Preston Lee's Blog

Author: preston.lee

  • J2ME Acronym Cheat Sheet

    Sometimes I think we’ll eventually run out of TLAs (three letter acronyms) in the Java space. Here’s a quick reference for the forgetful.. ABB (Audio Building Block) API (Application Programming Interface) BCC (Bluetooth Control Center) BPWD (W3C Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group) CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) CDC (Connect Device Configuration) CLDC (Connected, Limited Device…

  • 5 Roadblocks To Enterprise Rails Acceptance

    I love Rails for its pragmatic design and agile culture: two qualities not usually associated with the large, enterprisey systems of Fortune 500 companies. In my last formal position I was part of a small internal movement to drive the Rails train upward through the IT ranks, but the effort was met with limited success.…

  • Marvels of the Human Eye

    Being creatures limited by our instruments of perception, the behavior of the human eye and related processing systems never ceases to amaze me. Last year was particularly enlightening, as I hadn’t previously realized we effectively cannot see color in low light situations. I honestly never noticed until I woke up one morning and realized that…

  • JXTA: Not The Solution To Java Peer Discovery

    Only developers with hair should use JXTA, because those with bald or shaven heads won’t have anything to violently rip from their skulls while they develop with it. I have been, and continue to be excited by, JXTA’s potential, but have been very disappointed at the pace at which a project progresses when using it.…

  • RailsConf 2007 (USA) Registration Re-Reopened. New Track & Keynote Announced!

    I received this from O’Reilly just a couple minutes ago.. —- BEGIN EMAIL —- RailsConf 2007 May 17-20, 2007 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon http://conferences.oreilly.com/rails A fourth technical track has just been added to the RailsConf schedule. That means a limited amount of space has opened up for those folks who didn’t get a chance…

  • ReactOS v0.3.1 Parallels Image

    I couldn’t find a working Parallels image of the ReactOS v0.3.1 release after I had some issues installing it from the official ISO, so I’ve created one for you. This is a screenshot of me running FireFox on ReactOS within Parallels on a Core Duo-based MacBook Pro. Download the image for your Intel-based Mac here.

  • Why Linux Won't Rule The Desktop Any Time Soon (1 of 2)

    Before the hate mail roles in, let me say that I’m a huge advocate of open standards and general use of F/OSS. I love Linux and use it almost exclusively for all my server side applications. I’ve used Linux on desktop systems for many years, have developed with it, had jobs supporting it, built custom…

  • Fixing "wrong number of arguments" Error w/Rails 1.2.3 Upgrade

    If you’ve just upgraded your Rails gem from 1.2.2 to 1.2.3 and are getting the following error on database hits.. wrong number of arguments (1 for 0) /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-1.15.2/lib/active_record/vendor/mysql.rb:566:in `initialize’ ..note that updating RAILS_GEM_VERSION in environment.rb appears to be required. Running a 1.2.2 application on 1.2.3 (even when 1.2.2 and all dependencies installed) will yield this…

  • For Geeks w/Allergies: The Air Purifier To Buy

    I am deathly allergic to the blooms of the Sweet Acacia tree, which happens to be a popular choice of landscapers in Phoenix. I can physical sense the presence of Sweet Acacia from a good 20 meters, and the mere thought gives me a Pavlovian response. The blooms are my kryptonite. My allergies hit so…

  • Updated Google Code Prettify Bookmarklet

    My poor blogless friend Henri has made some small updates to the original Google Code Prettify JavaScript Bookmarket.