One of the interesting challenges working on Everyone’s Timetable is that it’s a live application with a server backend. That means that any one of the following can cause a very serious problem: A change to the Android app that’s not compatible with the PHP server code A change to the PHP server code that’s …
Continue reading Development/production setup for work on live Android app with a server backendIn a previous post I described my frustration with the fact that it’s so difficult to find documentation about how to connect to a server using HTTPS if the certificate for that server is self-signed (not from a paid-for certificate authority). After a while I found that someone at Google noticed that because of their …
Continue reading Android programming: connect to an HTTPS server with self-signed certificateThere are times when the most of the world goes into a frenzied argument for something without thinking it through. This happens with many kinds of issues from (recent news) geopolitical to (since the beginning of time) religious to (what this post is about) technical issues. Effective means of reason and deduction are forgotten, research …
Continue reading Why hate self-signed public key certificates?For many years I’ve been a fan of GTK. I started using linux with GTK1 was dominant, as I became a developer GTK2 took over, with beautiful themes and very usable widgets. I used GTK software, feeling that the philosophy of the people who write GTK apps matches my own: less fluff and more stability. …
Continue reading Who’s screwing up GTK?I decided to decorate my office a little, and since I’ve always been a Slackware user I wanted to get a large Slackware sticker to put on my glass. I couldn’t find one, so I made it myself, here’s the result: I had to construct the SVG file myself. I started from the Linux penguin …
Continue reading Slackware penguin stickerA couple of months ago I got a Nexus 5 to play with. I was generally impressed with the device, but a couple of things gave me pause, one of them I’ll talk about now: you can no longer set up your phone to act as a USB mass storage device when connected to a …
Continue reading How long before you can’t access your files on an Android phone?After going to one of our campuses (Newnham) on cross-country skis I decided to give showshoeing a try for my everyday campus (Seneca@York). I enjoyed it so much I did it all winter long. Video was edited with Cinelerra, though not much editing was needed. I’ll make some notes about the process here because I …
Continue reading Snowshoe to workTook me a half a year to finish this video. It’s my first exercise in video editing. Enjoy! It took me this long because: The only program I had any idea how to use was Windows Movie Maker. But I didn’t want to use it for several reasons that should be obvious to you. My …
Continue reading FSOSS 2013 Robots CompetitionBoth of my credit cards have been replaced (without any request from me) with new versions which have a wireless, authentication-less, confirmation-less, and protection-less systems called either Mastercard PayPass or Visa PayWave. I’ve never understood the old american system where your card number alone can be used to take money from you. Yes – it …
Continue reading Ridiculous PayPass/PayWaveYep, this guys was actually getting gas at a Petro Canada at the highway 400 rest stop near Parry Sound. See the little man on top? He pulled the hose all the way up there to fill it up. Not sure which of the two – truck or station – ran out of gas :)
Continue reading [Gas station] Almost ran out of gas