I have tried every Adobe Air twitter client out there, and I must say that I will be using this as it will only get better over time. Toro lacks some basic features, but I feel that is because it is so new. The layout is much nicer and cleaner than all twitter clients I have seen. Toro uses tabs that gives it a simple layout, and get the job done. Toro is also unbelievable fast and responsive to user input.

I feel Toro does exactly what a twitter client should do. Be non intrusive, simple to use, and able to send messages in seconds. This is a great example of K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid)

Code and Coffee is brought to you by the fine products of BlueCrestStudios.

Disclaimer: Rob is a friend a co-worker.

Code and Coffee is brought to you by the fine products of BlueCrestStudios.

These commercials are not to compete head to head with the Mac and PC guy commercials from Apple, these commercials are not even to necessarily sell copies of Vista. These commercials are to get Microsoft into the headlines, onto television sets of Americans, and become more of a household name with the younger generation like Apple has become. And what is the best way to do that? HUMOR! Take a look at most every Super Bowl commercial. They are funny, and half the time you do not even know what they are selling, but people naturally remember something and want to see it again and again when it is funny. That is the point of these commercials, to make you laugh. Seinfeld had, arguably, one of the most popular and most successful television show of our time. He is funny, he is still funny. No he is not? Have you gone to see him perform lately, or are you just judging from some of the more commercial things he has done like that movie about a bee?

Apple fans, congratulations. Apple is a serious threat to Microsoft now. Apple has done revolutionary things with the music, telecommunications, and desktop industries. I have the up most respect for that. But please, please, don’t hate just to hate, and stop comparing everything your enemy does to your side of the border. This is the first step Microsoft has taken in a long time to show that it is human, and the commercials are funny! On top of it, it’s working, Microsoft is getting so much press over these spots and no press is bad press. Lastly, yes OS X is taking more and more strides inwards and grabbing more and more of the market. However, Microsoft still owns most of it. So again, Microsoft is not trying to be Apple.

P.S. Before the emails flood in. I am not an Apple hater. I myself have been toying with the idea of making the switch from time to time. I am very much interested in starting to develop for OS X and the iPhone. So I am not here to get into any arguments with Apple fanboys.

Code and Coffee is brought to you by the fine products of BlueCrestStudios.

First I have been very fond of the whole life streaming movement that has been happening. Friendfeed does this very nicely, and many use it. I have implemented my own life stream here on Code and Coffee, but still keeping the blog very much in place. The next couple months are going to be really busy for me. There is a lot going on at work, and I know that I will not be able to contribute as much to Code and Coffee. The contributions I do make will be more in depth articles, much like it was when I started this blog three years ago.

Second you will also notice the advertisements are gone. I was keeping with my word on removing those one my last payment came from Google. The only reason I ever put up ads on this blog was to research Adwords and Adsense for a project I was doing. It was never my intention to use Code and Coffee for profit, therefore the ads have been removed. Yes, I am still pimping our software over at BlueCrestStudios, no these are not so much advertisements as link love.

Lastly I have been feeling very overwhelmed with the number of web services that I signed up for and rely on. Feedburner, Friendfeed, Plurk, Brightkite, and more. I am starting to narrow these down to ones that I absolutely cannot live without. So far Feedburner and Friendfeed got cut. I have tried to make it so all of my feeds will not be interrupted, but if for some reason you are please subscribe again.

That’s all for now, back to work. We will talk shortly.

Code and Coffee is brought to you by the fine products of BlueCrestStudios.

Code and Coffee is brought to you by the fine products of BlueCrestStudios.

Code and Coffee is brought to you by the fine products of BlueCrestStudios.

It’s always difficult with blogs because whenever you see a post dry spell you start to wonder if the blog has gone under, and then your lose some subscribers. Rest-assure that Code and Coffee is not going anywhere, just me, and just for a little while. I will be back, more focused than ever, and ready to crank out some cool things to end out the year.

Code and Coffee is brought to you by the fine products of BlueCrestStudios.

Instead of just displaying the standard 404 message, Google gives you some code to insert that will display more useful information including potential matches to the page the user was looking for. Below is a demo screen shot of an enhanced 404 page.

Code and Coffee is brought to you by the fine products of BlueCrestStudios.

It’s a tool we’ve been working on to jailbreak a phone more quickly and easily, without requiring a full restore. Unless you are making a custom firmware with specific features, there is nothing inherent in the pwnage process that requires a restore, and we have been planning this tool for some time. It’s more convenient because you do not need to make a full IPSW and use iTunes with it, but your phone still ends up pwned and jailbroken.

In an attempt to be more open about our development process, we’re releasing a beta version of quickpwn, for Windows only. Other platforms are coming soon.

What you’re getting here is a development version (mostly feature complete) of an upcoming tool that we see as a complement to our current PwnageTool. It’s not ready for everyone just yet, but with a bit of expertise, it should work nicely for those of you adventurous enough to try it.

Currently QuickPwn requires your device to be running version 2.0.1 of the iPhone/iPod firmware. This requirement will change in a subsequent release.

Remember that although this is a development release, jailbreaking only deals with the S5L (application processor) side of the device, so it’s impossible for this to permanently damage your device.

This tool and technique has been available to the iPhone research and hacking community for about 5 days now (if you looked hard enough) and now that we have released it properly,  we are sure you’ll see all sorts of tools popping back up that have, erm„ been on a long hiatusÂ

Code and Coffee is brought to you by the fine products of BlueCrestStudios.

As a developer it is hard to walk away. You never want to leave your code in a state where it doesn’t compile, or is not working. Of course this happens more times than not. It goes back to the old saying “this will take five minutes”. By now we should all know that nothing takes five minutes. It sounds like a cheesy inspirational poster but there is so much happening outside of your computer. I work at home, so on very busy days it can be 4:00 in the afternoon and I have not had a chance to walk around outside. On the other hand, I get the luxury of taking my laptop out on the patio, to a local coffee shop, or where ever I wish to work for the day. I have started to take evenings and weekends for myself, with the exception of a few here and there when there are deadlines. I have forced myself to turn off the computer at the end of the day, and every Friday. This way I am less likely to turn it on for that one quick thing that will snow ball into two or three hours.

Cell phones are something I have not mastered yet. Cell phones are no longer just cell phones, they are very portable computers. Email, text messaging, Twitter; again constant communication. I have always been known to have my cell phone on me. I run a small business, and the point of contact for emergencies. However I have also learned this is not the healthiest thing, for me or the business. If I cannot delegate that responsibility to someone else, then the business is weaker. There is now a single point of failure. As for me, well it’s not fair to myself, those around me, and especially my significant other. That time together is extremely valuable, and there is nothing that should be important enough, work related, that should be able to interrupt that. If you cannot get 100%, truly uninterrupted time off from work, then the company is not doing its job and the system is broken. Think about it: we work to be able to provide and enjoy life. If we cannot enjoy life, what the hell are you busting your ass for every day? Working hard makes you value your time off, and your time off makes you value your job.
I am going to be out of the country for a week at the end of the month. I am bringing my cell phone for emergencies, like we miss a flight or something. Once we get to our destination, it’s being turned off. Not only because the rates are going to cost an arm and a leg, but because I and more importantly the people I am travelling with deserve that time uninterrupted. I have not had a true vacation in a long time, and if my work is going to fall apart while I am gone then something went wrong long before now and there is nothing I can do so I might as well enjoy my time.

There are obsessions, and then there are healthy obsessions. My only fear with technology is making life obsolete. A fear where my sons or grandsons will never know the joy of reading a physical book, rather obtain that knowledge in digital format. Or never know what it is like to see the world first hand, instead of just virtually.

So in all my rambling here I hope you pulled something. I challenge you to go take a walk without your cell phone or iPod or any other digital device. Turn off the distractions when you are at dinner later tonight with your family. Nothing is as important as those who are around you. Another summer is yet again almost over. Learn to walk away.

Code and Coffee is brought to you by the fine products of BlueCrestStudios.