Quick iPhone debugging tip

Using gdb while debugging an iPhone application, you might, while trying to dereference self (a method's reference to its instance) come upon the following lovely error:

"no symbol 'self' in current context"

This is because the optimiser is eating self. Surprisingly, iPhone SDK debug builds by default use the -Os optimisation level. It's easily fixed; just right-click and click Get Info on the project, go to build settings, and search for 'optimize'. Set it to no optimization.

So, easy enough to fix, but a little bit unexpected...

Odd iPhone issue

So, yesterday my iPhone stopped vibrating. Still dead this morning. I was upgrading to 3.1.3 anyway; I'm writing an application for the iPhone, and they prefer that you test on the latest version. So, I did that. Full reboot with the operating system update... No vibrate. Just now... it vibrated, and now the vibration seems to be working again normally.

The strangest thing; exactly the same thing happened about six months ago. I can't figure out if it's an intermittent hardware fault, or some bizarre software thing.

Apple, just on time!

So, last night I renewed my iPhone developer programme membership; I'm in the progress of putting together an iPhone application in my spare time, so would like to be able to publish it. Might take a look at the fancy new NDA-ridden iPad SDK, too. Anyway, the Apple website said it would take up to 24 hours.

My re-activation code just showed up by email half an hour ago; that is, 23 hours and 30 minutes after I renewed. Cutting it fine, Apple...

The registration process, by the way, is a strange, needlessly-convoluted thing. The membership appears in your purchased items as a software download with no actual download attached, and you are emailed to say it has been delivered. Then, some hours after you get an email from Apple with your actual activation code. A quick Google shows that I'm not the only person a little puzzled by this.

Facebook advertising gets creepily targeted

Facebook knows that I am not just a homosexual, but a rather nerdy, lonely homosexual, it seems.

(Edit: No, I didn't click on any of them...)

Well-known Adobe blogger person is less than perfectly complimentary about Flash!

I'm pretty sure that this is the web-design equivalent of Khrushchev's Secret Speech.

Expect an imminent rising in whatever the Adobe equivalent of Georgia is; probably Shockwave Director, or something.

Unspeakable horrors

A Google ad, seen in my GMail:

They're giving away 500 euro worth of hair! I wonder how much that is; half a tonne? Does hair have a market value? What's it used for?

Probably best not ask, really.

History, through blogs

John Gruber writing in 2006:

Let’s say that Microsoft puts together a miraculous fourth-quarter comeback and that Windows Vista rocks. Not just rocks compared to the way it currently appears as though Vista is actually going to turn out, but rocks, period. As in looks better than Mac OS X. More elegant than Mac OS X. Noticeably faster and snappier than Mac OS X. (That one’s actually quite likely.)

(Emphasis mine.)

Ahahaha. And yet, at the time, it must have seemed reasonable enough.

Won't it be interesting for people two or three centuries down the line, looking back through creaky Blogger archives at the opinions of the inhabitants of the early 21st century? Assuming that someone manages to preserve it, for the first time historians will have the testimony and opinions of millions of people from the era under consideration, not just about operating system wars, but about the important stuff...

Steorn's mailing list turned over to spammers?

Remember Steorn? Yes, that Steorn. The perpetual energy people. They recently made a bit of a comeback, and have been demonstrating their... device in Dublin. I was subscribed to their mailing list to watch a trainwreck in progress.

So, I just got this mail:

And, at the same time, this mail:

And a few minutes afterwards, THIS mail:

DriveSafe.ly appears to be a mobile phone app which reads out text messages.

Now. I am, for the moment, going to be charitable, and assume that Steorn are merely grossly incompetent, and have accidentally opened their mailing list to all comers. I am going to entertain the notion, for now, that it is possible that the whole 'free energy' thing was not merely an attempt to gather email addresses for spamming purposes; I'm sure they got quite a lot of addresses from people who are fascinated with the ridiculous thing, and perhaps even some true believers.

But they had better clarify their position pretty damn soon.

Update - Just got this:

It looks like they may have fucked up their mailing list. This is a relief; I would hate to think that an organisation which publicised itself by talking about how it was going to provide rural Africans with free water pumps based on its magic technology was just a front for spammers.

Ever wanted to edit a spreadsheet on your telephone?

Well, Google Docs has you covered:

I can't imagine anyone actually using this, though...

There will be NO mobile editing of Google Docs wordprocessor documents, however. You can view them, but that's it.

Brand History

I couldn't resist.

Also, image editors are hard. People who are good at this stuff make it look so easy...