Penree.com

Check out Clips in MacHeist

Nicholas Penree — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:34:12 +0100

Buy here for $19.95, read more about Clips here.

Lincoln (2-2010)

Nicholas Penree — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:50:18 +0100

Thoughts on webOS

Nicholas Penree — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 03:04:32 +0100

I figured I would jot down some observations I made while testing out the Palm's webOS build in the SDK. It made me really want a Pre now, really hoping we get a Pre+ or better on AT&T soon.

THE GOOD

I love the notification system. I think it is the best one available. Android's is a bit more extensible, but webOS' sure as hell beats the iPhones "just throw an alert" system. This annoys the hell out of me. In a call, or texting and having a meeting reminder or push notification interrupt me in the middle of typing. It needs to be fixed on the iPhone soon or it's gone.
Setting up Email was a breeze. Even with my custom setup email servers the Pre Mail application automatically configured my account only asking me for an email address and password once, with no need to specify protocol or mail server information. Tip: To really win me over, attempt SSL first and falback to none if need be. Being overly secure is better than insecure, right?
Unified URL and search bar in the Web application. Who needs to inputs?
One touch Wikipedia search. Saves a click.
Messages application layout is awesome. I really like the unified AIM/texting UI. I also like the message direction arrows. Nice touch.

THE BAD

Memos application is super cheesy. Notes on the iPhone looks gimmicky but is beautifully simple, yet functional. Memos is ugly and dumb. You should be able to preview 1 or 2 lines of each notes content in a list and also be able to link lines to task list items.
Phone application ignores alpha characters in numbers (Phonewords). Why? RIM does it properly by translating them to their phone equivalent on Blackberry OS. For example, Time Warner's number is 1-866-321-CABL, or 1-866-321-2225. Just translate the characters for their alpha value automatically (ie. 2 = ABC, 3 = DEF, etc.)
Is there no way to customize which syncing icons I have to see in my notificiation area? I don't really want a bunch of IMAP syncing notification every single time i open that up. Let me choose what is visible.
Self-signed SSL certificates can't be used for email? WTF? That just pisses me off, I haven't seen a mail client that won't let me choose to trust an invalid certificate somehow. Create a preference in the Login settings or something.

I WANT, I WANT, I WANT

Swiping Left to Right on the subject with the < and > should switch messages. Think of it like flipping through pages of a notebook. In this field you should override the default OS card swipe if inside of the < >.
The Contacts application should have Facebook statuses if so desired. (AIM status/away messages are also a plus)
My MobileMe/AIM login won't sign on in the emulator.. does this actually work on a device? That could seriously be a problem.
Support Facebook IM for messaging. Also treat Facebook messages as "texts" in the Messaging app. This is like instant/free texting for everyone. Everybody has a Facebook account.
Photos application is begging for some Flickr, MobileMe and/or Facebook photo album viewing. This could be a really cool way to discover new images of your friends. Notifications/badges when new photos come in, etc.

ARES

Ares is a pretty cool idea. Development in a web browser isn't my idea of fun but generating the UI using it is more than adequate. I was really excited when I saw version control integration. Ares doesn't support git integration but it supports Mercurial?, really? Really, really? I can't live without git and github. Palm, you seriously let me down on this one.

Not much more to say until I start testing. I like that it allows me to test in the browser... especially because I've been very unsuccessful at getting it to connect to the Palm Emulator from the SDK.

Seasons Greetings 2009

Nicholas Penree — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 03:14:12 +0100

Getting Root Domain for String in Shell

Nicholas Penree — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:41:48 +0100

I was looking for a quick way to determine the root domain of a host passed to me in a shell script, this is what i came up with:

      awk -F . '{print $(NF-1)"."$NF}'

Examples

njp-mbp: ~> echo "domain.com" | awk -F . '{print $(NF-1)"\."$NF}'    
      domain.com
njp-mbp: ~> echo "sub.domain.com" | awk -F . '{print $(NF-1)"\."$NF}'
      domain.com
njp-mbp: ~> echo "longer.sub.domain.com" | awk -F . '{print $(NF-1)"\."$NF}'
      domain.com
njp-mbp: ~> echo "longer-domain.com" | awk -F . '{print $(NF-1)"\."$NF}'    
      longer-domain.com

Chicken Wing Dip Recipe

Nicholas Penree — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:55:53 +0100

Here is the recipe for the best chicken wing dip every created. Goes great with celery.

Ingredients

8 oz. Cream cheese
½ cup Franks Hot Sauce - Buffalo Wing Sauce
½ cup ranch dressing
½ cup cheddar cheese
2 chicken breasts

Directions

Cut chicken breasts into tenders and boil until cooked. Pull chicken apart into small pieces.
Soften cream cheese in microwave until it is easily spreadable.
Combine ranch dressing, wing sauce & cheese to cream cheese. Mix until blended.
Add chicken to mixture. Mix thoroughly.

If desired blue cheese dressing and blue cheese crumbles can be substituted for the ranch dressing and cheddar cheese.

Serving

This dip can be served hot or cold.

To serve hot: Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Best if served with vegetables, bread or crackers.

Adding Digg Sharing to Fever

Nicholas Penree — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 17:27:18 +0100

With the introduction of Fever 1.0.9, Fever now has a sharing menu which is a highly customizable way to share your articles with your friends.

Shaun has a pretty solid set of defaults, but when I noticed Digg was missing, I figured a lot of people would ask about it. Here is the info you will need:

Service URL: http://digg.com/submit?url=%u&title=%t&bodytext=%e

This is entered via Fever Preferences > Sharing. I am hoping Shaun adds this in a future version. I'll post more when I find the need for them.

Apple: Jailbreaking substantially diminishes value of iPhone

Nicholas Penree — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:11:56 +0100

Wired linked to a very interesting document with comments from Apple about jailbreaking your iPhone:

The value of the iPhone, and hence the software embedded in it, is substantially diminished when the integrity and functionality of that software is compromised by jailbreaking

If that wasn't absurd enough for you, Christopher Soghoian points out another interesting except:

[E]ach iPhone contains a unique Exclusive Chip Identification (ECID) number that identifies the phone to the cell tower. With access to the BBP via jailbreaking, hackers may be able to change the ECID, which in turn can enable phone calls to be made anonymously (this would be desirable to drug dealers, for example) or charges for the calls to be avoided.

Soghoian brings up a great point in his article: if having an open device is good for drug dealers and terrorists and bad for consumers, where does that leave Android or the Palm Pre.

Grand Opening

Nicholas Penree — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:33:36 +0100

I just wanted to take a minute to write a quick note to everyone and let them know that the website is coming along great! I'm working on the blog now so you'll likely see some new stuff pop up.

Blog

I will be blogging from time to time. I don't really know what though. I just know that in the past 6 months I've thought to myself: "I should totally put this on my blog!" So yeah, I built one!

Projects

Stay up to date on the latest stuff I am working on. I will be posting all of my active projects, and will host any open-source contributions here as well.

Find Me

I've created a sidebar so you can hit me up on your favorite social site! I plan on keeping this updated as I join new networks so stay tuned.

As you are checking out the new site, if you find anything that is broken or acting strangely, please let me now.