un|we|sen - Latest Comments

Re: Android Jittery Scrolling Gallery

unwesen — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:52:02 -0000

Glad this helped!

Re: Android Jittery Scrolling Gallery

Abc — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:44:46 -0000

This was so useful man. I have been struggling with this for a while now and this has been holding a release for us. You saved my a$$ man.

Cheers

Re: Epic Medical Failure

Nonexistent — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:02:20 -0000

Hi from afar!
Honestly, what about the symptoms is harmless? I am just recovering from a flu for weeks now. Even only feeling dizzy and tired sucks. And talking about doctors: '...your body temperature is normal, you are not contagious anymore...'

Hopefully knowing what might be the reason for the bad condition will help!

Mischa

Re: Epic Medical Failure

der_eremit — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 08:54:09 -0000

Indeed, from a psylocgial perspective that is a major step and I'm glad that some pressure had been taken away from your wife.

My best wishes to your wife.

Re: Epic Medical Failure

unwesen — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 08:32:12 -0000

Yes. That's the short answer. It's not that simple by far, though.

In terms of what she can do to improve how she feels, there are things she can change about how she eats to feel better. There may also be some medication to help, though it's unlikely that anyone would want to take it long-term. Neither will make her well, though.

The real breakthrough is more psychological than physical, though. If you're being told by various doctors for the better part of a decade that you're just imagining feeling unwell, then having a clear-cut diagnosis makes a world of difference - both to how you feel about how you feel, and how you can talk to other people about it. As an example, you can now tell doctors more easily to shove it where the sun don't shine if they want to prescribe antidepressants yet again.

So while there is no cure, and therefore no switch to flip to make everything alright as it were, it still makes a world of difference.

Re: Epic Medical Failure

der_eremit — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 07:20:10 -0000

I have to admit that I'm not familiar with Gilbert's Syndrome (Morbus Meulengracht), therefore excuse me if I ask that bluntly, does that diagnosis change anything for your wife?

Re: ACTA & Copyright

unwesen — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 13:25:33 -0000

You're effectively making my point for me: if you take in 100 EUR for an evening, your rate is too low. Your rate may be too low because you're selling to the wrong audience or the wrong venue.

That's exactly my point, though: figure out your business model. That is, what to sell, who to sell to, and at what price to sell. All of this needs to be informed by how much money you need or want.

It's how every other business works.

Re: ACTA & Copyright

Norman Liebold — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 11:56:26 -0000

Mh, i think you're right, but not in all points. A problem with this case is, i think, that the modern media can copy any artwork (books, pictures, music and so on) without have big costs after the first production (writing of the autor, make the illustrations and the artwork for a book, for example). Is the product already finished, the copy in the digital way is effective very cheap. Okay, so long. But you have the cost of making the product. One jear of recherche, writing, painting, set up the book for a couple of persons. If you print the book, you have the cost of, for example, 10.000 Euro for 5.000 copys. Now you have the money to live for one jear and the couple of persons, the cost of some machines and (in this example) the cost for the print. That's, at all, 60.000 Euro? (For people they live very spartanical)
Okay. And you have one book.
You sell your 10.000 Books (maybe in the digital way as eBooks) for 6 Euro a Book. Thats well. You became 1.900 Euro back from the state. All okay.
And you make five days a week a reading (thats only a example, thats impossible) with 100 Euro the evening.
You say, the people want to are involved in art performance. If thats real, you're right. Thats wonderfull.
But:
The people sitting in front of their computers, looking at facebook and co. and don't get out to hear a little autor five days the week. They going maybe to a big person with big public relations. And many people want to have gigabytes of books of their computers, all for free. And want to going in readings for free (the author want them for hearing, he has to be lucky that he can read his texts). And the people are sharing the books: Hey, get this, i have it on my hd, copy it for you. And whats up with the author? He's sitting for a year to make a good story, he is travelling to find his informations. From what he is living? If you produce things with your livetime like music, pictures and book, and these things are sharing via digital media, and all the people print the pictures in the next copyshop, hear the music on their smartphones via youtube and reading the books on their kindles for free - the author live from his five-day-a-week-readings? That's impossible. The musican live from the live-gigs, the Painter from selling his originals. Oh, if you belive, that the people go in the concerts, vernissage and the readings, pay the ticket, buy the original Painting - yes! Thats great. But it is not the reality. They hear the audiostream of the audiobook and sitting at home in front of the computer, checking the facebook-update. They print the copy of artwork in the next copyshop, they download the song from mp3-extracting via youtube and go not to the concert to see the band in real.

Re: Introversion, Productivity & Work Environments

unwesen — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 06:49:00 -0000

Ich verstehe, worauf Du hinauswillst, glaube aber, dass Du Introversion falsch verstehst.

Es geht eben nicht darum, dass man Angst vor zwischenmenschlichem Miteinander hat. Es geht darum, dass das als anstrengend und auslaugend auf einen wirkt, waehrend genau die gleiche Aktivitaet fuer extrovertierte belebend wirkt. Angst muss dabei in erster Instanz gar keine Rolle spielen.

In zweiter Instanz kann es durchaus zu Abneigung fuehren, wenn eine Aktivitaet auslaugend wirkt - wer mag das schon allzu sehr? Aber daraus muss sich nicht zwangslaeufig eine Angst oder aehnliche Motivation entwickeln, solche Situationen zu vermeiden.

Wenn ich aus eigener Erfahrung spreche, dann betrachten mich die meisten Menschen, die mit mir nur in kurzer, aber geballter Form zu tun haben, als enorm sozialen Menschen. Und diese kurze, geballte soziale Interaktion geniesse ich auch in vollen Zuegen; da kann ich eigentlich nur als enorm sozial aufgefasst werden.

Wer mit mir tagein, tagaus zu tun hat, erfaehrt mich als deutlich zurueckhaltender, und phasenweise geradezu kontaktscheu.

Ich bin mir sicher, dass ich bspw. auch Dir gegenueber hin und wieder zum Ausdruck gebracht habe, dass ich zu dem Aktivitaetsprogramm, dass Du dir normalerweise gibst, einfach nicht die Energie aufbringen wuerde. Da liegt der Hund naemlich begraben. Spass machen wuerde mir es, wenn ich's laenger als 2-3 Tage aushalten wuerde.

Das ist jetzt natuerlich meine persoenlich Erfahrung, aber wenn ich mit anderen Introverten spreche, kommt immer ungefaehr das Gleiche heraus. Angst oder Mangel an sozialen Faehigkeiten kommt da nicht wirklich ins Spiel.

Um auf die Schulsituation zurueckzukommen: das ist natuerlich eine ganz extreme Tortur fuer Introverten. Spaeter im Berufsleben ist eigenstaendiges Arbeiten, waehrend man in einer Gruppe von Menschen sitzt, viel eher die Norm als in der Schule. Wer so systematisch aus seiner Komfortzone herausgehalten wird, muss eigentlich schon fast Angst vor dieser Situation entwickeln.

Re: Introversion, Productivity & Work Environments

Norman Liebold — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 05:20:46 -0000

In gewisser Weise ist das zwiespältig: Die Definition eines bestimmten Charakterhabitus, um aus ihm die Rechtfertigung/Erklärung für gewisse unter Umständen sonst als Mangel wertbare Eigenschaften ist aktuell weit verbreitet. Sich Legasteniker zu outen, kann auf der einen Seite ein echtes Defizit, das auf der anderen Seite wiederum erhebliche Kompetenzen mit sich bringen kann (ein Freund hat ein wahrlich beeindruckendes Gedächtnis, das seine Lese-Schreib-Schwäche mehr als aufwiegt), gewissermassen gesellschaftsfähig machen. Auf der anderen Seite gibt es aber genügend Beispiele, wo die Faulheit, richtig Lesen und Schreiben lernen zu wollen, mit Legastenik gerechtfertigt wird. Besonders in Schulen im Moment sehr beliebt. Das Kind ist schlecht in Mathe, es hat Dyskalkulie und darf keine schlechten Noten mehr bekommen. Inro- und Extroversion ist hier natürlich eine ganz andere Geschichte. Allerdings könnte man auch die Frage beleuchten, ob gesellschaftlicher Umgang, die Fähigkeit des offenen Austausches und die Bewältigung der Angst, sich anderen zu öffnen und sich in den Flow des Zwischenmenschlichen trotz Versagensängsten zu begeben, nicht allein durch die vorgeprägte Intro- bzw. Extroversion begründet liegt, sondern es sich dabei auch um soziale Kompetenzen handelt, die zu erlernen sind, und deren Erlernung durch bestimmte Faktoren ausgeblieben ist.

Re: Android Jittery Scrolling Gallery

Morten Slott Hansen — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:41:29 -0000

I still had some jitter issues with this solution. My solution was similar to yours - but only override onLayout.

@Override
protected void onLayout(boolean changed, int l, int t, int r, int b) {
int viewsOnScreen = getLastVisiblePosition() - getFirstVisiblePosition();
if(viewsOnScreen <= 0)
super.onLayout(changed, l, t, r, b);

}

Re: Android Intent Sender Verification

unwesen — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:33:28 -0000

Sure, but that works only if you control the certificate for both apps. The whole point of intents is to engender cross-vendor cooperation in apps, though. In that scenario, signature protection is useless.

Re: Android Intent Sender Verification

Kacper Nazwisko — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:32:04 -0000

If your applications are signed with the same certificate, you can use permission with:

android:protectionLevel= "signature"

Then, only apps with the same certificate can communicate with a receiver.

Re: Encryption on Android & BouncyCastle

unwesen — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:01:23 -0000

Thanks!

No, it's not a silly question at all - but I'm afraid I can't provide the answer. I don't use Eclipse; I always feel it gets in my way of trying to just get things done. Consequently I can't help with Eclipse.

The XML snippet belongs in build.xml; what I don't know is how Eclipse treats that file. Worst case would be that it tries to (re-)generate it.

Re: Encryption on Android & BouncyCastle

Sylvain — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:42:31 -0000

Nice post, thank you.

Anyway, I'm still wondering where in Eclipse to write the "
<target name="-pre-compile-check">...</target>" part...Sorry if it is a silly question!

Re: Android Development: Database Upgrades

unwesen — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:00:01 -0000

More importantly, you can test whether your upgrade actions are idempotent. That's a rather useful trait for development, as well as production.

Re: Android Development: Database Upgrades

Bob Kerns — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:16:48 -0000

It's always good to have alternatives!

I like the idea of copying, because then you're in a known state. Not every upgrade action can be properly tested by just resetting the version number.

But for a quick test, your approach has the advantage. It certainly beats bumping the version number up and up!

Re: Android Jittery Scrolling Gallery

unwesen — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:46:26 -0000

Thanks! I'm glad it works for you!

Re: Android Jittery Scrolling Gallery

Anthony — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:29:37 -0000

Ingenious solution for a nasty problem. It's possible a simple 'skipLayout' flag in onLayout() of your Coverflow may do the trick, but after a lot of effort, the solution posted here is the best work around I've seen yet for our case.

Re: Android Development: Database Upgrades

unwesen — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:19:09 -0000

You're right, this article was done about a rooted device, as the examples demonstrate.

The whole point was to not copy the database. If you want to copy the database, feel free. This post represents an alternative.

Re: Android Development: Database Upgrades

Bob Kerns — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:55:44 -0000

No, it's not. It's accessible to the application, or the application would never be able to open or modify the database.

If you wanted to do it manually via adb, then you'd need a rooted device.

Re: Android Development: Database Upgrades

unwesen — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 05:17:08 -0000

The database path is inaccessible on a regular (unrooted) Android device.

Re: Android Development: Database Upgrades

Bob Kerns — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 01:32:45 -0000

Why not just copy the old version of the database, and restore it before each test?

You could even automate this by doing it in your app: if the old version is there, replace the current one with it before opening. It won't affect customers, which won't have this saved copy, and you can rename it to something else when you don't want to be testing upgrade. I haven't tried that, but it seems like it should work out well.

Re: Dependency Management Rant

unwesen — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 06:42:27 -0000

No, it's not a simple problem. However, at least some aspects of solving it are well-explored: we know it's too complex to handle manually. We also know it's a question of interfaces and their versions, not merely of libraries.

My problem isn't so much that there are no tools to handle all of this complexity well enough (though that would be nice!). My problem is that too many developers don't consider it a problem at all.

You just need to take a look at e.g. rubygems (just because it's used in the RoR community): gem (package) versions are used only to determine whether a gem is out of date. There is no concept of an interface version at all. So if you update a gem, you can break all sorts of software. Clearly whoever came up with rubygems did not consider versioning a priority.

Because of that, there's now Bundler, which basically copies specific versions of gems into the RoR app's local search directory. The end result is the same not-quite-statically linked thing that happens on OS X natively.

Re: Dependency Management Rant

Emilian Bold — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 18:11:16 -0000

It's not a simple problem. The way I see it, dependency management is something the whole industry is more or less ignoring.

At compile-time I might say Maven should suffice for simple Java stuff.

But what about a build system that uses specific OSes? How do we declare a compile-time dependency that needs some native DLLs compiled on 3 OSes?

Then, a complex deployment needs its own thing via Puppet/Chef.

I'm not certain there even is a project that tries to tackle these kind of problems in a global way.

I think the real dependency graph would scare people not only due to its size but because it will expose how brittle everything is.