Adobe's Air needs admin rights to install apps.  Adobe gives really lame, misguided reasons for this like "if you don't have admin rights you shouldn't be installing software."  Should Firefox stop allowing extensions to be installed if you don't have admin rights?  Java Web Start?  The multitude of apps on portableapps.com?  That's not what locking down admin rights is about; it's about protecting the computer from security threats.  Many people run without admin rights on purpose to protect their computer.Read more

Lately I've been using Flowdock for some collaborative development.  It's quite a handy tool for online collaboration.  It's sort of like Google Wave, but without some of the features and the resulting complexity that made Wave wieldy.  When you first start using it, it doesn't come off terribly useful, but it's usefulness is fully exposed over time.Read more

JSReflection is a simple pure Javascript reflection utility.  I wrote it a couple of years ago, but I finally had the time to remove some dependencies that had license requirements I wasn't happy with.  The only dependency now is jQuery.  The current version depends on jQuery 1.4.2, which is included in the JSReflection archive.

See it in action

Download JSReflection

JSReflection on Github

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I am loving keeping my Tomboy notes syncing between computers via Ubuntu One, and I just couldn't wait any longer for my Droid to have the same syncing working.  

The Tomdroid developers have been working on this, but they haven't released the updates.  So, I pulled down the source, and built the package.  I am making it available for any other brave souls that want to try it.Read more

This week the Motorola Droid launched.  I made the switch from an AT&T IPhone to the Droid on Verizon.  Like when I switched from Windows to Linux on my desktop, I go into this change fully knowing that I am giving up some things in the process.  But here's why I'm doing it anyway:    Read more

This weekend, I installed Jolicloud on Leslee's netbook.  Jolicloud is currently in private alpha.  I put in for a key quite a long time ago.  A few months ago, I finally got accepted.  But....I've been really busy with the wedding and honeymoon, so it just sat there.  Now I regret it.  Wow, Jolicloud is phenominal.Read more

I do understand why companies often prefer BSD and Apache products to the GPL.  But what I don't understand is why companies prefer proprietary over GPL.  Let me emphasize, I'm talking about a product that is not related directly to core business secrets such as content management or a database.  Read more

I've been using AirDB lately for one of my projects.  It's a nice, lightweight  Active Record implementation in ActionScript for use in Adobe Air applications.  I wanted to create a LogTarget for logging with the standard Flex logging framework (mx.logging) that was backed by a database.  Read more

I've been using Linux for six years, and I've seen the Linux desktop mature in amazing leaps and bounds.  It's maturing so fast, that in any given month, I often see maturation for core parts of the overall product. 

For some perspective, when I first started using Linux, you had to manually run a command to mount your CD.  You had to run another command to unmount the CD when you were finished with it, and a third to eject it.  In that order, exactly, or it would fail.  Often you had to reboot just to get the disk out of the tray. Read more