what the number (1 to 6) was in a heading element (when used in conjunction with sectioning elements). What mattered was the nesting level of the H1-h6 in sectioning elements, just like...
Computer says NO to HTML5 document outline
9.6.2016
What a brilliant idea! For the longest time HTML5 specified, and advised developers, that it no longer mattered what the number (1 to 6) was in a heading element (when used in conjunction with sectioning elements). What mattered was the nesting level of the H1-h6 in sectioning elements, just like...
The Golden Age of x86 Gaming
21.5.2016
I've been happy with my 2016 HTPC, but the situation has changed, largely because of something I mentioned in passing back in November:
The Xbox One and PS4 are effectively plain old PCs, built on:
Intel Atom class (aka slow) AMD 8-core x86 CPU
8 GB RAM
AMD Radeon 77xx
Your Own Personal WiFi Storage
7.5.2016
Our kids have reached the age – at ages 4, 4, and 7 respectively – that taking longer trips with them is now possible without everyone losing what's left of their sanity in the process. But we still have the same problem on multiple hour trips, whether it's in a car, or
They Have To Be Monsters
29.4.2016
Since I started working on Discourse, I spend a lot of time thinking about how software can encourage and nudge people to be more empathetic online. That's why it's troubling to read articles like this one:
My brother’s 32nd birthday is today. It’s an especially emotional day for
Here's The Programming Game You Never Asked For
15.4.2016
You know what's universally regarded as un-fun by most programmers? Writing assembly language code.
As Steve McConnell said back in 1994:
Programmers working with high-level languages achieve better productivity and quality than those working with lower-level languages. Languages such as...
The woes of date input
19.1.2016
One of the many new input types that HTML5 introduced is the date input type which, in theory, should allow a developer to provide the user with a simple, usable, recognisable method of entering a date on a web page. But sadly, this input type has yet to reach its full potential. Briefly, the date...
The woes of date input
19.1.2016
One of the many new input types that HTML5 introduced is the date input type which, in theory, should allow a developer to provide the user with a simple, usable, recognisable method of entering a date on a web page. But sadly, this input type has yet to reach its full potential. Briefly, the date...
HTML Developers: Please Consider
9.12.2015
ARIA is an amazing technology, it allows developers to add meaning to meaningless HTML or override meaning on HTML that is being repurposed and sometimes misused, so that users who rely upon the meaning of HTML, as implemented in browsers, can understand and interact with HTML User Interfaces...