Category: Utilities
Released: Nov 19, 2008
Price: $2.99

Description:
ProgCalcPlus is a comprehensive RPN integer and floating point calculator designed for programmers. It performs over 60 mathematical and logical operations and contains 16 storage registers. It allows macro programming and can store up to 10 macro programs of up to 49 steps each, including conditional and looping logic. It has more powerful programming and editing capabilities than the HP16c. You can move and delete macro instructions while in edit mode and you can view 10 instructions at a time, not the single instruction limit of the HP calculator display. The ProgCalcPlus calculator display shows both the normal representation (octal, decimal, hexadecimal, or floating point) as well as the binary equivalent of the top of the stack. The calculator state is saved (including macro programs) when ProgCalcPlus is exited, so if you receive a phone call while working, all your information will be retrieved when you start the program again. Features:* Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) Logic* Four item memory stack of 64 bit numbers* 16 storage registers with non-zero content indicators* 10 macro programs with conditional and Goto commands* Shortcut execution of first four macro programs* Powerful iPhone editing of programs in list format* Comprehensive set of math and logical operations* Shift and rotate by 1 bit or arbitrary bit count* Set and clear bits in the X register* And, Or, Xor, Not, Nand, Nor, and Nxor* Convert arbitrary hex values to floating point* Create left and right masks of bits* Signed and Unsigned operations* Byte Swap and Word Swap for Little-Big Endian calculations* Min, Max, and Modulo functions* 1�s complement and 2�s complement operations* Stack operations including rotate registers down, up, exchange X/Y and Last X* And many more With the macro programming functions, you can use this calculator to simulate some of the logic of your programs. You can set and clear bits, create masks, and of course perform all the logic operators. This calculator leverages the strengths of the iPhone and does not slavishly follow the button layout of HP calculators. For example, in macro program edit mode, you can see all the instructions of your macro in list format. You can delete an instruction by swiping it and you can even visually move one instruction to another location. Also, you can record up to 10 separate macros, saving you time and the effort to rekey them when you need to do more than one task. The first four macros have shortcut keys that you can press to quickly run them, again saving you keystrokes and effort. This calculator has both a signed and unsigned operation mode. In signed mode with a decimal display, a negative number is shown with its negative value. You can shift to unsigned mode to see the unsigned equivalent value. This advanced feature also allows you to do shifting with or without sign propagation. In other words, with signed mode, a right-shift of a negative number will shift in a 1-bit into the high order bit, while unsigned mode will shift in a 0-bit. The set of 16 64-bit storage registers can be used to hold both floating point and fixed point information such as base addresses or bit-flag patterns. When you store a non-zero value into a register, the key for that register will change color to remind you that there is a value stored there. The registers are also useful for repetitive calculations. You can store intermediate results and then use them repeatedly, especially useful in your macro programs. In summary, the ProgCalcPlus calculator is designed specifically for operations that are useful for programmers. Important features found in this calculator that are not common in other calculators include the 10 macro programs, 16 storage registers, binary display, signed/unsigned mode, over 60 logic, math, and conditional operations, and much more.

Website: http://www.gwcorp.com
Support Website: http://www.gwcorp.com

Note: The description above is the official one supplied by the application developer and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of this site or its staff.


Get it on iTunes: ProgCalcPlus

Societe : ATOS ORIGIN - Lieu de travail : Nanterre - Type de contrat : stage - Salaire : - Detail : Atos Origin est leader en France sur les prestations d’infogérance. Nous proposons à nos clients des prestations d’intégration de produits, d’administration de systèmes, de sécurité des SI, de mise en exploitation de projets, et de gérance d’exploitation. Cette offre repose sur un système qualité consolidé par une organisation et le référentiel ITIL. Au sein de notre division Banque Finance, nous avons pour mission la gestion opérationnelle des ressources humaines du Périmètre Infrastructure Management (250 collaborateurs). Dans le cadre de notre développement, nous recherchons un(e) stagiaire en développement de Base de données Access. OBJECTIF DU STAGE : Votre mission sera de développer et d'enrichir les outils mis en place sur base de données Acces, pour: _ Gérer les affectations, la plannification, la facturation et les compétences des ressources. _Fiabiliser et automatiser la production des indicateurs du Centre de Compétences. PROFIL : De formation Ingénierie en informatique en 3e année, vous souhaitez effectuer un stage de 6 mois à partir de Janvier 2009. Vous possédez de bonnes connaissances des outils Office Excel ; Access : requêtes, Macros, petits développements. Le poste est basé à Nanterre. Vous souhaiter acquérir une expérience professionnelle significative dans un grand groupe de services, rejoignez nous et postulez en envoyant votre Cv et votre lettre de motivation à : Daniella.bertrac@atosorigin.com

This guest post is written by Matt Rutherford, Web Strategist and technology producer for Charlie Rose. Matt focuses on the macro themes affecting the internet and the wider world.

In an intimate interview with Charlie Rose on PBS tonight, and available here, Stanford professor Larry Lessig reveals some profound views on copyright, remix culture, and the new hybrid economy that is emerging.

In particular, Lessig speaks out against the abolitionist movement growing against copyright:

My real fear is that the last 10 years have unleashed a kind of revolutionary attitude among the generation that will take over in 10 years. And it will be hard for them to distinguish between sensible copyright legislation and the kind that we’ve got right now. So my real fear is we’re going to lose control of this animal... I just want to reform [copyright] to make it make sense.

A reform of copyright is clearly overdue. We require a new form of regulation that takes into account the ease and speed of digital distribution and appropriation. Every week, books cross my desk clamoring for this change - some of which are certainly worth reading. And as Lessig explains on the show, it’s counterproductive to continue to criminalize kids for file-sharing, remixing and recreating with content. Copyright was established to encourage creativity, not stifle it.

Cultural Roots

Lessig thinks on a macro time scale. For him, the emerging “read-write creativity” seen on YouTube and elsewhere is actually a return to our natural cultural roots. Historically, man has always absorbed and re-created culture – the symbolic retelling of stories and re-interpreting of songs on the front porch. It is only the emergence of mass media in the last century that caused us to accept a passive relationship with culture.

What’s so extraordinary about the last four years is that they’ve demonstrated that the technology of the internet is giving us a chance to go back to the way culture has been from the beginning…Only the 20th century was a deviation from this. But from the beginning of culture, it was a normal thing for people to be able to create and recreate the most important parts of culture that were around them.

As evidence of this, Lessig cites the numerous Charlie Rose remix videos that are floating around the web.

I’ve seen some of these Rose remixes, and they are enormous. They’re fantastic. But I would hope, you know, eventually you could be in a position to say I want to encourage this, please. Please do it.

A lot of these remixes also come across my desk. In the spirit of research, here are a few of the best so far: Beckett, Kung Fu, nuclear weapons. They’re all superb. And yes, we do encourage this. As Lessig says, Please do it.

Hybrid Economy

There remains the fundamental question of how a ‘new’ copyright can maintain revenue. After all, despite the ease of pointing out the flaws in the current system, it’s quite another matter to propose a viable alternative. Lessig sees the solution, in part, coming from a new hybrid economy, one that combines the traditional commercial economy with sharing economies seen in Wikipedia, YouTube and elsewhere:

Businesses have begun to realize that the world is in part divided between commercial economies like buying and selling books, and sharing economies like Wikipedia where enormous value is produced for nothing, people are doing it all for free. The most interesting thing I think we’ve seen though in the last five years is the development of a hybrid economy where commercial entities are trying to leverage value out of these sharing economies or vice versa, sharing economies trying to leverage value out of commercial entities. And this hybrid depends upon the commercial entity showing the proper respect for the creation in the sharing economy, and giving space to it, encouraging it so that the sharing economy can produce enormous value that is beneficial to the people inside, and also to the commercial business.

Lessig’s Big Idea

Lessig concludes the interview with his ‘big idea’. It is an inspiring, and elegant reminder that we are in the midst of an unprecedented social change. Just as the Gutenberg press facilitated the spread of the Protestant Reformation, fundamentally altering the course of Western civilization, so too is the internet beginning to spark tectonic changes, the breadth of which we don’t yet have the historical perspective to grasp. As Lessig explains:

I think the big idea, as every big idea is, is just one amazing step beyond where we are right now. And I think you think about the Obama campaign, something like Wikipedia, something like the stuff that’s going on on the Internet, the kind that I think of as read write culture. What it really is doing is reviving the sense that people can do something. Not the passive couch potato politics or couch potato culture, but that they can do something. We’re close to making it really effective. I think the next cycle, what you’re going to see in the way politics functions, will be unrecognizable, even from today. But when we’re there, it will be a revival of ideals, aspirations about democracy that will surprise us. The cynicism that we had in the 20th century will look very 20th century.

Larry Lessig’s interview on Charlie Rose was first broadcast on Friday 11/21/08 on PBS, and is available in full or in clips: Larry Lessig (full segment), Larry Lessig (clips). Matt Rutherford can be reached at matt@charlierose.com.

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So I saw another thread on this forum with some nice low aperture shots of the new MBP. I didn't feel like doing homework so I pulled out my macro lens and wasted time. I had to make the file size pretty small for the image so it's not as sharp the originals. Regardless I think the texture of the aluminum is pretty cool. If this isn't supposed to be here I apologize.
Attached Thumbnails    

   

 

Live 7.0.12

Live is the audio sequencer you can play like an instrument. It integrates complete multitrack recording and editing functionality - play your studio arrangements on stage, or record live improvisations and edit them in the studio. Even better, manipulate the speed and pitch of any audio while it is streamed from disk - with exceptional flexibility and fidelity. Live lets you use audio any way you want: looping, synchronizing, improvising, and recording have never been faster, easier and more fun.

• Ableton Live 7 Interactive Tour

WHAT'S NEWVersion 7.0.12:

Improvements:

• MIDI surface controller support for the Alesis Master Control
• MIDI controller support for Vestax VCM 600

Bug fixes:

• Operator's voice stealing would not work properly.
• Under certain conditions an empty MIDI effect Rack could lead to audio drop-outs.
• The 'Rename' command for an Impulse slot would not be available via the context menu.
• A copied or moved Reverb would not properly show the correct curve with Diffusion Network enabled.
• After installing content packages, a dialog could show a message about a failed installation although the installation was successful.
• A copied or moved Tension instrument would not show the correct filter curve.
• Dragging a particular chain from a Drum Rack into 'empty' Arranger space could crash Live.
• Moving a clip in a track with an External Instrument and routed to a multitimbral plug-in could crash Live.
• Moving zones in the the Sampler could lead to hard disk dropouts.
• Live's search index would not properly handle version 2.3 ID3 tags.
• Dragging in a clip containing an Audio Unit plug-in could cause a message box to appear, canceling the drag.
• Tighter MIDI timing when looping in the Arranger.
• Files would incorrectly be dated as “Yesterday” during a few hours around midnight.
• The macro settings of a rack containing certain third party plug-ins would not properly restored when loading the rack.
• Having multiple automation lanes on an audio track and removing one lane would not properly display the audio waveform on the remaining lanes.
• Doing the the Capture and Insert Scene command could create a memory leak.
• When running as MIDI clock slave, Live would only display a rounded to the nearest integer tempo.
• The functionality to ask the AU plug-in for its supported formats would not work properly.
• If Live would run as ReWire slave but would not get called from the ReWire master for some time, a message box would appear to inform about that problem. This message box again could lead to a crash of Live and the ReWire master. Now, the the message about the inactive ReWire master is displayed on the status bar.
• Sending a MIDI program change message from an external MIDI source into Live would lead to a crash.
• Depending on the structure of the current Live set, arming a track could be extremely slow.
• Unlock offline would not work properly.

REQUIREMENTS

• Mac OS X 10.3.9 (10.4 or later recommended)
• Any G4 or faster, (Intel Mac recommended)
• 512 MB RAM (1GB or more recommended)

DEVELOPERAbleton AG
DOWNLOADS16461
DOWNLOAD NOW (106 MB)
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Two long-awaited mini-series come to an end! Can you stand the suspense from not knowing what they are? If not, read on!

Air #4 by G. Willow Wilson (writer), M. K. Perker (artist), Chris Chuckry (colorist), and Jared K. Fletcher (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

Air is still keeping me interested without really dazzling me, but it’s getting to the point where I may have to drop it. Usually I give books six issues to grab hold, and although I admire a lot about Air, there’s a lot that’s not working too. Blythe’s conversation with the masked priest who she thinks is Zayn works well, because we get some good insight into her character and what’s going on in the book. The transition to Mexico City and the new players in the game is awkwardly handled, though, and as the conspiracy grows quickly, it ironically becomes less interesting. I’m not sure if it’s a case of too much, too soon, because we’ve come very far from the weird premise of the first issue, but I also understand that doling out information in a work of serialized fiction is a delicate balance - too little and people lose interest; too much and it become overload. Air is veering toward overload, and it does seem like Wilson needs to slow down just a bit. There’s hardly enough time to process what’s going on, when suddenly we’re shifting continents and plot points and then, just as suddenly, there’s a weird flying machine on the last page. As much as the premise is intriguing, it feels like Wilson is desperate to cram too much plot into each issue.

Perker’s art has some problems, too. His figure drawing is fine, but too often he skimps on the backgrounds, giving the book a strange “nowhere” look. The text says we’re in Mexico City, but nothing about it feels like Mexico City (of course, I haven’t been to Mexico City, but there’s no sense of any place about the pages in Mexico) Perker certainly can do better - Cairo had a real sense of the city and the mysterious tunnels and passages under it - but perhaps the rush of a monthly book is not a good fit for him. Part of the weirdness of the book is that it takes place in “no place” - on bland airplanes - but that sense of unreality that comes from being on a plane shouldn’t extend to actual locations. It’s frustrating, because the first few pages, when Blythe is hallucinating about the winged serpent, work well and feature outdoor scenes that have a strong sense of place.

This is one of those comics that I really want to like. Four issues in, there’s a lot to enjoy about it. But I still have to think about dropping it, and we’ll see where the next two issues go.

Sales figures for the last two issues (#2 and #3, September and October): 8,777 (#2; rank: 194) and 10,061 (#3; rank: 195). That’s weird. A fairly big jump in orders from one issue to the next.

Ambush Bug: Year None #4 (of 6) by Keith Giffen (plotter/penciller), Robert Loren Fleming (scripter), Al Milgrom (inker), Tom Smith (colorist), and Pat Brosseau (letterer). $2.99, 23 pgs, FC, DC.

As usual with this comic, there’s nothing really here except tons of gags that are really funny if you know a little about DC comics (and your enjoyment of them increases the more you know) and are perhaps mildly amusing if you don’t know anything about DC. In this issue, Giffen rips Dan DiDio mercilessly, which is hilarious but sad when you realize how spot-on it is and how DiDio apparently doesn’t care. And I find it the height of irony that facing the page on which Ambush Bug says, “I guess I’m going to have to get used to a kindler, gentler DC Universe,” we get this ad:

Giffen obviously sees the idiocy of DC - why doesn’t DiDio?

Again, this is very funny if you’ve read DC, but probably less so if you haven’t. I like it, but it makes me sad, too.

Sales figures for the last two issues (#2 and #3, August and September): 14,627 (#2; rank: 135) and 13,477 (#3; rank: 150). As I’ve written before, this seems pretty good for an obscure character with no big names on the book. The Giffen factor?

Atomic Robo: Dogs of War #4 (of 5) by Brian Clevinger (writer), Scott Wegener (artist), Ronda Pattison (colorist), and Jeff Powell (letterer). Back-up story by Joshua and Jonathan Ross (story/artists), Brian Clevinger (scripter), and Jeff Powell (letterer). $2.95, 27 pgs (22 for the main story, 5 for the back-up), FC, Red 5 Comics.

Atomic Robo sails merrily along, with the penultimate issue revealing some things (like who’s behind the big Nazi scheme) and, of course, featuring plenty of fighting. There’s not much I can say about it, because it’s just pure, unadulterated, comics joy. Clevinger continues to write wise cracks that flow easily from the action, Wegener continues to draw wonderfully, and it’s all hurtling toward a big-time conclusion. People who complain about all comics being gloomy are obviously not reading Atomic Robo. Maybe they should.

Sales figures for the last two issues (#2 and #3, September and October): 4,925 (#2; rank: 246) and 4,906 (#3; rank: 284). I guess that’s fine - it’s holding steady.

Bad Planet #6 (of 6) by Thomas Jane (writer), Steve Niles (writer), James Daly III (penciller), Tim Bradstreet (inker), Grant Goleash (colorist), and Jason Hanley (letterer). $2.99, 24 pgs, FC, Image/Raw Studios.

Shockingly enough, the final issue of Bad Planet showed up in stores on Wednesday. Bad Planet, you’ll recall, was supposed to be a 12-issue series, but it’s been truncated to six, although the ending leaves the possibility of a sequel wide open. It’s a shame this was so delayed, because it’s a fun, goofy comic full of 1950s-science fiction wackiness, from the deathspiders that have greatly reduced the Earth’s population to the solution to humanity’s problem, which goes back to Nikola Tesla (doesn’t it always?). Daly does a fine job with the art, and although the story makes little sense on a macro level and I can forgive that, the fact that we cut away from important events (like Veronica’s flight to Washington) is weird and halts the momentum of the book. At his blog, Tim Bradstreet explains some of the reasons for the hiatus, and now that it’s “done,” maybe people will discover this book in trade. I can’t really say it’s a great comic, but the creators go hell-for-leather magnificently to bring us this wild tale, and that’s something we should all respect.

Sales figures for the last two issues (#4 and #5, November 2007 and April): 4,575 (#4; rank: 252) and 4,467 (#5; rank: 259). The delay hasn’t hurt this comic, as it has one below!

City of Dust #2 (of 5) by Steve Niles (writer), Zid (artist), Garrie Gastonny (artist), Brandon Chng (artist), Buddy Jiang (colorist), Leos Ng (colorist), Sixth Creation (colorist), and Chris Eliopoulos (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Radical Comics.

Radical was nice enough to send me this in the mail, so I get to read two Steve Niles books this week! Whoo-hoo!

I mentioned that the first issue of this had a couple of problems: it was too derivative, and the art was too murky. The art is a bit brighter in this issue, and just that small change makes this a better issue to read. The art (split between a few different people, although the styles are all similar) isn’t great, but the brighter tones of the book help the storytelling, at least. So there’s that.

Niles continues to tell a story of a dystopian future where imagination is a crime, and with the set-up out of the way, he can concentrate on what made the first issue interesting: the actual murder of some guy and the book that Philip Khrome found under the body. Khrome is, of course, under suspicion by the thought police (GBI, they’re called in the book) because he looked at the book, and he’s interrogated by the head dude, Agent Morgan. Niles does two interesting things with this comic: Khrome continues to be a “the system is right” kind of guy, which is far more interesting than someone who rebels instantly because he’s persecuted by said system. I still see a spiritual awakening for Khrome down the line, where he realizes that he’s been wrong all these years and people just need to read, damn it! Maybe that will happen, maybe it won’t. For now, it’s interesting to see Khrome trying to solve the crime without worrying about bringing down the system. The other thing Niles does is set up Morgan as Khrome’s nemesis and then subvert our expectations. It’s nicely done, and lets us know that things are not what they seem. Plus, Niles reveals the bad guys, and although they’re nothing special, it’s interesting how he ties them into the main theme of the comic.

This issue fleshes out the character of Khrome a bit more, gets us into the crime a bit more, and isn’t difficult to read because the art is too dark. Niles, who seems to have problems with endings, doesn’t have any problems with beginnings, and he’s set up an interesting murder mystery. There’s nothing wrong with a good old-fashioned murder mystery!

Sales figures for issue #1 (October): 8,981 (rank: 209). I have to think that’s pretty good.

Dynamo 5 #18 by Jay Faerber (writer), Mahmud A. Asrar (artist), Marcio Takara (artist), Ron Riley (colorist), and Charles Pritchett (letterer). Back-up story by Jay Faerber (writer), Joe Eisma (artist), Paul Little (colorist), and Charles Pritchett (letterer). $3.50, 27 pgs (20 for the main story, 6 for the back-up), FC, Image.

Over in Jay Faerber’s neck of the woods, Dynamo 5 gets a guest artist (Asrar draws only three pages) and a back-up story, but keeps trucking along. Scrap’s replacement team gets into a fight with a group of super-villains and doesn’t fare very well (as you can see from the cover). As usual, it’s simple kick-ass superheroing and supervillaining, but Faerber is able to do that so well that it feels fresh. Even the twist at the end, which comes from Superhero 101 class, hits us like a punch in the gut. It’s very hard to describe how good Faerber’s two ongoings for Image are (although Noble Causes is ending, it’s still around for now), because not every issue stands out as truly superb. There are stellar moments, but even those don’t show up all the time. If I wrote about the plot - supervillains collects other supervillains who match up well against the new Dynamo 5, said supervillains attack, said supervillains beat up Dynamo 5, something surprising happens at the end - you might think, “That’s the scenario of every superhero comic I’ve ever read!” Well, true, but as always, it’s in the execution. Faerber adds so many small touches that make this fun to read, like Timothy Lipinski going all gooey when he gets his people-killing armor back. Okay, that’s not really fun, but it’s something a slightly psychotic super-villain would do.

I’m not sure what’s up with the back-up story. It’s the tale of a private investigator who sets someone up, and it’s a clever little story, but I don’t know if Faerber is going to start a new series with the P. I. (who, interestingly enough, isn’t named, although the title of the story is “Dodge’s Bullets,” indicating that Dodge is either his first or last name). Either way, it’s a fun short story.

As Brian noted, prices for regular Marvel books (”regular” meaning 22 pages of story with no “extra” material) are going up to $3.99. Faerber himself stopped by to explain why Dynamo 5 is $3.50. Considering it’s as good, if not better, than any other superhero comic you can buy, isn’t it time you stopped hoping that Marvel will come to its senses with regard to pricing and checked this out instead?

Sales figures for the last two issues (#16 and #17, September and October): 5,014 (#16; rank: 241) and 4,792 (#17; rank: 287). I guess that’s fine - the drop is odd, but not huge.

Ex Machina #39 by Brian K. Vaughan (writer), Tony Harris (penciller), Jim Clark (inker), JD Mettler (colorist), and Jared K. Fletcher (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/WildStorm.

The frustrating thing about Ex Machina is that Vaughan is ending it with issue #50, but now we’re going to have to wait two years for that to arrive. I look forward to every issue, even weaker ones like this one, and now that Vaughan has hinted about where the book is going (he may have done this in interviews prior to this, but I don’t read interviews, so this is the first time within the comic he’s hinted about the book’s direction), I’m really looking forward to the end. But I have to wait so damned long!!!!!

As I wrote above, this is a weaker issue, mainly because Monica is such a dull “villain” to the point where she’s not one at all, really. Vaughan’s biggest weakness with this book is feeling that he has to put costumed weirdos in it, even if the book doesn’t necessarily warrant it, and building story arcs around them. Monica’s story could have been told in two issues, tops, but it was stretched out a bit, and that weakened it. Still, Kremlin’s a-doings and the way Vaughan turns the book toward the future help mitigate that a bit. I’m fascinated to see the rest of the series.

Sales figures for the last two issues (#37 and #38, June and September): 14,921 (#37; rank: 131) and 14,973 (#38; rank: 137). Holding virtually steady. Those who buy it are invested, man!

Ghost Rider #29 by Jason Aaron (writer), Tan Eng Huat (artist), José Villarrubia (colorist), and Joe Caramagna (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Marvel.

I said I wasn’t going to buy this anymore because last issue was $3.99 with a lousy recap of Danny Ketch’s career as Ghost Rider as the “extra” material. Well, I calmed down and decided to buy this, because I have been enjoying Aaron’s run on the title. Unfortunately, I might drop it anyway.

It’s not that this is bad. Aaron is writing a slam-bang action comic, and Huat’s art continues to look better than it has in the past. But it’s not as flat-out insane as Aaron’s first arc, when we had killer nurses and haunted highways and cannibals. It’s a fairly standard superhero comic, and although Aaron does it well, it doesn’t give me any reason to keep coming back. I suppose if I was more invested in the Ghost Rider mythos, it would be more powerful, but I’m not, so the actual story and writing have to be dazzling, and for the past few issues, they haven’t been. It’s certainly keen to see Danny and Johnny throw down, but beyond that, I don’t get the same sense of danger that I get, for instance, with Dynamo 5 and its big fight. It’s just two really powerful dudes smashing each other, and that’s tough to make interesting.

The end of the issue promises “more Ghost Riders,” as we learned last issue that there are several wandering the Earth. It will come out in December, which means the following month I usually think about culling titles. I doubt if this will make the cut. I miss the craziness of the first arc, which was truly and wildly awesome. Oh well.

Sales figures for the last two issues (#27 and 28, September and October): 23,402 (#27; rank: 105) and 26,993 (#28; rank: 102). A slight boost with the 4-dollar issue that I ranted about. I guess I suck.

Moon Knight #24 by Mike Benson (writer), Mark Texeira (artist), Javier Saltares (layouts), Dan Brown (colorist), and Joe Caramagna (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Marvel.

I like how the past two issues have featured Bullseye on the cover, even though the first time Bullseye shows up in this arc is on the last page of this issue. I guess he’s just so freakin’ cool that Suydam had to put him on two consecutive covers!

This isn’t quite as excellent an issue as the last few, but it’s still very good. When last we left our favorite crazy superhero, Venom was about to eat his brain. Of course, he doesn’t, because that would be awkward, but there’s a big fight between MK and the Thunderbolts, and what makes it interesting is that Moon Knight doesn’t really win. It’s his book, after all, so the usual thing to do is make him superhuman and have him mop the floor with his adversaries, which is what writers of, say, the Caped Crusader always do. He does a fine job beating up on the Thunderbolts, but it’s not like he’s whipping them. He’s even in a bit of trouble until S.H.I.E.L.D. shows up. Isn’t that always the way?

As this is the penultimate issue of the arc, we get some set-up for the final issue. Jean-Paul still wants revenge, and Marc actually has to act human a little bit. Frenchie tells a story about his mercenary days, which helps illuminate, once again, a major theme of this book - the consequences of violence and how no one escapes. Marvel has spoiled the end of this arc in the solicitations, which annoys the hell out of me, but it’s still a bittersweet issue, as Marc knows he probably can’t get out of this. We’ll see exactly how this ends.

I guess Bullseye actually shows up next issue and does some ass-kicking. That’ll be nice.

Sales figures for the last two issues (#22 and #23, September and October): 26,380 (#22; rank: 94) and 25,216 (#23; rank: 111). Holding relatively steady, which makes me happy.

Pax Romana #4 (of 4) by Jonathan Hickman (writer/artist). $3.50, 28 pgs, FC, Image.

Pax Romana finally concludes, and it’s not quite as strong as Hickman’s first series, The Nightly News. Despite that book’s inevitably lackluster ending, it was ridiculously bold and a breath of fresh air both story-wise and art-wise. Pax Romana looks great, with that odd Hickman style that is gorgeous to look at, and the story is still compelling, but Hickman never quite pulls it off. It’s always been a 4-issue mini-series, but perhaps it could have used an extra issue, because the characters never quite gel and in order to get his philosophical ramblings into the book (don’t get me wrong - I like the philosophical ramblings), Hickman seems to have sacrificed some characterization and action. Like The Nightly News, Hickman has grand themes on his mind in this book, and one of the characters vocalizes them late in the comic. Overall, the idea of the book - sending people back in time to make sure the world doesn’t fall into barbarism - is fascinating, and although Hickman gets his major point about the nature of people across, he doesn’t manage it with the same flair that he brought to The Nightly News. Ironically, the end of this book probably works better than that earlier one, but the journey isn’t as strong.

Still, Hickman continues to be an impressive voice in comics, both with his astonshing artwork and in the themes he examines in his work. I hope he does more work, and I hope he speeds up a bit. Waiting for his comics is frustrating, to say the least.

Sales figures for the last two issues (#2 and #3, March and September): 4,794 (#2; rank: 239) and 2,889 (#3; rank: 300). Who says delays in books don’t hurt sales?

Scalped #23 by Jason Aaron (writer), R. M. Guéra (artist), Giulia Brusco (colorist), and Steve Wands (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

Aaron focuses on Dino Poor Bear in this issue, as he rides around the reservation doing his “job,” which consists of giving drugs and guns to various people and collecting their money. It’s a typical issue of Scalped, in that Aaron captures the essence of dirt-poor living and things build slowly to two incidents of horrific violence that leave their mark on Dino. As we’ve seen, Dino will never leave the rez, but he still clings to the notion that he will, which makes his life, as sad as it is, a bit more pathetic. He’s not working toward anything, and he has a (relatively) clear head on his shoulders - think of the people who don’t have clear heads! Aaron has done a fine job showing the absolute despair the people on the rez live with each day, and by now, he doesn’t even make much of an effort - just by showing Dino go about his daily life is enough. Maybe, just maybe, Dino realizes in this issue that he has to change. But I doubt it.

I have read on-line that Scalped is a lousy representation of Native Americans. I don’t know if it is or not - I have not met many Indians, so I can’t speak to that. I do know that the reservations in Phoenix aren’t much better than the fictional one in this comic, so he’s onto something there. But that’s a topic for another day. I won’t say much about that, but I will say that whether or not Aaron is accurately portraying a Native American experience, he is accurately portraying a poor experience. The people in this comic are desperate, and they act desperately. They often act stupidly, but Aaron has done a nice job showing why they act this way. That’s part of why this book is so gripping.

Sales figures for the last two issues (#21 and #22, September and October): 7,029 (#21; rank: 216) and 6,964 (#22; rank: 241). This is why I switched to the single issues. Anything to do my part!

Uncanny X-Men #504 by Matt Fraction (writer), Terry Dodson (penciler), Rachel Dodson (inker), Justin Ponsor (colorist), and Joe Caramagna (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Marvel.

I appreciate Terry Dodson’s drawing style with regard to women, because he makes them a bit more zaftig than your usual comic artist, but what’s up with Emma’s waist on that cover? I know the fur is hiding some of it, but it looks hideously thin compared to her bust. Weird.

Anyway, this is much more like what I was hoping for when Fraction came on board the X-Men express. Brubaker isn’t even credited in this issue, so perhaps he’s completely off the book? Either way, Fraction isn’t quite back to form totally, but this is much better than the previous arc. Does Dodson make that much of a difference? Maybe.

Fraction almost completely ditches the annoying identifying(...)

pimg src="http://t37.net/files/categorie-revue-de-presse.png" alt="revue de presse" class="alignleft" /emLes revues de presse mettent chaque vendredi en lumière les 3 meilleurs articles sur lesquels a porté ma veille quotidienne. Ils peuvent être récents, ou particulièrement vieux, et rentrent dans cette catégorie pour leur qualité ou leur intérêt. N’hésitez-pas à proposer les vôtres./em/p pAprès 15 jours d#8217;absence pour cause de travail intensif, week-end trop chargé et de calendrier à faire pâlir un ministre sarkozien emmade in France qui se lève tôt/em, la revue de presse est enfin de retour. Au programme cette semaine nous verrons quelques conseils pour écrire sur le web sans perdre ses lecteurs ; nous continuerons avec quelques qconseils à un ami qui voudrait se mettre à eml#8217;entreprise 2.0/em/q, avant de voir comment concevoir des sites permettant aux dyslexiques d#8217;avoir more fnu./p h4a href="http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2008/11/19/copywriting-tip-make-your-point-without-confusing-people/"Exposez votre point de vue sans égarer vos lecteurs/a, Dina Giolitto/h4 pSe faire comprendre de ses interlocuteurs, tous ses interlocuteurs, nonobstant leur niveau de connaissance n#8217;est pas toujours facile en soi. Cela devient même une véritable gageure quand on s#8217;attaque à la vulgarisation de données très pointus ou à des domaines relativement spécifiques. Dina Giolitto à qui l#8217;on doit déjà d#8217;autres articles cités dans cette a href="http://t37.net/category/revue-de-presse/"revue de presse/a s#8217;attaque au problème, et a réuni quelques bonnes pratiques à mettre en oeuvre dans le but de mieux faire passer le message en facilitant la compréhension du lectorat :/p ol liSoyez clair./li liÉvitez le vocabulaire technique./li liAllez droit au but./li liNe vous égarez pas et restez pertinent./li liCiblez vos destinataires./li liFaites que l#8217;on retienne ce que vous venez de dire./li /ol pCe que j#8217;aime bien avec Dina, c#8217;est qu#8217;elle va à l#8217;essentiel, et met généralement ses conseils en application dans ses billets. Elle n#8217;hésite pas à aborder l#8217;écriture sur le web sur un mode micro et macro à la fois, et c#8217;est ce qu#8217;elle fait encore une fois dans cet article./p h4a href="http://www.duperrin.com/2008/11/01/11-conseils-a-un-ami-qui-voudrait-se-mettre-a-lentreprise-20/"11 conseils à un ami qui voudrait se mettre à l#8217;entreprise 2.0/a, Bertrand Duperrin/h4 pBien que j#8217;entende déjà déjà des gens s#8217;écrier qbingo !/q dans la salle au simple terme d#8217;ementreprise 2.0/em, j#8217;ai tout de même à coeur d#8217;expliquer ce que c#8217;est. Bertrand me corrigera si besoin. L#8217;entreprise 2.0 est la mutation des méthodes de management, d#8217;une gestion verticale dans laquelle tout vient d#8217;en haut – emtop down management/em – vers un mode de gestion dans lequel l#8217;initiative vient strongégalement/strong de la base – on parle alors de embottom up/em – articulée autour de la mise en place d#8217;outils collaboratifs. Il s#8217;agit donc moins de l#8217;introduction du web social dans l#8217;entreprise que d#8217;un changement de nos manières de travailler./p pBertrand réunit dans ce billet 11 conseils #8220;à un ami#8221; qui voudrait lancer le processus de transition vers le management 2.0, afin d#8217;éviter les écueils des chimères d#8217;un buzzword déjà galvaudé./p ol liPense entreprise au lieu de penser 2.0 et surtout ne te trompe pas de projet.br / Autrement dit, qget real or go home/q/li liDéresponsabilise tes équipes./li liNe rend pas tes collaborateurs schizophrènes./li liApprenez le solfège avant de faire un bÅ“uf./li liCherche la valeur dans le travail et pas ailleurs.br /Travailler plus pour plus de ROI ?/li liAffiche les gains, même les plus petits en permanence./li liSoit clair et terre à terre.br /Au risque de me répéter, qget real or go home/q./li liNe te prend pas pour le chef./li liCherche à travailler horizontalement plutôt que verticalement./li liLaisse quand même une petite chance au hasard./li liIRL avant tout !br /qGet real or go home/q, t#8217;as pas encore compris ?/li /ol h4a href="http://accessites.org/site/2006/10/designing-for-dyslexics-part-1-of-3/"Design de sites web pour les dyslexiques/a, Mel Pedley/h4 pSi les mal et non voyants font souvent bonne presse dans les articles sur l#8217;accessibilité – et pour cause, le matériel qu#8217;ils utilisent et les solutions pour leur rendre les sites accessibles sont les plus emvoyants/em – on oublie un peu trop souvent les handicaps cognitifs au sein desquels la dyslexie tient une place non négligeable./p pDans une série de trois articles un peu anciens et pourtant toujours d#8217;actualité, Mel Pedley nous dévoile tout ce dont nous avons besoin de savoir afin de concevoir et développer des sites accessibles aux dyslexiques. a href="http://accessites.org/site/2006/10/designing-for-dyslexics-part-1-of-3/"Le premier volet/a traite de la dyslexie en elle même : qui, quoi et combien. a href="http://accessites.org/site/2006/11/designing-for-dyslexics-part-2-of-3/"Le second/a aborde les problématiques de background et de contraste entre fond et police, lesquels ne s#8217;appliquent visiblement pas uniquement aux déficients visuels. Enfin, a href="http://accessites.org/site/2006/11/designing-for-dyslexics-part-3-of-3/"le troisième/a adresse plus précisément les problématiques de la mise en forme de l#8217;écriture sur le web : polices, hauteur de ligne, utilisation des fonts#8230; sont passés au crible de l#8217;expérience de l#8217;auteur./p pAvec environ 10% de la population atteinte par la dyslexie de manière plus ou moins grave, la dyslexie représente une part importante des visiteurs d#8217;un site web. Si pour une fois, les amélioration apportées en termes d#8217;accessibilité n#8217;apportent pas grand chose au niveau du référencement naturel, et pour cause, elles peuvent en revanche apporter un sérieux plus au niveau du taux de transformation, et ce seul élément ne doit pas être négligé./p pEt voilà, c#8217;est tout pour ce soir, pour une fois que je rends cette revue de presse dans les temps, je vais m#8217;autoriser une bonne nuit de sommeil./phr /psmallArticle original écrit par Frédéric de Villamil et publié sur a href='http://t37.net'Ergonomie, Rails et Architecture de l'information web (2.0)/a | a href='http://t37.net/revue-de-presse-du-vendredi-21-novembre-2008'lien direct vers cet article/a | Si vous lisez cet article ailleurs que sur a href='http://t37.net'Ergonomie, Rails et Architecture de l'information web (2.0)/a, c'est qu'il a été reproduit illégalement et sans autorisation./small/p pa href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/FredericDeVillamilcom?a=64cNTN"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/FredericDeVillamilcom?i=64cNTN" border="0"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FredericDeVillamilcom?a=CJwuN"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FredericDeVillamilcom?i=CJwuN" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FredericDeVillamilcom?a=ekgWN"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FredericDeVillamilcom?i=ekgWN" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FredericDeVillamilcom?a=Yz8DN"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FredericDeVillamilcom?i=Yz8DN" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FredericDeVillamilcom?a=90q7N"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/FredericDeVillamilcom?i=90q7N" border="0"/img/a /div

p For those who like their PL History presented in avante guard beat poetry, a video of Steele amp; Gabriel's a href='http://blog.jaoo.dk/2008/11/21/art-and-code-obscure-or-beautiful-code/'50 in 50/a speech at JAOO is made to order. Or as the link says:/p blockquote p A fun, artistic and enlightning presentation full of interesting facts - and who better to do it than Richard P. Gabriel and Guy L. Steele (the great Quux). Nothing more to say than the rallying cry; More cowbell!/p/blockquote p Passing aside the Stephen Wright comic delivery of the two speakers, there are a lot of interesting thoughts, though very few are dwelled on. I think the most interesting things were the languages that they chose as expositions for the major ideas that they covered. Here's the ones that I picked out (though I ended up with only 49):/p blockquote table border='2'tr valign='top'td nowrapb Do Loops/b/tdtd Fortran (Pascal,APL)/tdtd nowrapb Guarded Commands/b/tdtd Algol-68/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Array Origin/b/tdtd C, Fortan, Pascal, APL/tdtd nowrapb Extensible Language/b/tdtd PPL/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Domain Specific Language/b/tdtd APT/tdtd nowrapb Structured Programming/b/tdtd BLISS, INTERCAL/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Text vs. Environment/b/tdtd Algol-60, Lisp, Smalltalk/tdtd nowrapb Language as Educational Tool/b/tdtd Logo/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Stack Machines/b/tdtd Befunge (SECD Machine, Forth)/tdtd nowrapb Formal Dynamic Semantics/b/tdtd SECD/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Data Parallelism/b/tdtd APL/tdtd nowrapb Enumerated Types/b/tdtd Pascal/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Coercion/b/tdtd PL/I (Fortran-V)/tdtd nowrapb Backtracking and Theorem Proving/b/tdtd Conniver (Prolog)/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Hierarchical Records/b/tdtd COBOL/tdtd nowrapb Argument Handling/b/tdtd Common Lisp, Ada, Python (VB, C#, Suneido, PL/pgSQ)/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Pointers amp; Lists/b/tdtd IPL-V/tdtd nowrapb Coding in Natural Language/b/tdtd Perligata (COBOL, Hypercard)/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Parsing/b/tdtd Yacc (LR1, Recursive Descent)/tdtd nowrapb Computational Drama/b/tdtd Shakespeare/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Linked Records/b/tdtd AED/tdtd nowrapb Reasoning/b/tdtd Prolog/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Mathematical Syntax/b/tdtd MADCAP, MIRFAC, Kleerer-May System/tdtd nowrapb Type Declarators/b/tdtd C/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Line Numbers/b/tdtd Basic (Focal, APL)/tdtd nowrapb Data Abstraction/b/tdtd CLU, Alphard/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Visual Languages/b/tdtd Piet/tdtd nowrapb Dynamic vs. Lexical Scoping/b/tdtd Scheme/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Pattern Matching amp; Replacement/b/tdtd COMIT, SNOBOL/tdtd nowrapb Knowledge Representation/b/tdtd KRL (Conniver, Microplanner)/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Branding/b/tdtd Ada (COMIT, SNOBOL, TRAC)/tdtd nowrapb Stream Processing/b/tdtd Lucid/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Dynamic Languages/b/tdtd AMBIT/L/tdtd nowrapb Generic Functions/b/tdtd Lisp/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Program as Data/b/tdtd Lisp/tdtd nowrapb Reflection/b/tdtd Lisp/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Macro Processor/b/tdtd TRAC, ML/I, Limp, M4/tdtd nowrapb Metacircular Interpreters/b/tdtd Lisp/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Call By Name vs. Call By Value/b/tdtd C, Algol-60/tdtd nowrapb Functional Programming/b/tdtd KRC/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Dangling Else/b/tdtd Algol-60/tdtd nowrapb Control Parallelism/b/tdtd Occam/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Formal Static Semantics/b/tdtd Algol-68/tdtd nowrapb Domain Specific Languages/b/tdtd HQ9+, MUMBLE/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Algebraic Formula Manipulation/b/tdtd Formac (Macsyma, Mathematica)/tdtd nowrapb Build Languages/b/tdtd Make, Ant, Rake (JCL)/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Message Passing/b/tdtd Smalltalk (C++, C#, Java, Flavors, Common Loops, CLOS, Scheme, Dylan, Simula, Self)/tdtd nowrapb Scripting/b/tdtd Perl/td/trtr valign='top'td nowrapb Objects/b/tdtd Simula (Smalltalk, C++, Java)/tdtd nowrapb /b/tdtd /td/tr/table/blockquote

I had to hold this back until Friday, because you will need some time to read Steve Yegge talking about his new project Ejacs:

Ejacs is an Ecma-262 compliant JavaScript interpreter written entirely in Emacs Lisp. It should work in GNU Emacs versions 22 and higher.

The parser and evaluator are ports of Brendan Eich’s Narcissus (JavaScript in JavaScript). The runtime is my own implementation, with a few exceptions (notably the regular expression engine) that are ports of Mozilla Rhino code.

The post is true Steve-y. He rambles and loops in the way that Billy Connolly does in a standup routine, somehow managing to hold on to enough string to get his way back. Take some time to read the beast in full, but here is my translation:

• Steve talks about playing guitar
• He then mentions Ejacs
• He talks about Narcissus the cheater
• Reading the ECMA-262 specification is a lot of fun
• Holy crap he had to learn a lot of elisp
• Emacs has arbitrary-precision mathematics, deep Unicode support, rich Date and Calendar support, and an extensive, fairly complete operating system interface.
• All that for a “text editor” huh. Oh, it is a platform.
• js2-mode came first
• Rewrite it by porting Mozilla Rhino’s parser, which is (only) about 2500 lines of Java code. Ejacs is something like 12,000 lines of Emacs-Lisp code, all told, so that didn’t seem like a big deal.
• JavaScript is better than elisp? Blashphemous
• Problem #1: Momentum
• Problem #2: No encapsulation
• Problem #3: No delegation
• Problem #4: Properties
• Problem #5: No polymorphic toString
• Emacs advantages: Macros and S-expressions
• That said, I suspect I would probably prefer Clojure over Rhino, if I ever get a chance to sit down with the durn thing and use it, so it’s not so much “JavaScript vs. Lisp” as it is vs. Emacs Lisp.

Mais quelles macros!!!

"Seigneur faites que j'atteigne ce niveau un jour .... "
Je suis restée scotchée pendant plus d une demie heure sur ce site..

C'est en russe (je comprend rien) mais les photos...........


PAR ICI LES AMIS

pimg src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/11/macgyver.jpg" width="500" height="312" style="display:block;" /The ubiquity of iPods has led to a ridiculous glut of accessories, some useful, most not. The best of them have essentially become a seamless part of the iPod experience, but they'll all cost you mdash; and it really starts to add up. The expansion of the iPod universe, however, is twofold; more official products are followed closely by nearly as many unofficial ones. In other words, you can fully accessorize your iPod or iPhone, old or new, pretty much for free./p pstrongCases/strongbr img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/11/podcases.jpg" width="494" height="150" style="display:block;" /A case will usually be the first thing people buy for their pods, and the first thing they'll lose. Luckily, they're just about the easiest thing to replace yourself. The most obvious solution is a a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Gadget-Sock-Case!/"custom-tailored sock/a, chosen to suit your taste in color and aroma and fitted to suit your choice in iPod. For a more refined look, sewing together some inner tube and suede will make for a a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Bicycle_Innertube_iPod_Case/"stylish pouch/a, while utilitarians can opt for the quick, versatile a href="http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/05/how_to_make_an_.html"rubber-only approach/a. If you're emjust too quirky/em for a regular case, the venerable a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Making_an_Altoids_iPod_Case/"Altoid Nano case/a might get the attention you crave, while the legitimately natty a href="http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2007/02/ipod_case_from_old_45_records.html"cut-up record sleeve case/a will do the job just as well, if not better./p pstrongSpeakers/strongbr img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/11/podspeaks.jpg" width="494" height="150" style="display:block;" /If you're handy with a soldering iron and have some old audio equipment lying around, there's no reason to dump dollars on a full-fledged iPod speaker dock when you can just a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Good_quality_iPodiPhone_speaker/"build one yourself/a. Construction homemade unamplified speakers mdash; which sound surprisingly good mdash; is much less of an ordeal. a href="http://gizmodo.com/5088521/plastic-cup-and-toothpick-speakers-take-lo+fi-to-new-heights"Disposable cups/a and a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Low-cost-everywhere-portable-Speakers-for-every-MP/"sheets of printer paper/a make great little megaphones for your earbuds, and lend themselves well to mounting as a part of a kid-friendly a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade_iPod_Speakers/"makeshift home stereo/a./p pstrongDocks and Stands/strongbr img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/11/podstands.jpg" width="494" height="150" style="display:block;" /Apple gives iPod/iPhone buyers just about everything they need to throw together a huge variety of charging and sync docks mdash; even the commercial ones are pretty much just the sync wire with some plastic trim. This hack starts small: fantastic iPhone and iPod Touch docks can be made with nothi