Nifty tidbits!

IOS-no previous simulator versions!

27 Jan, 2012 ios mobile Rant

Ran into a situation today where we had a mobile web app that was reported to be misbehaving on iOS 3.2. The Mac at work has the latest XCode and IOS 5 simulator loaded on it. So we thought it would be quite routine to just start a simulator running IOS 3.2 - after all this having simulators of different versions of the OS is pretty routine. Android makes it trivial and before that, Blackberry has always had different simulator versions for different versions of their OS.

VIM macro super powers

27 Jan, 2012 Tips vim

So my affair with Vim continues - and I seem to have discovered VIM’s macro super powers. The obvious next step is to shout from the rooftops and hence this blog post (and there’s hardly anything original - apart from the fact that I’ve just had a 'aha' moment when it comes to macros and thought it might help other budding vimmers out there… A little primer - Macros let you repeat a set of commands.

Yoohooo!! Successfully compiled Android from source

17 Jan, 2012 Android HOWTO Linux ubuntu virtualbox

Finally!!! So my last weekend project had been to compile Android ICS from source. Given that the size of the repo itself is in excess of 6Gigs, just getting it down itself took the better part of Friday night and Saturday night. When I got down to running make on it, it was Sunday afternoon. Needless to say, things didn’t work too well. I’m running this on a 32 bit Ubuntu 10.

Ubuntu, Console VIM - weird characters in insert mode

16 Jan, 2012 Linux Tips Troubleshooting ubuntu vim

Now that I feel quite comfy with VIM, over the weekend I needed to edit a config file in my Ubuntu 10.10 Virtualbox machine quickly. Instead of GVim, I just opened the file in console VIM. As I hit i to get into insert mode, a bunch of weird character boxes were inserted. That was not good at all :( - just when you think you’re comfortable with something if it does something totally weird.

Android Annoyances

11 Jan, 2012 Android Rant

So yesterday and today while driving back from work, I’ve had to join conference calls. The conference call provider we use at work has 10 digit passcode numbers. Usually, I have a few bridge numbers with the DTMF codes saved in my contacts so I can just click on the contact to get dialled to the access number and have the participant passcode typed in for me. However, yesterday and today’s calls were on a different bridge and I had to try to remember a 10 digit number after dialling the access code - and all that while driving.

Facebook publicize is driving me nuts!

10 Jan, 2012 facebook Rant wordpress.com

I’m thoroughly frustrated with Wordpress.com’s facebook publicize feature. In theory, its supposed to post to your facebook wall whenever you publish a new post and that way publicize your post among your friend circle…..if it ever works. I’ve done all the resets, disconnects and reconnects and it just doesn’t. Now, this could very well be a facebook problem rather than a wordpress.com problem - so while my rant might be misdirected, its a rant anyway against the thoroughly frustrating experience.

A syntax highlighter extension for Deck.js

9 Jan, 2012 deck.js Javascript Tips

So for the past few hours, have been playing with Deck.js. I like the idea of a web based presentation format rather than a blob like powerpoint. At the same time, I’m a bit circumspect too - given the state of the tools. At least for my use, there’s really no burning need that powerpoint can’t solve (though I get the shivers everytime I have to do a presentation). All the web based/HTML5 seem raw at the moment on some much needed features (slide notes, slide prints, scaling issues etc).

Vim - unmap Esc!!

6 Jan, 2012 Tips vim

So I had the bright idea (by no means original, though, as I later figured out) that it’d be great to avoid the Esc key on Vim as its so far away from the home row. The alternative to pressing Esc is Ctrl-[ which, even though I’ve mapped CapsLock to control, I still find hard. So then, after some more googling around I’ve settled down on mapping jk to Esc. Its been a few hours with this setup and while its been an absolute pain till now, I think its a great way to avoid the Esc key jump.

Upgraded to XBMC 11.0 Eden beta

6 Jan, 2012 general Random Rambling Tips XBMC

So I upgraded the good ole' media center machine at home to XBMC 11.0 Beta . XBMC has been one of those software finds that has been just marvellous - to the point where I can’t imagine the telly at home without XBMC. I’ve pretty much stopped watching regular tv/cable and almost exclusively on XBMC. Also, its been a great way to keep the aging laptop (circa 2006 - core2Duo 1.

Unit testing Apache CXF RESTful services - code available

31 Dec, 2011 code cxf HOWTO Java Tips

So, the original post on the topic written about two and a half years ago had code snippets, but there’s been comments and PMs for the complete code. So last week, as I resurrected this blog, decided to get that code out on github. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done; it has been quite some time and frankly, I’d lost the code. I must’ve switched machines about 3 times in the interim and gone from SVN to github for personal projects.