Here’s a message you would never see on a Flash site.
To be fair though, I would be just as frustrated to see a message that says “sorry, iOS users, we can’t show you this page.” I guess my point is that JS isn’t without it’s drawbacks and sites should always degrade gracefully.
Found on the otherwise impressive site: http://flashtml5.com/
Here’s a snippet of code that creates a grid in the <canvas> tag using JavaScript. It’s just a quick little experiment but I thought I’d share it with you.
I added the draw command to a loop that moves around the grid’s starting point just for fun.
This may be a little off topic but since I love video games and logic, I thought I’d take a moment to share some thoughts I was having.
I just read this post from Kotaku talking about the new proprietary memory card that will be used for the PSVita, Sony’s upcoming gaming handheld. The tl;dr version: Sony’s making a new type of memory card. They will only work with one gadget. They will be expensive.
This is not the first time that a gaming company, especially Sony, has asked us to pony up for a proprietary storage medium. Sony has virtually cornered the proprietary format market: MiniDisc, MemoryStick, BetaMax, even those little cassettes that go in your answering machine. All of this, I must assume, was in the hopes of making one that lasts and becomes a standard. Well, they kinda did with BluRay even though it’s appearing at the twilight of physical media. But I digress. Microsoft’s also in the game with their custom XBox360 hard drives costing about twice the going rate. In fact, every non-standard CD-ROM or cartridge is also a proprietary format when you get down to it.
Anyway, this post isn’t really about storage being proprietary. It’s about storage being expensive. The companies create this proprietary media then sell it to us. We’ll have no choice but to buy it so they can charge whatever they want. That makes sense I guess. So to sum up their thinking…
There’s one glaring flaw here. If I may be so bold as to illustrate my consumer-centric logic…
To look at the same argument conversely…
To try to turn this from pure gripe into something useful, I will just say this. Don’t make me your willing customers have to work hard to spend money on you. Always be aware of decisions that benefit your company by punishing your customers.
This is not just a video game rant. The online world is also fraught with similar follies. One phenomenon is discussed in this great post about the Mobile App Splash Screen Anti-Pattern by Martin Sutherland. Another example is any site that makes me create an account before I do even a simple task. Virtually every restaurant website ever made has made me endure a Greek techno slideshow and download a PDF menu just to find their hours and address.
Don’t let this happen to you, or to your clients! Always Be Closing! And let me buy more video games, dammit!
Dear Flash & Flex Interactive Developers, keep calm and carry on. The news from Adobe seems like a big deal now but I’m not sure that it’s soon enough to judge what the long term impact will be. In my opinion, it’s not yet time to panic (is it ever?) and in this post, I’ll talk about why.
First, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out the news. I think the best explanation comes from Mike Chambers’ Blog and a corresponding post on the Flex Team’s Blog.
Don't panic! Take a deep breath and look at this cute bunny
It is well known among my friends that I “do something to computers that somehow makes apps exist.” As such, I am often approached with the inevitable proposition that goes something like this: “I’ve got a million dollar idea for an app and when you build it we’ll be rich.” These pitches typically make use of the pronoun “we,” as in “we can charge 50¢ per penguin,” and a pre-meditated revenue split, as in “you can keep 50% of the penguin monies.” This is the modern version of the old favorite, “can you make me a website,” for free implied.
Some of these ideas are great, many are not. But regardless of their quality, I want to try to reset the expectations of the idea generators. I hope this post sheds some light on the legal, social and practical implications of these ideas and provides some ground rules that will help bring these ideas into fruition.
(Read the full article after the jump)