April 2009
1 post
6 tags
Text Layout Framework memory leak
Shortly before I flew to Abu Dhabi for Cityscape, I found a memory leak in the AIR application I’d been developing for the past few months. As with most memory leaks it only became apparent after several hours of usage, and given the application had to run at least 10 hours a day, was a serious problem.
Thankfully, Flex Builder has a profiler tool built-in, and leaving my application...
February 2009
1 post
7 tags
Embedded fonts and the Text Layout Framework
Adobe’s Text Layout Framework, in combination with the new text engine in Flash Player 10, is finally giving Flash developers the kind of typographic control we’ve needed for years. Feature highlights include bi—directional and vertical text, support for over 30 writing systems, flowing text across multiple columns and vastly improved character formatting including kerning, ligatures and...
January 2009
1 post
4 tags
Myrin (Jar City)
I watched the Icelandic film Mýrin tonight and it was superb. Based on a novel by Arnaldur Indriðason, it follows the policeman Erlendur as he and his colleagues try and solve the seemingly motiveless murder of a man in his home. As with all good examples of the genre, the plot evolves throughout the film and involves opening old wounds in closed cases and a recurring connection to an inherited...
November 2008
3 posts
5 tags
Archiving large files across multiple DVDs
I was backing up our SVN repositories to DVD a while ago and wrote an entry on our wiki detailing how I’d done it. Thinking this is the kind of thing people will have to do at some point I thought it could be useful to share.
The method I’ve used is to create a single tar file of everything you’re looking to backup and then split that file into chunks which fit onto a single...
6 tags
Taking regular breaks
I’ve always been on the lookout for a small application to remind me to take regular breaks from my computer, as it’s easy to get totally involved in what you’re doing and lose track of time.
The few I’ve found in the past have always had their problems, from terrible interfaces to being overly intrusive - think alarm calls and locking the computer. Thankfully I’ve...
7 tags
Ladytron — Shepherds Bush Empire
I’ve seen Ladytron once before, about four or five years ago at the GUU and it was one of my most disappointing gigs. Terrible performance, restless crowd and a fire alarm going off midway through their set that dumped us all outside in the rain.
The reason I’ve given them another chance was that after years of promise they’ve finally delivered an album that proved they were...
July 2008
2 posts
7 tags
Configuring MySQL to use UTF-8
A project I’m working on at the moment is going to have multiple language options available, not all of which use the same alphabet (e.g. Russian and Chinese).
To lessen the pain commonly associated with internationalisation on the web, it’s beneficial to use the UTF-8 character set. This short summary from the Unicode Consortium may help explain better;
Unicode provides a unique...
3 tags
WatchWent to see My Bloody Valentine at the Barrowlands with Sarah and my ears are still recovering. The following video is from a section of the gig that came in the middle of their last song, and is called ‘the holocaust’.
June 2008
1 post
7 tags
Safari Flash caching issue solved in 10.5.3
Just to confirm that the bug in Safari (and WebKit) which prevented caching of SWF files has been fixed by the recent 10.5.3 update to OS X.
There’s no information on the 10.5.3 support page about the fix, but from a quick read of some related WebKit bug reports (18972 and 19144) it seems likely an unreported patch to CFNetwork has done the trick.
Discovered this by chance this...
May 2008
1 post
4 tags
Subversion 1.5 merge tracking
Some great news coming from the Subversion developers recently, announcing that merge tracking will be included in the upcoming 1.5 release. From the announcement;
Merge-tracking is when your version control system keeps track of how lines of development (branches) diverge and re-form together. … While Subversion 1.5 doesn’t make merging as easy as a system like Git or Mercurial, it certainly...
April 2008
1 post
6 tags
The Jesus and Mary Chain — Roundhouse, London
The Jesus and Mary Chain are one of those bands that I missed out on first time around thanks to my age (they were massive in the ’80s) that I absolutely love now. Loud, dark, drenched in feedback and at times complete bastards, their legacy was not just for their music, but also their live shows - tales of near-riots, playing with their backs to the audience, on-stage fights between members of...
January 2008
3 posts
5 tags
Explosions in the Sky — Barrowlands, Glasgow
I can’t remember another gig that’s changed my impression of a band as much as this one. To me, the Texan post–rockers Explosions in the Sky have always been firmly associated with their mellower contemporaries such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Mogwai at their introspective best. It’s a delusion no doubt caused by The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place, the album of theirs I’ve listened to...
4 tags
The best music of 2007
I’m going to follow a trend I’ve noticed recently and look back over the past year in terms of the music I’ve enjoyed. Given these are all going to be personal choices, there’s a good chance that you might think the following bands and artists are absolutely shite! If that’s the case, why not leave a comment with some of your alternative choices—the less mainstream the better, but anything...
4 tags
Finding large files on your OS X system
I discovered a handy open–source application for OS X on Sourceforge last night called Grand Perspective, which allows you to create a visualisation of the relative size of your files. You can specify a specific folder or your entire disk and the program will scan all your files and create an interactive graphic that lets you identify what’s using the most space – great for finding things...