Comments for Ryan Block

Comment on Android using Java VM for apps — whatever! by James

James — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 03:59:37 +0000

Just about everything said about Java above is misinformation. Modern Java is very close to C++ in performance, even beating some compilers (note the difference between language and VM/compiler) in some benchmarks. Search for benchmarks for Java6 and run some tests on your own. You will be convinced.

Java runs as native code. The compilation just happens to be done later (JIT). AOT compilers exist for Java, just like C++. Not worth while though.

Java 6 is much easier to use than Java from 90s. If that is not enough, use Scala. It works seamlessly on JVM, performs about the same as Java, has adequate tooling and is *highly* expressive, far exceeding C++. It works on Android. Java can be as simple or as complicated as you would want.

The only place where Java falls short to C++ in general use (not including very low level apps that need bit flipping) is in memory use. This has to do with the fact that it is a garbage collected language. For a garbage collected language, Java performs quite well.

Comment on Good folders to exclude from Time Machine backups by gawin

gawin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 21:38:58 +0000

I would like to suggest to also locate your largest folder/files.
This caused me to exclude an extra 10+ GB, which I don’t have to sync over iSCSI :-)

GrandPerspective can give you a good visual representation of your disk usage:
http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net

Comment on Where’s IrfanView for Mac? by cillit

cillit — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 20:56:49 +0000

Free Irfanview from the claws of Windows platform and set it free . free to be … free to be ported to MAC.

Comment on Good folders to exclude from Time Machine backups by Backups mit Time Machine und Backblaze ‹ dreitehabee

Backups mit Time Machine und Backblaze ‹ dreitehabee — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:14:00 +0000

[...] Podcasts in der iTunes-Bibliothek oder der EyeTV-Ordner, lässt sich trefflich und kompakt bei Ryan Block [...]

Comment on Android using Java VM for apps — whatever! by Jonathani

Jonathani — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:27:53 +0000

For those of you, like me, who are web developers, working in scripts rather than compiled code, don’t fret… forget about archaic java, but rather use Titanium to program all of your Mac/PC/iPhone/iPad/Android and soon Blackberry apps in html/javascript/css/php/ruby, etc… it will compile out for you in the proper language, fully packaged and ready to sell. Bets part is, it is FREE.

Screw Java!

Comment on Good folders to exclude from Time Machine backups by Jackson

Jackson — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:24:34 +0000

Another good one to exclude is /var/vm which stores virtual memory swap files and the safe sleep image. Those things definitely don’t need to be backed up. I do like having an intact backup so that I can restore from my Time Machine image and continue using my system as it was previously set up, so I do back up my apps and my /usr/bin folder and my mail etc. but the virtual memory files definitely don’t need to be backed up.

Comment on Don’t be like Andy Marken / Marken Communications by ex-Marken employee

ex-Marken employee — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:49:36 +0000

There are hundreds of us who once worked for Andy Marken. He has been in business for about 3 decades, and has survived by sheer force of will, and by having unsophisiticated clients who don’t know anything about PR, and pay him to run roughshod over the editorial community. Marken is a physically repulsive, serial womanizing, chain-smoking, Obsession-for-Men-wearing, PR dinosaur whose tactics are rooted back in the 1970s and 1980s when PR was a much different business. Believe you me when I tell you that you DO NOT ever want to meet this man in person, and if you have, you will know what I am talking about. Marken is a blight on this earth and the world will be a much better place when he passes on.

Comment on Android using Java VM for apps — whatever! by Xezlec

Xezlec — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:45:57 +0000

Some of you guys are talking about “abstractions” as though that’s the problem. It isn’t. There’s nothing wrong with abstractions. When used properly, they actually tend to make code better and faster, not slower and worse. The problem is that Java runs on an interpreter, which is essentially an emulated machine. Emulation, by its very nature, effectively guarantees a huge multiplication in execution time because every single operation has to trigger some conditional in a loop rather than just being executed by the processor.

Android is still good. Interpreted Java (like all interpreted languages) is awful, and you can feel the sluggishness it imparts to an Android device, but this sluggishness isn’t too bad on faster phones, and most apps aren’t time-critical. But that’s not the reason that Android is still good. Android 2.2 will have just-in-time compilation, which means Java bytecodes will be translated into native code. That should give a massive speed boost, but that’s still not the reason that Android is still good.

The reason that android is still good is that NATIVE code is supported. No other phones I know of allow this. Many Android apps (such as the Android SNES emulator I like to play) are written in native ARM assembly language using the Android NDK (look it up). True, Java is the main API, where most of the features live, but it’s not the only API Google has made available on the platform, and that seems like a key detail that this article fails to mention.

This article makes it sound like you have to write every function in your Android app in Java whether you want to or not, and that’s patently false.

Comment on Where’s IrfanView for Mac? by atoffgr

atoffgr — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:48:21 +0000

you dont need windows to run infanview on mac, you can use Darwine 1.1.21 to open the windows file and run it though it.

Comment on Where’s IrfanView for Mac? by Bubbles

Bubbles — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:08:37 +0000

need help. I went to costa rica on vaca and had all my photos copied to a DVD when my camera filled up. They were saved as Irfanview files and now I cannot open them on my mac. Save my memories!!! How can I recover the images?

Comment on How hidden charges doubled my iPhone bill by Realcellphonetalk

Realcellphonetalk — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 00:54:11 +0000

I co sign with Britt’s comments above. Don’t waste your time complaining to Apple. I actually think the HTC incredible is the best phone out anyways.

Comment on Don’t be like Andy Marken / Marken Communications by Mike

Mike — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:51:08 +0000

This post make me feel better about myself: I thought I might be the only person who did not understand what Marken says in his e-mail message…either I was missing something, or (which is quite possible) didn’t have enough time to try to read and discern what information he attempts to convey.

Comment on Don’t be like Andy Marken / Marken Communications by bud

bud — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 10:59:21 +0000

hehe I met him in 1987 when I was an editor at a tech publication. He blew smoke in my face (literally) and tried to blow it up my butt (figuratively). I was still a young guy then, and have never forgotten the indelible impression he made on me as to what not to do as a PR person or human being.

Comment on Where’s IrfanView for Mac? by mraak

mraak — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 22:28:30 +0000

The best thing is to get Parallels and install Win7 and then Irfan View. I need it for business and until someone produces useful imaging software for Apple this is the cheapest option.

Comment on Good folders to exclude from Time Machine backups by Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:47:05 +0000

Thunderbird is another culprit. I was getting over 1.5 GB added to each backup from that. I used a tool called “TimeTracker” and it worked great to root out where the large amounts of data were coming from.

Comment on Good folders to exclude from Time Machine backups by Ryan Sandridge

Ryan Sandridge — Tue, 25 May 2010 15:11:58 +0000

If you use Adobe Lightroom. You’ll want to exclude from backups .lrdata file containing previews… it is essentially a cache (and Adobe *should* store that in ~/Library/Caches as they do for Adobe Bridge, but for some reason don’t for Lightroom). Also, if you’re using TimeMachine, you can turn off the Lightroom feature that automatically backs up your .lrcat file regularly… since TimeMachine is already creating versioned backups of the file.

Comment on Good folders to exclude from Time Machine backups by Gus

Gus — Thu, 20 May 2010 19:30:54 +0000

I have read a few postings and articles regarding Time Machine exclusions (including http://shiftedbits.org/2007/10/31/time-machine-exclusions/comment-page-1/ ), and I have not been able to figure out what has gone wrong since my upgrade to 10.6. If anyone happens upon this post and has some input, I would greatly appreciate it.

To avoid hassles with FileVault, I don’t use it. Instead, at login I mount an encrypted disk image that I use to hold all client data and I do not store the password in my keychain.

Under Leopard, Time Machine would backup the files inside this mounted volume just like any other drive/volume. I could exclude the folder where the disk image itself was stored (though backing up a sparse image could partially address this under Snow Leopard) so as not to have massive backups, and I could rely on Time Machine to make backups of the individual files, revisions, etc. inside the volume.

Under Snow Leopard, Time Machine seems to not even try to backup the contents of the mounted volume. I cannot quite figure out why or how this is excluded. Maybe I am doing something else wrong that I am not detecting. I did, for a variety of reasons (e.g., CrashPlan, etc.), make a new encrypted volume using a sparse image but I don’t see how that would cause the problem.

How does Time Machine know to backup external drive volumes that are mounted and yet not to backup volumes that are mounted from a disk image?

Any thoughts? Thanks very much.

Comment on Leopard (still) sucks at shared Windows SMB by Jason

Jason — Thu, 13 May 2010 19:41:11 +0000

expensive option but it this seems to be the only solution:
http://www.grouplogic.com/products/extremeZ-IP/

Needs to be installed server-side. Tricks finder into thinking SMB is AFP.

Comment on Apple’s new in-ear headphones: comparison, impressions, and FAQ by Katie

Katie — Mon, 10 May 2010 20:12:42 +0000

The most used apple ear phones fit in my ear just fine. i love them

Comment on Where’s IrfanView for Mac? by MGC

MGC — Sat, 08 May 2010 17:36:47 +0000

I NEED Irfan View!
sigh