Apparently installing MediaWiki in the root directory is bad, and if you do this you will not have any support. Two of the arguments seem to be “if you do this then you’ll have to set up special rules for robots.txt and favicon.ico”.

So. What?

Link squatting (i.e. using reserved locations, not to be confused with domain squatting) is a bad, non-W3c recommended practice. So new such schemes should hopefully be non-existant.  And, as it pointed out, it is possible to create custom rules.

They recommend you read ‘Cool URLs don’t change’ before jumping “willy nilly” into using the root directory.  Fine. But cool URLs that don’t change *are* ones without needless cruft in the url like “wiki/”.  A fact that becomes especially relevant when you are already using a subdirectory for the wiki.  http://wiki.example.com/Foo is cool.  http://wiki.example.com/wiki/Foo is a bit redundant isn’t it?  (as to be frank is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page).

Does wikipedia.org host other non-wiki related content? An email service perhaps at wikipedia.org/email?  No, of course not.   We’re talking about dedicated wiki domains/subdomains here – why add cruft to the path?

After all – at http://Geospike.com people can create their own usernames on the root directory. Does this present challenges?  Sure. So what?  We’re men, not boys.

Since I’m ranting about this, I’m always amused to see link shorteners that add cruft to the urls like a “/p/” prefix, or “-” prefix.  Kinda defeats the point of link shortening doesn’t it? Why not do the opposite?  Say all links must be > 4 characters, then put any adminy stuff in directories with < 4 chars. Seems easy to me.  I’m just saying…

As far as media wiki is concerned, man up and just install it where you like. I used the following .htaccess file to set it up, and redirect the old links, based on this info.

RewriteEngine On

RewriteRule ^/?page/(.*)$ http://wiki.gpslog.cc/$1 [L,R=301]

RewriteRule ^[^:]*\. - [L]
RewriteRule ^[^:]*\/ - [L]
RewriteRule ^/*$ /index.php/Main_Page [L,QSA]
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ /index.php/=$1 [L,QSA]

Setup your system to detect your device.

• If you’re developing on Windows, you need to install a USB driver for adb. See the Windows USB Driver documentation.
• If you’re developing on Mac OS X, it just works. Skip this step.
• If you’re developing on Ubuntu Linux, you need to add a rules file that contains a USB configuration for each type of device you want to use for development. Each device manufacturer uses a different vendor ID. The example rules files below show how to add an entry for a single vendor ID (the HTC vendor ID). In order to support more devices, you will need additional lines of the same format that provide a different value for the SYSFS{idVendor} property. For other IDs, see the table of USB Vendor IDs, below.
  Log in as root and create this file: /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules.
  For Gusty/Hardy, edit the file to read:
  SUBSYSTEM==”usb”, SYSFS{idVendor}==”0bb4″, MODE=”0666″
  For Dapper, edit the file to read:
  SUBSYSTEM==”usb_device”, SYSFS{idVendor}==”0bb4″, MODE=”0666″
  Now execute:
  chmod a+r /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules

It seems that many folks on the App store, including several apps in the GPS/travel space have gone done the separate-product route.

Perhaps I understand why they did this. After all, it is not trivial to port an App to the iPad (basically your UI needs a complete re-think). For some apps, they have gone so far as to offer a totally new UI, using real life metaphors like “pages” and “books”.

I still think it’s a bad idea. Why? For two main reasons:
1) customers don’t like paying for the same product twice
2) how many people will actually buy both versions anyway?

Yes the iPad version costs you money to make. BUT, it will hopefully get you more customers. New customers who buy it for their iPad.

Historically I know of several products that used to ship with multiple targets. Warcraft 3 is one, and Adobe’s suite is another, both supported both Mac and Windows. Many steam games now support Mac as well (and don’t require re-purchasing).

So my theory is most users won’t buy the App twice. Some will buy it for the iPhone, some will buy it for the iPad. If you have the one binary to support both, a few will run it on both, and find that useful. If you sell it separately, I doubt most people would buy the counterpart, simply because they would use one device more than the other. Furthermore, users that have already bought the iPhone version get that installed to their iPad anyway, which may be enough.

So rather than trying to milk your existing customers to pay for the port, think of it this way: You get new customers (those who have never used your app, and want to use your App on the iPad), you add value to your product (by allowing use of both devices) which may give you an edge. And you’re doing the right thing (ask yourself, do you like paying for the same thing twice?).

I think so few customers will buy the app TWICE, that you actually de-value your product. I suspect that the number of additional people who buy your App because it supports both, will outweigh the number of people who would have bought a second copy, and that both categories of users represent only a small percentage anyway.

And please, don’t try to claim “but the iPad version is different”. I don’t care if it has a fancy book UI, a re-arranged layout, or up-res’d textures. If it performs the same function, it’s the same App.

GPS Log for iPad. Coming soon. Free for existing users.

Will

And maybe fair enough, you knew it was non-refundable, and this is how the airline can make it so cheap (or so they say).

However, this BBC article makes an extremely good point: you should be entitled to a refund of the TAX component, after all, this is not airline revenue.

To me this makes perfect sense. The taxes and “surcharges” surely are only paid out if you actually take the flight. Airport tax is per-passenger. This was never revenue for the airlines, so why should it be if you cancel your ticket?

Given the huge amounts the Airlines charge in this category (some no doubt is legit, but who knows what is in the mystery “surcharge” category), perhaps this would also encourage more honesty in the break down of fares.

For me personally, I hate how airlines split the fare, and applaud Virgin Blue for not doing this. The total amount is the only amount I care about. But if in fact they want to be so careful to detail this tax component, then perhaps they can do us the courtesy of paying it back if they don’t pay it to the government.

Thanks for listening…

Will

Think rugby union’s governing bodies are being a bit square – Will Carling’s 57 old f*rts if you like.
The Tri Nations series has already banned them, and now the World Cup in New Zealand next year is following suit, as befits an old school tie/public school sport.
The vuvuzelas are more common, culturally speaking, to the community-minded Third World nations and peoples who love to celebrate life noisily and together.
The stiff shirts that watch rugby, eat prawn sandwiches, enjoy corporate hospitality, and often sit in silence have no interest in that kind of thing.
Personally I think it all adds to the atmosphere of the sport to have the vuvuzelas and they should be encouraged.
Anyone who wants to sit in silence can watch TV!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A70019840?s_fromedit=1&s_type=15&s_sport=football

I can share the 3G Connection to a laptop.

So why the hell can’t I share this connection to an iPad? Even a Jobs-derided “Net Book” can use the iPhone’s 3G connection.

What’s worse is that this is not only technically feasible, but it’s been done!  What a slap in the face.

So now we have to buy another data plan? Even if you’re willing to pay it’s not (currently) easy to find Micro-SIM 3G plans in all countries.

Thanks Apple, thanks AT&T :-/

• Humans are not the cause of climate change
• Smoking doesn’t cause lung cancer
• and even if it did, then second hand smoke certainly wouldn’t anyway
• HIV doesn’t cause AIDS
• The earth is not spherical

Sorry mate. But some things you are free to “believe” or “not believe”. These are things like your religion (for you, apparently in the “believe” category, at least on paper). But when it comes to science. Either get a qualification and debate the science in the right forum, or shut the fuck up.

Seems like Apple needs to add some new pricing categories, especially for games. I suggest:

$0.19
$0.09
and, my personal preference:
$0.01

Just think about it – at 0.01, your audience could be HUGE!!!!!!!!%!!!!! Enjoy your instant noodle dinners!

But please. Don’t blame Apple for viruses/malware that f*ck you up when you do. This “worm”, and the subsequent more malicious versions only run on hacked iPhones. You run unauthorised software on the iPhone – you’re on your own…

The BBC (and the rest) really should make it clear that “anyone running Apple authorised software are completely unaffected”. And put that in the first paragraph.

Rather than screaming “Worm attack bites at Apple iPhone” what about “Worm attack bites at Hacked iPhones”. At least they didn’t spell bites, “bytes” :-S

Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner did acknowledge that a “tiny proportion” of the money might be spend overseas, by expatriates

OK, this has really got my goat people.

Every time I read about the aussie stimulus package, someone complains that the money might be spent overseas (e.g. like mine), and politicians have to justify it (even if they know better).  Well get this:

1. You only get the money if you paid Australian Taxes.  I paid my taxes just as much as everyone else and I’m not even in the country to use the benefit of any of the services this money buys me (e.g. medical care).  I’m not asking for my tax back – so shut up about my stimulus money.

2.  THIS IS A GLOBAL PROBLEM.  IT DOES NOT MATTER WHERE YOU SPEND THE MONEY. Got it?  GLOBAL PROBLEM.  It didn’t start in Australia, and it won’t end there.  I spent my stimulus money in the United States of America, which probably did a lot more to help the world economy (and thus Australia’s) then spending it in Australia.

So just shut up, buy a plasma TV, and be happy.  OK?