Amazon Just Doesn't Care for Content Providers

Amazon has a unique paradigm.  They create a marketplace and then invite the public to contribute content to their marketplace.  I am an Android developer (as well as an Apple developer) and I get regular emails from Amazon harassing me to upload my apps to the Amazon store.

Amazon also makes the Kindle which is a dedicated eReader.  They created a self-publishing platform where any Tom, Dick or Harry can sell their books to the public directly.  They also created a community forum for these same people to connect with one another to solve their publishing issues.

It was a masterful stroke, because with the forum, they no longer needed a support line at Amazon.  Other users would answer the questions.  It is a prime example of maximizing the profits while minimizing the expenses.

However, in the minimizing their expenses department, the forum moderators do not even visit every day.  Hence when the robo-spammers attack, the forums are filled with link farms, link spam and crap.  It takes days for the moderator (probably an intern) to notice and clean out the spam.

Amazon certainly knows how to save a buck.

As for me, I think that the reason is that Amazon knows that dedicated hardware to read books is on the way out with the new tablets coming online.  Still, they should show a measure of respect for the content providers that made them millions.

Surface Windows 8 Touchscreen -- Piece of Crap for Web Developers

We have an enterprise web app.  Every time a new version of any browser comes out, we wonder about compatibility.  Back in the early days of the web, it was a total pain in the ass to develop for IE, Netscape, Opera, Safari, FireFox and the lot.  They all had their quirks.

It seems that everyone has learned except Microsoft.  We had issues with IE 9 that we coded around.  We were compatible with IE 10 on a laptop.  But get this.  We have a simple css drop-down menu.  Here is the code:


.menu a:hover{
color:#bbbbbb;
background-color:#fff;
transition:color .3s, background .3s,-moz-box-shadow 2s, -webkit-box-shadow 2s, box-shadow 2s;
-moz-transition:color .3s, background .3s,-moz-box-shadow 2s, -webkit-box-shadow 2s, box-shadow 2s;
-webkit-transition:color .3s, background .3s,-moz-box-shadow 2s, -webkit-box-shadow 2s, box-shadow 2s;
-o-transition:color .3s, background .3s,-moz-box-shadow 2s, -webkit-box-shadow 2s, box-shadow 2s;
-moz-box-shadow:0 2px 4px #fff;
-webkit-box-shadow:0 2px 4px #fff;
box-shadow:0 2px 4px #fff;
cursor:pointer;
}

It works really well with everyone.  Even with IE 10.  Time to relax.  Not on your life.  Although it works with IE10, it doesn't work on the Surface, touch screen.  It works on a regular screen but not on the touch screen.  It is enough to make you want to pull out your hair.

Microsoft is truly dead man walking.

java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: Unsupported major.minor version 51.0

One of my programming guys was getting this error:

java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError:  Unsupported major.minor version 51.0

and Tomcat failed to start.

The message from the tomcat logs was:

SEVERE: Catalina.start: 
org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardServer[8005]]

The fix was simple.  He was compiling at JRE version 1.7 and the JRE on the server was 1.6.  This was easily fixed in Eclipse under Project Properties > Java Compiler.

Hope this helps someone.

Programmers in Paradise - iOS Apple App Programming Bootcamp

So you have always wanted to program apps for iPhone, and sell them on iTunes.  But you don't know where to begin?  What about Programmers in Paradise? 

All you have to do, is pack your bathing suit, some shorts and sandals, perhaps a snorkel and show up to an Apple iOS Programming Boot Camp in the Bahamas.  You will stay at an all inclusive, be given to keep,  a MacBook Pro and an iPad and get intensive bootcamp training and hands on instruction to develop your iPhone apps.  You will learn how to create apps in Objective C using XCode, and you will be doing it in the tropical sun.

There is even provision for extras like learning the Zen of Programming by attending a few meditations lessons at a genuine Buddhist ashram, lessons in kiteboarding and an a few snorkeling trips.

Inquiries to:  DataPrivacy@mail.com

MySQL for iOS and iOS -- Compiled Libraries

Hey.  Do you need some compiled MySQL libraries for iOS and iOX.  Karl Kraft is a frigging genius and I downloaded his source for a MySQL client.  I built it for iOS/iOX and it built first time, every time with no issues, and it worked the first time that I tried it.

If you want to save some time, or are having trouble compiling, I have loaded a zip file on fileden.com with the lib folder.  It is separated into

libmysqlclient.a for IOS

libmysqlclient.a for IOX

You can find the binaries here:
http://www.fileden.com/files/2011/6/23/3156918/lib.zip
in a zip folder.  And here is some code samples on how to use it:

http://www.karlkraft.com/index.php/2010/06/02/mysql-and-objective-c/

Good Luck.

Chrome Browser Blocker

Here is a strange one for you.  I went to isizulu.net, an African site.  The site hosts a Zulu language translator.  I had a word in Zulu that I wanted translated.  I searched for this translator online and when I clicked on it, I got the following message:  "Google Chrome not welcome.  isiZulu.net disapproves of Google because their "services" are designed to trample on privacy and monopolize the web.  Please choose a different browser vendor."

Strange.