The trailer is quoting T.E Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom introduction (which is one of the best prose ever written) and there are cameo pictures of Lawrence wearing the english uniform and the traditional arabic dishdasha.
It makes me looking forward to playing this game.
This is a serious threat to the Internet and Websocket and not a browser specific issue. The protocol vulnerabilities also affect Java and Flash solutions. In a web environment that could for example mean that a widely used JavaScript file – like Google analytics – could be replaced on a cache you go through with a malware file.
I think Mozilla decision makes sense and they are right to be cautious.
I am interested by Web Sockets (I implemented a JavaScript library to use STOMP over Web Sockets for messaging) but we need to be very careful about opening a new communication channel between Web clients and servers. Web Sockets must integrate with the whole Web infrastructure (including caches and proxies) and not open a whole can of security issues.
The HTML5 Web Socket API has a lot of potental, especially now that it is available on iOS-based devices (I wrote a node.js-based application which uses it) but it is critical to get the protocol right before it is widespread.
Once Web Sockets are out in the wild, we will have to live with them for a long time, deal with their issues on our own and face ugly consequences for rushing it out.
Today we are introducing Crankshaft, a new compilation infrastructure for V8, Google Chrome's JavaScript engine. By using aggressive optimizations, Crankshaft dramatically improves the performance of compute-intensive JavaScript applications - often by more than a factor of two! This will give users a faster and more responsive experience loading web pages and applications built with complex JavaScript.
Since node.js is based on V8, I wonder if it can leverage this new infrastructure to improve its performance.
The guys at hoopism.com have created interesting diagrams connecting for each NBA team the passer to the scorer.
From the diagram above, we can see that Tony Parker assists were mainly for Tim Duncan and Richard Jefferson, while Manu Ginobili distribution is more diversified (George Hill, Dejuan Blair and Antonio McDyess in addition to Duncan and Jefferson).
As an aside, the diagrams at hoopism.com are drawn using a Processing-based Java applet. They are the single reason I activate Java Applets on my laptop...
(via TrueHoop)
The ISO Sensitivity Auto Control (ISO-AUTO), found under the Shooting Menu, is a powerful feature in many Nikon DSLR cameras. It's used to allow the camera to automatically control the ISO sensitivity and shutter speed, according to the light levels sensed by the camera. It's very helpful when you don't have time to deal with exposure issues—yet must get the pictures.
A good explanation to Nikon Auto ISO setting.
It is useful when shooting with a prime lens (35mm f/1.8) when the light conditions change because I know the minimum shutter speed I need to prevent blur.
However, I disable it when I use a zoom as the minimum shutter speed varies too much depending on the focal length (esp. with my 70-300mm).
I use a first-generation Loop with my Nikon D7000 and it is a great product that I heartily recommend.
With it, I can walk all day with the camera comfortably resting on my hip and hidden from sight by putting my hand on it.
The new version looks even better with a metallic connection instead of a plastic one:
They will soon offer to 1st-gen Loop customers a kit to upgrade to the new webbing and metal connection hardware of the new Loop. They can count on me to upgrade!
Luma's customer service is top notch: they once sent me an additional PodMount for free because the one I received did not meet their quality criteria even though it had no visible default.
Great products + great service = happy customer.
I have received the new book from the FreeDarko gang and it looks as informative and beautifully designed as their previous Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac.
It is a perfect christmas gift for baketball lovers.
Whenever Michael Jordan gets on the golf course and his friends ask the stakes of the game–how much money they're betting against one another–rumor has it that his stock response is: “Whatever makes you nervous.”
It's when we leave our comfort zone that we push our limits and give our best.
(via Chase Jarvis)
dpreview.com's conclusion:
The D7000 produces great image quality and feels very responsive in most shooting situations. It shines especially in low light. From a specification point of view a 16.3 MP resolution sensor, 6 frames per second continuous shooting, 1080p full HD video and an abundance of customization options place this camera firmly into the semi-pro segment of the market.
I bought the Nikon D7000 to upgrade from my old D60. I am very happy with it so far but I have not use it extensively since I get it mid-november.
My main complaints are minor:
Apart from that, I have no other gripes (yet...). The viewfinder is bright and its 100% coverage makes it a joy to look through.
I have seen only JPEG pictures as I am waiting for Aperture 3 to support its RAW format. Overall, the JPEG image quality is good and I am looking forward to seeing some RAWs.
I am not impressed by its video mode: the focus is not good at tracking subjects and it records too much sound noise from my 35mm f/1.8 when it autofocuses. I'll try to use manual focus when I shoot videos next... It's frustrating but not important: I bought this camera to take pictures, not to shoot video. Its video mode is a bonus.
I plan to stay on DX lenses for the near future (I enjoy using my 16-85mm and 35mm) and the Nikon D700 looks to be the best Nikon DX camera for amateurs on the market today.
James Clark:
So what's the way forward? I think the Web community has spoken, and it's clear that what it wants is HTML5, JavaScript and JSON. XML isn't going away but I see it being less and less a Web technology; it won't be something that you send over the wire on the public Web, but just one of many technologies that are used on the server to manage and generate what you do send over the wire.
My background is in "enterprisey" Java and I use XML in Maven, Ant, configuration files, etc. All the Java projects I worked had lots of code to map between XML and Java data structures. I tried to use XML schema and bindings but it replaces some noisy boilerplate code by other noisy boilerplate code. Using schema did help to enforce a structure but not all constraints can be expressed with it and I ended up having an additional programmatic validation phase in Java.
In comparison, working with JavaScript and JSON on the Web is much more simpler. I create JavaScript objects, send them over the wire with the string representation returned by JSON.stringify() and use again JavaScript objects on the server (with JSON.parse() in node.js or using a JSON to Java library for Java servers).
I don't have schema and I don't need it. A good documentation is enough in most cases (in the same way, I learn about a XML document by looking at its structure and documentation and rarely its schema).
I believe than XML (and its associated technologies) will end up as an enterprise technology and a opaque content model (e.g. to save OpenOffice documents) and be less and less prevalent on the Web where HTML (with microformats) and JSON are better suited to represent data.
(via John Gruber)