One of my good friends recently had surgery to correct his underbite (his top jaw closed behind his bottom jaw). He’s also somewhat of a blogger (using Blogger, though I try not to hold that against him), so he wrote a series of blog posts about his “class III malocclusion on a skeletal III base,” and the process of getting it sorted out. From the perspective of someone with only minor dental complaints (like me), it’s a fascinating read.

I’ve been booked onto an operation on April 2nd where I’ll be going under general anaesthetic. The procedure is called Bimaxillary Osteotomy, which means they’re going to operate on both jaws. My top jaw is going to be cracked and moved forward 4mm and the back of it will be rotated upwards by 3mm. And just to be pedantic it will also be rotated to the right by 1mm. My lower jaw will also be adjusted “as necessary”. Apparently it will be cracked and pulled back 4mm as well, and I will look like a normal person for once.

He’s back at uni now. With the swelling almost gone, he looks like a completely different person – just one of the consequences of having part of your skull trimmed off, I guess .

Anyway, Dan:

Again: congrats, and well done.

Have you ever had a great idea just before you settle down for bed, one so good it prevents you from sleeping? Apparently I suffer from this problem quite a lot, considering the amount of needlessly sleepless nights I’ve had over the last few weeks (this one included). I’ve consequently ended up with a fairly sizeable list of things I’d like to make, with no time (because it’s getting pretty busy at uni) and no will (because I’m always tired) to make them. Hence, I’ve decided to dedicate the entirety of June to developing them – it’s the only time I’ll have between uni finishing and starting my placement year.

I’m not entirely sure where I’ll be living from June, mind. As long as it’s close to one of the stations in Bath, I’m happy. That said, I’d best start looking.

I guess enduring a constant torrent of deadlines and tasks is all part of being a student; perhaps I’m being optimistic in thinking it’ll be different when I’m all grown up? I hope not.

Included are:

1. Moon by Björk
2. Garden by T.E.E.D. (a.k.a. the music from Nokia’s Lumia adverts)
3. Mountain by Remember Remember
4. Epicenter from SimCity 4 (which, btw, is still an awesome game)

I think they work pretty well as ringtones, so even if you don’t like the artists try ‘em out anyway!

Download from SkyDrive here

Now, a trusted source close to Microsoft tells us [the information in the evangelist video] is absolutely not the case, that instead there will be no upgrade path from Mango to Apollo.

Now this is obviously to be taken with a pinch of salt – as Windows Phone Daily puts it:

Let’s check the tally so far: MS Nerd says yes, Mary Jo Foley says no, a Microsoft evangelist says yes, The Verge says no, and MS Nerd said yes (again). What’s the answer? Your guess is as good as ours…and maybe that’s the point. It’s entirely possible Microsoft has been purposely sending out contradictory information in an effort to keep Apollo under wraps.

Let’s also remember the rumours that the kernel of Windows Phone 8 will be based on WinRT, and not WinCE as it currently is. In this light, I’d like to point out:

You know, all they could mean by “no upgrade path” is “no direct upgrade path” – in that one must flash their phone in order to upgrade. This would be similar to what some devs did when testing out Mango.

This would make sense if the rumours about changing the kernel were true.

It would also imply that a full backup suite is coming. Which would be awesome.

Over on the forum I run, I’ve gained a minor reputation for being a “Microsoft PR guy.” Which I guess is partly true, but not from any inherent fanboyism – I’m just invested enough in their products to 1) know what they’re doing and 2) care about their future development.

Anyway, I decided to make a post outlining what I think Microsoft will do over the next couple of years with regards to gaming, and how other companies will be affected by it. Here’s the link to the original post.

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Ok, I’m gonna post what I think re Microsoft’s moves in the next year or two. Just to be clear.

Games for Windows Live? Gone. With the move to apps, the system will work exactly like on Windows Phone – i.e. some games have XBL certification, some don’t, but they’re all sold in the Microsoft Store. And they will all use XBL branding. It’ll be interesting what Steam do with regards to this, because I don’t think forcing all their tablet consumers (of which there will be many) to use the desktop mode of Windows 8 to play games is ideal.

Durango is the rumoured codename of the nextbox. I expect it to be using WinRT – which is the new application framework for Windows 8 – meaning that games will be ported extremely easily between it and W8 (and Windows Phone). Essentially I think Durango will be a standardised hardware running Windows 8, rebranded in Xbox colours and with a tailored selection of apps.

Synchronous multiplayer gameplay between Durango, W8 (running on tablets, laptops, netbooks, desktops) and Windows Phone is coming this year. At least, the technology to – it will be down to the devs to implement it right.

Microsoft have been hinting at this arrangement since the launch of Windows Phone 7.0 back in May 2010 – google “three screens and a cloud” – and I think it’ll finally come to fruition this year when Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 are released in Autumn. Durango won’t be far behind.

Questions this raises regarding the competition:

• Why did Valve secretly meet Apple‘s CEO Tim Cook last week? What are Apple planning with Apple TV, iOS, Mountain Lion and Game Center? I bet it’s something similar to what I’ve outlined above, and it’d be silly to rule them out of the race because they’ve not traditionally been invested in the gaming market.
• Will Nintendo‘s Wii U do well vs the Apple and Microsoft set-ups? I think their rumoured move to allow multiple companies to build their online infrastructure is pretty smart in the light of the above.
• What the fuck do Sony do now? How can they compete when they don’t have an ecosystem spanning desktops, laptops, tablets, phones/ handhelds and consoles like Apple and Microsoft will? Do they retreat into the ‘hardcore’ market, OR do they make the PlayStation network platform agnostic – i.e. PSN games on Windows 8, Windows Phone, iOS and OSX, as well as Android? Don’t forget that Sony’s laptop division is heavily dependant on Microsoft, and it’s at odds with their PlayStation ambitions.

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I made a graph to express how important I think each gaming product will be over the next year or so:

Assumptions:

• Valve won’t be releasing a Steam box.
• Apple TV will be pretty lame unless you’re already an iOSer.
• 360 games will work on the Durango – maybe not all disc-based ones, but definitely those Games on Demand and XBLA. Because of this the Durango will be an easy sell, hence the 360 be less important.
• Kinect won’t take off for PC gaming, unless it’s integrated into a lot of tablets and those tablets have neat docking systems. Kinect on Windows will primarily be used for cool professional things.

I’ll leave you with this great Kinect ad:

So I saw this post in my Facebook feed…

…and it piqued my curiosity. How many people would be complaining about Metro?

Surprisingly, not that many. Maybe people are getting used to the idea. However, this comment did strike me:

Warnie L. Pritchett A philosophy? That’s a stretch. It’s just a UI, nothing else. And, as far as UIs go, it’s pretty garish, even WITH dynamic (live) tiles. We’ve come a long way (in large part thanks to Microsoft *and* Apple) from having big colored blocks as our UI. Metro feels like five steps backwards. It’s fine on Windows Phone, but on larger screens? No thanks – the blocks are just wasted space

To which, I replied:

Metro done well is fantastic – natural, fluid and pretty to boot – but done poorly it’s atrocious. There’s no such thing as a mediocre metro-style app – which is why so many people dislike it. There aren’t enough apps done right in the W8 CP. “People” and “Music” are pretty bad. “Weather” and “Mail” are brilliant.

@Warnie – it IS a philosophy. Windows 8 is not metro, it’s an implementation of metro – and this is the important point. Metro is all about getting rid of unnecessary chrome and standardising information display (hence the widgets all being the same size, apps being generally of the same format) WHILST being pretty to look at.

If you think about it, it’s the first step (on the UI side at least) towards the commoditisation of computing, as envisioned in Star Trek and similar sci-fi. Everything behaves the same way, hence people need to know less about how their software works.

Whether you find the implementations shown in the last few years (W8, WP, Zune (to a lesser extent)) to your taste or not is irrelevant. Microsoft creating “Metro” is simply a sign of the times – and don’t for one second think that Apple and Google aren’t implementing similar ideas. The future might not be Metro, but Metro and all of its ideas are definitely part of the future.

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Let me start off by asking: what do you most value?

Happiness? Wealth? Stability?

Love?

My answer would be “honesty.” You might have guessed that from the title of the post.

I’ll explain.

Honesty is one of those things which has the potential to affect everything. To put it simply, if someone is honest, you trust them. Trust is a very valuable asset for one to have, given that it can be used to influence people’s actions. It’s a kind of currency – trade the truth for trust. It’s probably the most valuable currency on Earth.*

When you have someone’s trust, you can exert a great power over them – they will regard what you do and say as a higher standard than they do for others. As someone important** once said, “with great power comes great responsibility.” So, one can conclude that it is both in the best interest of the trust-ee to keep an honest relationship with the trust-er, and right to do so.

This American Life, a “human interest” podcast, is a great example of an organisation taking this concept to heart. They have a brilliant reputation for honesty and integrity, which is entirely justified – especially after how Ira Glass and the team handled the whole situation with Mike Daisey and his mostly made-up monologue about working conditions in Apple’s primary manufacturer, Foxconn.*** To not only publicly apologise and “take full responsibility,” but to then analyse the mistakes in full (including an interview with their bad source) and end with the actual, verifiable truth of the situation, is a rare thing nowadays****.

They have (re)redefined the phrase “take full responsibility.” It’s too often used as a “Get Out of Jail Free” card, when the scapegoat of the day utters those three words, is dismissed, and the entire scandal is swept under the rug with everyone forgetting what the big deal was in the first place (see: the last few years of UK politics). Not in this case, however. TAL recognise that honesty is important, and have stuck by the consequences of adopting such a principle by giving listeners full disclosure on what went wrong, why it went wrong, and how it won’t go wrong in the future. So, well done TAL. I might buy one of your oversized USB sticks when my next payslip comes.

The whole incident has led me to better appreciate and notice honesty in all of its forms. The flipped-side is that I’ve also been noticing dishonesty more. I’m not going to be specific here, because this isn’t that kind of blog post. But I’ve compiled a list of things to look out for and question, regardless.

1. Weasel words and phrases. A lot of news blogs and amateur Wikipedians fall prey to this, by using constructs which deliberately add ambiguity to a factual context. Prime examples of this are “it has been reported” (By who? And are they being truthful?) and “our sources say” (Who are these sources you speak of?).
2. Unmarked and unbased rumour and speculation. When you say that x is likely to y, please say WHY. It’s fine if you can justify your predictions, but it’s not fair to x if you say they’re going to y with z when they’ve never actually met z before.
3. Hidden agendas. One should always be on the lookout for vested interests – why is this person writing this? And why now? The entire thing with the Guardian’s Tech section and the various conspiracy theories about why they seem so keen on Apple’s products spring to mind (for the record, I heard that they’re all true*****.)
4. Poor fact checking and “link bait”. It should be in a journalist’s instinct to check that all they’re reporting is true. It’s a shame when they think they can point to a source of information (for example, a shady blog), make no effort to check its claims, give it a dramatic headline and reap the ad-money. It’s not being idealistic to expect popular news organisations to not entice readers by essentially lying to them.

Let me know if I’ve missed any.

—

Footnotes.

* At least, it’s that simple in theory – there are, of course, many facets I’m glossing over in this analogy, but it’ll do for this post.

** Or fictional, as the case may be.

** To those not familiar with the situation: listen to episode #454 of This American Life, where Mike Daisey has the chance to air his monologue about working conditions in Foxconn. And then, listen to episode #460, where the episode is fully retracted by TAL, and the situation explained in depth. Both are fascinating episodes.

**** Or is it? Am I perpetuating a cynical cliché by saying this?

***** Spot the weasel words!

And it feels exactly like being 19. Aren’t birthdays meant to be more momentous?

I did go out to Wagamama’s with friends though, which was nice. If you guys are reading this, you’re pretty cool. Thanks

The numerous emails from various organisations was nice too. More people should put birthday messages in their software.

Developer networks already exist. There are hundreds probably, one for each company that wants developers to make things for its products, and is willing to support them through the process. The problem with these is that they enforce the idea that we’re competing against each other in a marketplace – which is true to a certain extent – but it doesn’t mean we can’t do more to work together. Sites like StackOverflow and XDA-Developers are brilliant in this aspect: the former, though primarily a means to solve problems, has created a mood of “elder sensei passes on ancient wisdom so that the young trainees may carry on the generation.” It has its limits though – discussion is banished from the Q&As, and relegated to the chat rooms which creates a barrier to entry. XDA, on the other hand, is huge. There are so many boards there, it must be difficult for the community to maintain a cohesive identity. Doubtless, lots of friendships are made, but they’re all fragmented.

Social fragmentation is a difficult challenge for administrators, and it manifests in any community. People tend to gather around what they know (I have first hand experience of this; on a forum I run, there is an Animé thread, and there are people registered who visit the site solely for that thread). This in itself is not the issue: I feel there’s a problem when 95% of the userbase doesn’t know that a given group of people exist. There have been lots of articles recently about the Internet’s “filter bubble” effect, and here it is in full force.

What ‘we,’ as a developer community desperately need is somewhere to socialise while still being able to talk about our passions (dev passions, of course). Anyone who attended #WordCampUK last year will probably be able to sympathise with this idea. As I described in my posts summarising the event, it was the first time I felt part of a community of developers. We were still, essentially, competing with our products, but that didn’t really matter. The event was a nice bubble where anyone could just talk about things which interested them: I remember, for example, having an extended conversation about back buttons. It sounds silly now, but it came about completely naturally.

I think it’d be fantastic if there were a site which encouraged that kind of level of engagement between its members. I’m vaguely aware of the WPUnity.com project (and I’m hoping it’s aiming to achieve what I outlined above when it launches), but as far as I know, nothing of the sort exists for mobile developers. And I wish there were, because I’ve got a lot of things I’d like to talk about.

It’s been almost a year since I started toying with the idea of selling this theme – I’ve put a lot of work into it after all. Unfortunately, there are lots of quirks from when I first coded it, making it difficult for me to a) clean it up for release and b) be sure that it’ll work properly in a lot of scenarios. And I just don’t have the time anymore!

So, I’ve decided to release my theme, “Dust,” as is: here’s the Git repo.

I’m happy for anyone to ask questions and send pull requests etc. In fact, please do! If Dust becomes anywhere near release quality, I’d love to have it on the WordPress theme repo. Until then, feel free to use it as a learning resource (or an example of how not to do things, hah).

What’s next? I’d love to have one of those sites which impress people. Like acko.net or ma.tt something. Check back in a few weeks to see if I’ve been successful on that.