This is an open letter to the many companies who want to compete with the iPad. Sony, HP, the JooJoo people; all of them.
General
NSConference 2010 Workshop
This post is aimed at those attending my World According to Gemmell workshops at NSConference 2010, in either the UK or the US. If you’re already a confirmed attendee, you may very well receive an email to similar effect shortly. I’m looking forward to seeing all of you at NSConference, and particularly at our workshop.
My thinking regarding the workshop is that the best format is to work through several different discrete topics, much like my World According To Gemmell segments in the MDN Show podcast, exploring each one using examples and finding some best practices along the way. My feeling is that this way we can maximise the breadth of material covered and thus the benefit to everyone, without getting stuck in a narrow single exhaustive case-study or such. This willingness to cover plenty of topics in a discussion format was the main thing that was quoted as valuable from last year’s workshops.
Linode
I’ve had various sites hosted with Dreamhost for a number of years now, but lately I’ve been becoming aware that my needs have outgrown what shared hosting can provide. I thus began shopping around for a VPS provider, and I settled on Linode. I’m going to talk a little bit about Linode and my experience with them so far. If you’re also looking for a VPS provider, I think you should consider signing up with Linode (disclosure: that’s a referral link; I’ll get $20 towards my hosting if you sign up).
Accessible Blog Redesign
As will be evident if you’re reading this on the web, I’ve recently changed the design of this blog. I wanted something black-on-white instead of the somewhat eye-searing white-on-black I used previously. This new theme is based on Cleanr (for WordPress, of course), and before you say it: I know the text is pretty big. I like it this way; it keeps the focus on the text itself.
Justice and Mercy
Today, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds from prison here in Scotland (due to terminal prostate cancer, with an approximate life expectancy of three months hence), and returned to Libya. He was convicted in 2001 of murder in relation to what is widely known as the “Lockerbie bombing”; the bombing of Pan-Am flight 103 from London Heathrow to New York JFK on 21st December 1988. Large parts of the wreckage of the 747 fell into the Scottish town of Lockerbie, hence the name.
