Lately I have been reading about and toying with Git a lot — and I’m truly fascinated! (In fact, I’m even using it to track the progress of this very posting.)
However, I’m not primarily interested in the distributed part. More important, to me, is the fact that Git gives me a private revision history (local commits). That way I can commit frequently without having to worry about publishing my changes prematurely.^[1]
Continue reading this post…

1. The same is true for other DVCS, like Mercurial — though I have only worked with Git so far. [↩]

Yesterday’s OpenSocial hackathon was the first event of this kind for me — and I’m quite glad that Simon had convinced me to attend.
Continue reading this post…

While reading an article about UsWare vs. ThemWare (via Jermolene), I’ve realized that TiddlyWiki, for me, has turned into ThusWare.
While I started out as a regular user, the more I code for and care about TiddlyWiki, the less I end up actually using it.
That of course carries the risk of losing touch with regular users’ needs, so I’ll need to get back to that original spirit. The first step in doing so will be to re-organize my diverse collection of TiddlyWiki documents — something that I’ve been wanting to do for ages, actually.
I’ll report any findings here, so watch this space!

Since I frequently use TinyURLs, I’ve come up with a bookmarklet to simplify the process of providing both the TinyURL and the original URL^[1]:

This bookmarklet works in two steps: On the first click, the TinyURL is created. The second click then extracts both URLs from the page and presents them in a newly-created input field, ready to copy and paste.
The original plan was to circumvent the first step by using a hidden IFRAME element. However, due to XSS restrictions, that seems not to be possible.
Continue reading this post…

1. see here for my reasoning on this [↩]
2. created using Bookmarklet Builder [↩]

Some folks join the Peace Corps. Others join groups such as Habitat for Humanity. Still others choose to write open-source software.

Source: Josh at The Daily WTF (slightly modified)

A recent discussion within the TiddlyWiki community has made me reexamine the community’s role in shaping open-source projects.

Many people believe that the open-source principle equals grassroots democracy.
However, I don’t think that’s a fair assessment.

While community involvement is generally important and valuable, it is also a double-edged sword.
For certain issues, opening the debate to the community at large can prove an obstacle to making progress. That’s because discussions involving a large number of people can easily get out of hand — especially if there is no tangible concept yet to base the discussion on.
Also, many tasks require a certain expertise, and should thus be delegated to qualified contributors. The wisdom of crowds (as described by Surowiecki) is no panacea, but only applies to certain kinds of decisions.

That is not to say the community should be excluded though. The entire process needs to be transparent — not only to avoid alienating contributors and users, but also because diverse opinions and perspectives are essential to achieving optimal results (e.g. to avoid common traps like coders’ tunnel vision).
But this involvement should be timed carefully. Gathering feedback on a well-thought-out concept will often be more productive than starting a discussion without a solid foundation.

Bottom line: In my opinion, open-source projects are more about transparency and a diverse assortment of skills, rather than forcing everyone’s direct involvement on every single level.

Thanks to Saq and Phil for their insights on this topic.
I’d be happy to continue the discussion in the comments…

After having posted my first impressions with the XO a few weeks ago, I think it’s time for an update.

The first thing that needs clarification: In practical terms (I won’t go into the technical details), the screen does not actually offer a resolution of 1200×900, but only 800×600 — however, the picture is as sharp as if it was 1200×900.
That was a bit of a disappointment at first, as I had expected to browse the web with a “desktop resolution” (in my naïveté, I expected there to be a toggle switch between hires monochrome and lores color mode).

Much more of an annoyance was the Sugar interface though — it proved to be way too limiting for an experienced computer user like myself (e.g. documents can only be saved through the Journal activity).
I was delighted to learn that I could install a different window manager — so I opted for Xfce, giving the XO a much more familar interface.

That in turn enabled me to install pretty much any application that could also be found on a regular Linux PC — like Firefox for web browsing, as well as MPlayer and VLC for multimedia files.

Unfortunately, my XO is suffering from the sticky keys syndrome; the left ALT key is stuck, which makes the keyboard pretty much unusable. Nobody seems to be quite sure what the cause is — whether it’s a hard- or a software issue — so it remains to be seen whether there’s gonna be a fix for this.
In the meantime, I’ve figured out that there’s a workaround; remapping can be used to disable the ALT key.

All of this has taught me a lot about Linux (sort of… ) — knowledge that might come in handy, considering that I intend to become a full-time Linux user soon (more on that at a later time).

Beyond that, I’m not entirely sure what to use this machine for, as it’s not really suitable for day-to-day productive use. For example, I have yet to use my beloved TiddlyWiki on this machine.

Bottom line: The XO is not quite what I had expected, as it’s hardly a replacement for a “proper” UMPC. But it’s definitely a nice gadget — a geek toy!

PS: A few weeks ago at the airport, the security guard was quite enamored of the device — but she gave it back to me, eventually…

As most of of my friends and followers already know, I will be joining Osmosoft in a few weeks (more on that at a later time… ).

The problem: Finding accommodation in the London area is a major challenge.
So let’s tap into the wisdom of crowds here — help me get my bearings to find a nice, affordable flat to live in.

These are my main criteria:

General Area

• I wouldn’t mind - indeed, I would prefer - living a little outside the city, up to about one hours’ commute from Osmosoft Towers in central London.
• I have friends in Hatfield, so the Hertfordshire county might be a good place to start with. (This might have the added benefit of being reasonably close to Stansted Airport.)

Local Area

• The neighborhood should be reasonably clean and safe, of course, but I don’t need to live in an excessively posh or upscale area.
• Good public transport connection as well as close proximity to supermarkets and retail stores are essential (I won’t bring my car).
• Being near a sports club would be nice, as I intend to take up table tennis again (though this isn’t a major concern).

Housing

• I would prefer not to live in a house share (if I end up in a house share anyway, I would probably insist on ensuite facilities).
• I imagine a nice flat with one or possibly even two rooms (in addition to bathroom and kitchen).
• It should also be furnished to some extent, at least with regards to basic appliances like an oven/stove and a fridge.

Since I’m not entirely sure yet what to budget for these requirements, a few rough estimates might save me some trouble there.

I would immensely appreciate any help you might have to offer!

At long last, my XO-1 (OLPC) has finally arrived today. (A big thanks to my friendly acquaintances in the U.S.!)

My first impression of the device was very good; it looks fun and sturdy. The display delivers a very crisp image, and the screen can also be rotated.
I haven’t done a lot of testing yet — let alone read the manual (which is only available online) — but it can safely be said that the Sugar interface takes quite some getting used to for regular PC users like myself.
The keyboard keys are small (of course) and feel a bit wonky, as there is no proper pressure point; the contact points have little more than a rubber coating, but I assume that’s intentional to make it more resistant. It might take some time, but I’m confident I’ll get used to typing with this.
Based on this very preliminary review, I think I’ll have a lot of fun with this device - despite some of those negative points.

I wanted the XO primarily as a fun gadget, but its small size will certainly prove useful in many ways — e.g. serving as an ultra-portable device used when carrying a regular laptop might be too cumbersome (e.g. in the car… ). Also, it has been suggested that the XO might “be a great ‘distraction free’ writing machine” — sounds plausible!
How I’m actually gonna end up using it, though, that is yet to be seen (I’ll report any findings here). Either way, I will almost certainly do a lot of TiddlyWiki stuff on it, using it both as a notebook and as testing platform.

From my perspective, the XO hardware has several advantages over its main “competitor”^[1], the Asus Eee. The main criterion here is the larger screen and higher resolution^[2] — not to mention the exclusiveness of this device (which, personally, I don’t much care for though)… A drawback is the lower processing power (e.g. 433 MHz vs. 900 MHz CPU) and smaller storage memory (1024 MB vs. 4/8 GB).
For more information, there’s an interesting in-depth dissection of the XO-1’s hardware on bunnie’s blog.
Ultra-portable laptops seem to have become a fad (again?), with a number of companies jumping on the bandwagon — so we will certainly see more developments in this field.

A few words on the OLPC project in general:
I’m not entirely convinced that a laptop is what children in poor countries (or regions/districts) need the most.
However, a laptop does allow for easier distribution of reading material — think downloading an e-book vs. ordering a truckload of paperbacks. So this might indeed provide a significant boost in spreading education.
However, I’m still skeptical as to whether the money that went into this project could not have been used in a better way. We might be wiser five or ten years from now. At the very least, the kid getting that second laptop funded by my order will have some fun with it, and that should be worth something…

1. Of course the OLPC project is non-profit, and the XO-1 not a regular retail product… [↩]
2. In monochrome mode — which should be sufficient for most tasks — the XO’s 7.5” screen has a resolution of 1200×900 (800×600 in “backlit” mode). The Eee’s 7” screen has a tiny resolution of 800×480 pixels (a larger version is in development though). [↩]

This will make for a good first edition of the “suggested reading” series:

• After his initial probing draft, Phil has published the Ten Commandments of Twitter. Definitely a must-read for any Twitter user!
• In a similar vein, Paul has come up with the distinction of Twits and Twerps. (I’m definitely a Twit — I hope… )
• Finally, JP has a very thoughtful posting discussing the underlying issues of these recent developments.