I had a pretty simple task I wanted to accomplish: Take a text file and randomly shuffle all the lines in it. This was to be used to shuffle a video playlist on my main system because my video player software was crap and didn't remember its shuffle settings. I decided to put my JavaScript skills to use and learn how to do this via Windows Scripting. Read the rest of this entry ...
XML-based declarative user interface languages are becoming all the rage right now. While the ability to declare a GUI using a descriptive language is nothing new (I believe software for X-Windows/Motif widgets has been around for awhile), we are seeing this renewed focus due to several factors: 1) maturity of XML technologies on the web, 2) the rising popularity of Mozilla's Firefox browser, 3) next release of Windows (Longhorn) and 4) new web applications that provide an enhanced user experience over traditional web experiences (for example Gmail, Google Maps, Flickr). Read the rest of this entry ...
Seth MacFarlane's new animated TV show "American Dad" premiered tonight and it was god awful. It felt like a re-tread of an old Simpson's episode combined with a rip-off of The Family Guy. But it was missing the heart and likeable characters of The Simpsons and it was missing the abrupt and sometimes hilarious segues of The Family Guy. Instead we have silly jokes about homosexuality and racism with the occasional splash of nudity or blood. Read the rest of this entry ...