Poor Pandora, and some Privacy Surprises

So I downloaded and installed (btw, shouldn't we already have a combined word for "downloaded and installed", like "dinstalled" or downstalled or something...) PandoraJam so for $15 or so, not only can I let my friend(s) see what I'm listening to at the moment (on my IM status), but also deprive Pandora of the last remaining vestige of hope of ad revenue.  Poor Pandora... 

When I installed PandoraJam, it instantly connected to Pandora, not asking me for my username and password.  This reminded me of something that I found out a while ago, but I think most people are not aware of: a Flash player keeps its own cookie-like local information (up to 100kb by default) where it can store things like credentials - or track your surfing habits.  When you clean up your "private" data like cache & cookies on Firefox or Safari, it does not clear that cache.  To do this, you'll need to go to the Flash Settings Manager page to clear the information separately from your browser's mechanisms.  For those people who religiously clear cookies (or set them to be cleared on browser exit), you might be surprised how much persistent data is there.  This data can (potentially) be used to track where you surf, by using flash-based ads on various sites.

Google Spreadsheets Rock! Google Sites is the Web2.0 equivalent of a Pet Rock.

Just saw that there is an API for getting data in and out of Google Spreadsheets.  This is interesting: combined with the fact that I can get feeds of what's changed, collaborate with others, this makes Google Spreadsheets an awesome platform.

This is more than I can say for the hopelessly underpowered Google Sites (JotSpot).  I'm using it for our intranet, and the biggest issues (this has been covered before, but here are my top three biggest problems with it):

1). Unlike Spreadsheets (which can be collaborated on real time), Google Sites locks everyone out when you're editing.  And it takes a while to release the lock, even after you've saved the page.

2). Unlike Spreadsheets (which has a great API to get data out), Google Sites has NO way of extracting data.  None, nada, niente.  If I want to copy-and-paste a LIST page from Google Sites, I can't even do that, because it's all ajax-y and you can't copy-and-paste.

3). Unlike a Wiki, you can't create a new page by just typing the name.  You have to (a) Save the page you're working on.  (b) Create a new page (c) put some content in it, (d) go back and find the original page (e) link to the new page, by finding it in a list (which could be huge) of existing pages.   What a pain.

ICEfaces + Eclipse + Seam

So, I got tired of looking up ICEfaces tags in the documentation, and downloaded the ICEfaces plugin for Eclipse from here.  Then I tried to use the code completion feature.  No dice!  According to this bug, it's broken, and isn't likely to be fixed soon.  Ouch.   And I thought it was going to be smooth sailing.  Apparently this has been a problem since at least 2006.  The best thing I could do is to rename the "xhtml" files to "jspx".  Hope that Seam still works after this :(

Go RonR! wait, go Seam! wait, go WebWork!.... argh...

In my new venture, GoalSpring, we're trying to select a framework to develop in.  Every time I talk to Dave Astels, I get the urge to develop everything in Ruby.  Use RSpec to do real BDD (Behaviour-driven Development), develop everything the "right" way, etc.  Then I realize that besides one two-hour seminar, I've never written a line of Ruby code, and I'm not sure our investors will fund my learning curve.  So yesterday, I've decided to go with Seam.  I dutifully went through the examples, and hey, besides no Rails migration (my favourite part of Rails that I've found so far in my limited experience), Seam seems (no pun intended), pretty equivalent.  And of course I get all the familiar Eclipse refactoring support that I expect.  None of this emacs-like "TextMate" development that all those Ruby junkies seem to enjoy so much.   When I want to write a method, I actually LIKE the method completion and all the help that Eclipse gives me (or IntelliJ, but you get the point).  

And I thought that Green-field development was easy!!

Then I looked through some of the other frameworks that are around these days: WebWork/Struts2 (can they at least drop the unfortunate "Struts" name at least?), Tapestry (I've used it a long time ago but now it seems to be better and cooler - awesome).

Looks like I'll stick Seam & the "no one got fired for choosing J2EE" way of selecting software :)   (well, ok probably people did get fired - but I digress).

Happy International Workers' Day!

http://www.foxnews.com/photoessay/0,4644,1695,00.html

BART Food Travesty

BART apparently is running a promotion whereby kids under 12 ride free: courtesy of Nestle Nesquik. TRAVESTY of a MOCKERY of a SHAM! What is BART THINKING? A cheap substitute containing some cocoa, but mostly sugar, and some flavourings. Sugar in fact is listed as the first ingredient. The "added vitamins" do not make up for the empty calories and chemicals that make up most of the drink - better to simply take a vitamin pill or better yet: encourage people to eat fresh fruits and vegetables! Most of their touted benefits ("builds bones") are coming from the milk that you add to it - which of course it's so much better to just drink by itself. Most people, especially kids, happily do. Especially vulnerable to the current obesity epidemic among kids are the poor and minorities: precisely those groups that are most likely to be riding BART in the first place.

This is a really insidious way for Nesquik to profit at the cost children's health. Nesquik chocolate train??? Why is it that I never see a "fresh apple train" or a "locally grown fresh carrot train"? Is it perhaps because there is more profit to be made by selling cheap sugar and corn syrup at a high price than by selling inexpensive, but nutricious foods?