blog.mignault.net » google http://john.mignault.net/blog Cartoon-drawing diabetic comics-reading pen-fetishizing cycling leftist geek librarian. God, how bourgeois. Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:34:35 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Android Priests http://john.mignault.net/blog/2010/07/12/android-priests/ http://john.mignault.net/blog/2010/07/12/android-priests/#comments Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:33:18 +0000 John http://john.mignault.net/blog/?p=373 So Jeff Jarvis has made a bet with Dave Winer that in a year’s time Google’s new App Inventor will have “not have had any effect on the priesthood of programming.” I’d be interested in the metric used to determine the winner, but that’s not really the question. Winer is incredulous at the idea that AppInventor will disintermediate coding, despite having in the past been an ardent cheerleader for the Internet end run around any other number of middlemen, most notably journalists. To Jarvis’ credit, he’s the only person I’ve heard in this discussion refer to programmers as a “priesthood,” though he tones down his usual slightly breathless revolutionary rhetoric:

As much as the web breaks down priesthoods, it created new ones. Developers are merely the latest. They say that mortals can’t do what they do. But what if they could? What if they could translate a thought not just into words and design but into action?

I think Winer is going to win, however, and the reason is that AppInventor is a solution without a problem. The “priesthood of programming” has already given its blessing to Android. The geek blogosphere talks about how it is only a matter of time before developers stop building apps for Apple’s evil, closed ecosystem, and the iPodiPhoneiPadiPhone 4 dies. It’s why developers are reacting with hostility to AppInventor. Developers are already developing for Android. They neither need nor want a Visual Basic like tool. The intended audience for AppInventor- the end users – don’t need or want it either. Google, having failed to attract non-developers to the platform with the ease of use and attention to user experience that somehow only Apple is able to deliver, are now trying to disguise a stick as a carrot. It won’t work. End users don’t want to be able to build Android apps. They want to be able to build iOS apps.

]]> http://john.mignault.net/blog/2010/07/12/android-priests/feed/ 7 Google doctype http://john.mignault.net/blog/2008/05/15/google-doctype/ http://john.mignault.net/blog/2008/05/15/google-doctype/#comments Thu, 15 May 2008 16:16:32 +0000 John http://john.mignault.net/blog/?p=124 New developer resource from Google:

doctype

Doctype is a Google-sponsored open encyclopedia and reference library for developers of web applications. By web developers, for web developers.

* Open source
* Open content
* Open to contributions from anyone

Looks like a very useful resource and an interesting new application of social media. Not sure if it’s wiki-based, or whether this is something new from Google. Found via Gruber.

]]> http://john.mignault.net/blog/2008/05/15/google-doctype/feed/ 0 Google Maps “Bike There” petition http://john.mignault.net/blog/2008/02/29/google-maps-bike-there-petition/ http://john.mignault.net/blog/2008/02/29/google-maps-bike-there-petition/#comments Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:14:57 +0000 John http://john.mignault.net/blog/2008/02/29/google-maps-bike-there-petition/ When I was figuring out my route to work via bike, I used Google Maps. I ended up having to do a lot of blue-line dragging, though, because, even with Avoid Highways turned on, i still wasn’t easy to plot a bike-friendly route. There’s a online petition asking Google to add a “Bike There” button to Google Maps, and if you’re at all for sustainable transportation, I hope you’d take a minute to go sign it. It’s at:

http://googlemapsbikethere.org/

Thanks.

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]]> http://john.mignault.net/blog/2008/02/29/google-maps-bike-there-petition/feed/ 0 Gmail IMAP Watch, Day 8 http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/31/gmail-imap-watch-day-8/ http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/31/gmail-imap-watch-day-8/#comments Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:27:55 +0000 John http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/31/gmail-imap-watch-day-8/ A week to roll out. Yeah, right.
Update:
It is finished.
I guess I have to find something to write about now.

]]> http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/31/gmail-imap-watch-day-8/feed/ 4 Gmail IMAP Watch, Day 7 http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/30/gmail-imap-watch-day-7/ http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/30/gmail-imap-watch-day-7/#comments Tue, 30 Oct 2007 10:48:53 +0000 John http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/30/gmail-imap-watch-day-7/ They must be shipping it UPS Ground.

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]]> http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/30/gmail-imap-watch-day-7/feed/ 1 I don’t want to know http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/29/i-dont-want-to-know/ http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/29/i-dont-want-to-know/#comments Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:02:51 +0000 John http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/29/i-dont-want-to-know/ I know it may seem like it’s been all Google all the time round here lately, but how the hell did this news story get associated with this photo?

Wha?

Also get that other headline: “Laura Bush won’t vote for Hillary Clinton.” Now there’s news.

Update: Dorothea informs me in comments that Ms Bush recently went on a breast cancer awareness tour in the Middle East, which explains the graphic. Thanks for the explanation. This still doesn’t exactly seem like the best choice of illustration for the story, though.

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]]> http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/29/i-dont-want-to-know/feed/ 1 Gmail IMAP Watch, Day 6 http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/29/gmail-imap-watch-day-6/ http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/29/gmail-imap-watch-day-6/#comments Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:01:16 +0000 John http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/29/gmail-imap-watch-day-6/ dot unplanned » linklog: for jbm: Today’s No. 1 Gmail support question. Why don’t I have IMAP in my account?

Oh yeah? Here’s your support question:

NOW.

I don’t even want your stinky Google-fected IMAP. Ha. Oh, all right, I do.

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]]> http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/29/gmail-imap-watch-day-6/feed/ 0 Another schizoid day at the AdSense factory http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/28/another-schizoid-day-at-the-adsense-factory/ http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/28/another-schizoid-day-at-the-adsense-factory/#comments Sun, 28 Oct 2007 11:46:35 +0000 John http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/28/another-schizoid-day-at-the-adsense-factory/ yikes

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]]> http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/28/another-schizoid-day-at-the-adsense-factory/feed/ 0 Gmail IMAP Watch, Day 5 http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/28/gmail-imap-watch-day-5/ http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/28/gmail-imap-watch-day-5/#comments Sun, 28 Oct 2007 11:19:13 +0000 John http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/28/gmail-imap-watch-day-5/ Man, this is getting ridiculous.

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]]> http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/28/gmail-imap-watch-day-5/feed/ 2 Gmail IMAP Watch, Day 4 http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/27/gmail-imap-watch-day-4/ http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/27/gmail-imap-watch-day-4/#comments Sat, 27 Oct 2007 20:08:06 +0000 John http://john.mignault.net/blog/2007/10/27/gmail-imap-watch-day-4/ Was it the OCA meeting?

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