Author Archives: MXH

Six Word Stories: The Skull

Posted on February 5, 2011 by MXH

Smiling, Conger awaited a death foreordained. Editorial note: The last line of a Philip K. Dick short story. Opaque out of context, but still evocative, I think.

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Bad Word: Trial

Posted on February 4, 2011 by MXH

Here’s a brief, non-technical, but practical pointer for the iPhone developer: Don’t use the word “trial” to describe your freemium app. It’s perfectly ok to deploy a freemium model (give away a limited application with unlockable-for-a-fee upgrades) and it’s perfectly … Continue reading →

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You Can’t Save

Posted on February 3, 2011 by MXH

Let me advance a heterodox idea: You can’t save. More precisely, you can’t provide for tomorrow’s consumption today with nearly as much certainty as you think you can. Most of what we consider “saving” is really just a hash of … Continue reading →

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Supercharger

Posted on February 2, 2011 by MXH

Editorial note: This is a little story from my past. It has no great significance, I just find it amusing. My first car was a 1984 Mustang. It was a serviceable enough car as the factory had built it, but … Continue reading →

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Six Word Stories: Probability

Posted on February 1, 2011 by MXH

“We know he’s cheating; He’s winning!”

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OpenGL ES Introduction

Posted on January 31, 2011 by MXH

The “OpenGL ES Application” template in Xcode is quite illuminating. You can generate it from the Xcode menu: “File” -> “New Project” -> “OpenGL ES Application”. It will build and run as is, and draw an oscillating colored square in … Continue reading →

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FOTY 1970: Benvenuti / Monzon

Posted on January 30, 2011 by MXH

This is the first in an occasional series of posts looking back at the Ring Magazine Fights of the Year from 1970 to 2009. In 1970, Nino Benvenuti defended his unified (WBC & WBA) Middleweight championship against Carlos Monzon, then … Continue reading →

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Six Word Stories: Psychic

Posted on January 29, 2011 by MXH

“I’m psychic.” “How’d you know what …”

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Quickie: viewWillAppear / viewWillDisappear

Posted on January 28, 2011 by MXH

A reader writes: When calling dismissModalViewControllerAnimated: in 4.2, the viewWillAppear method of the view about to appear will fire before the viewWillDisappear method of the view you are dismissing. He’s right. In fact, I’ve tested this back to iOS 3.1.3 … Continue reading →

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Filibuster Denouement

Posted on January 27, 2011 by MXH

Three weeks ago, I wrote that I would be “astonished” if the Senate acted to weaken the filibuster in the current congress. And, in fact, we see that the Senate “voted overwhelmingly … to reject efforts to change its rules … Continue reading →

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