A free form deliberation on digital currency, its effects on contemporary events and how it relates with all things online...
First we had computers for work, then we had computers for entertainment. Then we used computers for automation and for all sorts of other things they weren't intended for, like handling digital currency...
Using computers as a medium for digital (aka virtual) currency is not only understandable, for some it may seem it's inevitable. Was the screw pump invented to dig minerals from other planets? Were plastics developed for making action figures? Certainly not, but that doesn't mean they aren't suitable for such given tasks. It's the natural evolution of extending a tool beyond its original purpose, wherever we find a useful utility based on its aptitudes.
| var Box = function( num, worker ){ | |
| this.name = 'box-'+ num; | |
| // create element | |
| var el = document.createElement("div"); | |
| el.setAttribute( 'class', 'box' ); | |
| el.setAttribute( 'id', this.name ); | |
| el.style.top = parseInt(num) * 1 +"px"; | |
| document.body.appendChild(el); | |
| this.el = el; | |
| this.state.start = Date.now() || (new Date()).getTime(); |
| # Convert MP4 to 1080p | |
| # source: http://askubuntu.com/a/353282 | |
| ffmpeg -i {{input.mp4}} -strict -2 -codec:v libx264 -crf 12 -preset medium -movflags faststart -vf scale=-1:1080,format=yuv420p {{output.mp4}} | |
| # better compression | |
| ffmpeg -i {{input.mp4}} -strict -2 -codec:v libx264 -crf 22.5 -movflags faststart -vf scale=-1:1080,format=yuv420p {{output.mp4}} | |
| # split mp4 file | |
| ffmpeg -i {{input.mp4}} -acodec copy -vcodec copy -ss 0 -t 00:00:00 {{output.mp4}} |
Next year will be the year of Linux, said for 2004. Since then we've been up and down the media hub bandwagon, the smartphone revolution and the cloud-based services. So much shuffling around for something so personal; our digital lives.
Back in 2008 I had a second PC that I was rarely using and I thought it would be a good idea to have Linux on it. Even if I was using Linux every day as part of my work, using it on a personal computer would be a good addition...
I guess I'm only mentioning the year because at that time we were right in the midst of the "App Store sensation". Smartphones were the new hot thing and their manufacturers promoted the idea of hardware & software "partnership" to create the "ultimate" experience. Long story short, I bought the hype. After some time I uninstalled Linux on that computer in favor of a proprietary OS. A decision I feel was a mistake in retrospect.
We live in a century of change. But so was said for the 20th and the 19th century... Every era has a different focus, either it may be socio-political change, economics or industry. This century seems to have a focus on high tech, especially computerized tech. The Web is a high profile product of our computerized tech, leading innovation in all its parts. It is our responsibility to go through this time with a foresight of what we want to achieve and how we're going to get there.
Before any wishful thinking, we need to be brave and look into our shortcomings from the past. We've had a long history of faking a better future, posing according to public expectations and suplementing our inability to deliver the "promised land" with marketing; lots and lots of marketing. What's the point of fixing something if we can convince ourselves that it's not broken? Living in denial is common practice, it's so common we give it more positive words like "hype" or "spin". All thi
Web components have been around for a while and they've been making the rounds in developer circles, showing off their unique properties and potential. Their application in production has had a slow start as we're all still trying to gain familiarity with this new interface and assess how it fits with our current web development process.
Despite the naysayers, the history of the Internet is tightly attached to markup. As the Web has been maturing we've seen the separation of concerns dominating our methodology with CSS becoming the exclusive moderator of styling, layout structure defined solely by markup, JSON structures moving data and JavaScript used for logic. Custom markup is not a new concept, it's what XML supported since its introduction; although its use in that case is fundamentally different, to describe data rather than layout.
Custom markup tags are as straightfo
Developers are often driven by their desire to make a difference in the world through their work; and with that enjoy a life of substantial purpose. Money, fame and recognition are mere consequences of doing good and helping people. What a perfect way to end our story there; but like many occasions in someone's lifetime, the "happy end" is just the beginning...
If you're that type of developer, you already know what to do:
- Learn your tech and be good at it.
- Have a vision that fulfills real needs.
We live in a fast world and our development culture reflects that. We want our apps to be up and running as soon as possible, bug-free. Everything needs to show exponential growth, otherwise what's the point...
How do you achieve being brief and effective in your work? What the business likes to call "efficient"... Do you gear up and try to outperform everyone's expectations? Do you use third-party software? Do you fake it till you make it?
Answering that question isn't as important as investigating why speed is of the essence. A quick assumption is: money. Time costs money and less time should cost less money....right? Another guess might be: timing. You need to launch in a brief window where your product will be most effective; like a toy before the holiday season. A third reason, probably rarely mentioned but rather popular from personal experience: ignorance.
| // FIX: for express 4.x (.configure() removed) | |
| app.configure = function(a, b){ | |
| var type, callback; | |
| if( !b ){ | |
| callback = a // assume a is a function? | |
| } else { | |
| type = a; | |
| callback = b; | |
| } | |
| // execute... |