viva da MuffinMan

Screen-scraping ethics

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 17:17:04 +0100

I’ve been struggling with this for quite a while now - how ethical is it to retrieve data from a website to be used within your own application? The information exists for the sole purpose of informing the public, so surely by further utilising this data and disseminating it, I’m giving the original author a hand. Then why do websites specifically prohibit this sort of behaviour?

While this article doesn’t answer all of my questions, it does provide good guidelines on data scraping, something which I will strive to abide to in the future.

Changelog: UKRail v1.01

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:46:00 +0100

UKRail is a free alternative to the National Rail application in the Android Marketplace.

v1.01 adds:

Support for all devices running Android 1.5 or later versions
Nicer looking UI, in line with National Rail colours
Station input auto-completion
More bugfixes and error checks from v1.00

Scan the barcode or click here to download it straight to your Android handset!

Privacy Protection

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:32:00 +0100

Came across this particular article lately (thanks to Boris) and while the loss of any personal data is regrettable, I have no sympathy for these Android smartphone users.

Before you install any application in the Android OS, you’re prompted with a list of permissions that you grant to the application. Surely something must be dodgy if it’s a wallpaper application and yet it requests permission to access your Contacts or your Browsing History.

This is the most apt illustration I have found that reflects the situation:

When you see a speed camera (which is painted in a bright and easily distinguishable colour), the warning signs, the markings on the floor, any driver with a common sense will slow down, so that they don’t get docked 3 points from their licence and incur a fine.

The users who installed the wallpaper app and subsequently lost their data are the drivers that got fined in this particular situation.

And that’s why they get no sympathy from me.

Originally I was going to join my dad on a short hike in addition to testing out the Tamron 28-300mm...

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 08:44:12 +0100

Originally I was going to join my dad on a short hike in addition to testing out the Tamron 28-300mm f3.5 lenses he lent me.

But his PC and laptop broke down and this is why I’m posting this instead of climbing a mountain. Fuck Windows.

Boris:

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 05:00:34 +0100

Boris:
dude iphone is the future
android is destined for failure
i mean they name the updates after desserts
desserts are served last
after the main course
which is the iphone

Nice one, Dell. But seriously, I would only recommend Ubuntu to...

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:11:02 +0100

Nice one, Dell.

But seriously, I would only recommend Ubuntu to people who know what they’re doing on the computer.

Progress or Regression?

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:19:37 +0100

Last week I have slacked off after publishing my UKRails app on the Android market. Although I have studied and discussed with others on the project I am working on next (A Background Daily), I haven’t really made any substantial progress.

The aim for this week is to get A Background Daily sorted out and launched, and start on my next project with Raymond: Newsmap.

The 10K Challenge I

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:11:31 +0100

Instead of doing my usual 5K run today, I decided to increase the incline and keep the same speed, in order to push myself so I can attain a better time for my 5K subgoal. I thought it would only be marginally harder than the normal 5K I do.

Turns out I was wrong by a mile. It was like increasing the difficulty in an exponential manner. Not only was I feeling shite at the end of the 30 minutes, but I only managed to squeeze in 3K after succumbing to temptations to slow down for a tiny bit to rest.

Did 2 sets of Tabata intervals today, squats and push-ups. Now I just want to crawl back to bed and rest. Fuck you and your mind games, Boris.

Over 2000 National Rail stations. How did I put them all in an...

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:23:30 +0100

Over 2000 National Rail stations. How did I put them all in an array in a couple of hours? Using this sly trick:

Since all the stations are listed on the National Rail website, I did a screen scrape of the page and applied regular expressions to strip out the HTML I didn’t want.
Alas, Yahoo Pipes only allows me to create a XML page, so I went a step further and wrote a simple Java program that retrieves HTML pages. Apply a few more regular expressions to strip out the XML and I get a list of 2000 stations, perfectly formatted with quotations and commas, ready to drop in to my Android app.

It’s amazing what technology can do.

Setting up autocomplete (when you type a part of the station...

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 05:18:15 +0100

Setting up autocomplete (when you type a part of the station name a suggestion comes up) is extremely tedious…

Puyol and Pique, both of whom play for Barcelona and have been...

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:46:15 +0100

Puyol and Pique, both of whom play for Barcelona and have been vocal in their desire to see Fabregas move to Camp Nou, then crept up behind the midfielder and draped him in the colours of his childhood club. Reina then pronounced Fabregas “the future of Barcelona”, before the midfielder took the shirt off.

That’s a really sly move. Any thoughts on this, Boris?

Android App Inventor lets you be the developer

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:34:40 +0100

Android App Inventor lets you be the developer :

Finally! This should allow for much easier app development, can’t wait to get started with it this week!

Developing for Android

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 08:52:58 +0100

Over the last few days I’ve been working on the UI for my first Android app.

UI development is a pain. Sure, Java programming is more or less simple once you get the hang of it, but creating the UI is really annoying. No built-in drag and drop editor (as I am used to in Netbeans), which makes it rather difficult to create a nice looking UI. In comparison, I have been told from friends that the iPhone development environment has a drag and drop editor, which makes it much easier to create a visually pleasing app. There’s Droiddraw, which helps a lot, but it’s still a far cry from what Apple offers.

bridohk: Another one of those typical Scottish responses. This...

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:35:39 +0100

bridohk:

Another one of those typical Scottish responses.

This totally made my day.

And it’s Glasgow, what did you expect?

These jokes never get old

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 19:02:12 +0100

These jokes never get old

Photo

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 18:20:19 +0100

The iPhone Economy: Apps aren't worth Developing?

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:47:48 +0100

The iPhone Economy: Apps aren't worth Developing?:

This article paints a very bleak picture for full-time app development.

But again, I wouldn’t say no to earning £1000 for a hobby. And there’s always contract work to make up the numbers, if I ever find myself doing full-time app development.

Technological Changes within 10 years

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 01:01:00 +0100

2000
iMac
Operating System - Mac OS 9.0.4
Processor - 500 MHz PowerPC G3 CPU, 128MB Memory
Graphics - ATI Rage 128 Pro, 8MB of memory (8 million triangles)
Screen - 786K pixels
Data Transfer Speeds - 1.3-12.5 MB/s (DVD-ROM-1/100 Ethernet)
Storage - 30GB Hard Drive
Dimensions - 15.0 x 15.0 x 17.1 inches
Weight - 34.7 pounds

2010
iPhone 4
Operating System - iOS 4.0
Processor - 1 Ghz ARM A4 CPU, 512MB Memory
Graphics - PowerVR SGX 535, uses system memory (28 million triangles)
Screen - 614K pixels
Data Transfer Speeds - .04-20MB/s (3G-WiFi)
Storage - 32GB Flash Drive
Dimensions - 4.5 x 2.31 x .31 inches
Weight - 4.8 ounces

Technology waits for no man…

Halfway there

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:18:26 +0100

Officially halfway through my exams. I just need to wade through Formal Specification and Verification next Tuesday, followed by Reliability and Fault Tolerance next Friday and its freedom for me.

Which brings me to the next dilemma. Should I settle for an iPhone 3GS (2nd hand), a new iPhone 4G (£499), or wait for my dad’s hand-me-down iPhone 3G (free) for iPhone development work? It’s just going to take on the role as a spare phone for me if it’s not being used to test apps…

This strip more or less summarises the sorry state of the world...

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:10:45 +0100

This strip more or less summarises the sorry state of the world we live in at the current moment. Privacy is now the least of our concerns - we throw it all away in the name of ‘networking’. Identity theft and gullibility reaches heights that have never been seen before.

I wonder how long this trend can last.