Neo4j open source NoSQL graph database

http://neo4j.org/

Neo4j is a graph database. It is an embedded, disk-based, fully transactional Java persistence engine that stores data structured in graphs rather than in tables. A graph (mathematical lingo for a network) is a flexible data structure that allows a more agile and rapid style of development.

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Snazzy Hover Effects Using CSS

http://sixrevisions.com/css/snazzy-hover-effects-using-css/

> In this tutorial, I will be going over creating flexible advanced hover techniques using CSS2.1 properties.

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Introducing Cascalog: a Clojure-based query language for Hadoop

http://nathanmarz.com/blog/introducing-cascalog/

Cascalog is a Clojure-based query language for Hadoop inspired by Datalog.

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A Dismal Guide to Concurrency

http://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/a-dismal-guide-to-concurrency/379717628919

We're going through an inversion of scale in computing which is making parallelism and concurrency much more important. Single computers are no longer fast enough to handle the amounts of data we want to process. Even within one computer the relative speeds of processors, memory, storage, and network have diverged so much that they often spend more time waiting for data than doing things with it. The processor (and by extension, any program we write) is no longer a Wizard of Oz kind of character, sole arbiter of truth, at the center of everything.

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The Adobe - Apple Flame War

Jean-Louis Gassée explains why Apple is doing what they're doing.

http://www.mondaynote.com/2010/04/11/the-adobe-apple-flame-war/

> Who, in his right mind, expects Steve Jobs to let Adobe (and other) cross-platform application development tools control his (I mean the iPhone OS) future? Cross-platform tools dangle the old “write once, run everywhere” promise. But, by being cross-platform, they don’t use, they erase “uncommon” features. To Apple, this is anathema as it wants apps developers to use, to promote its differentiation. It’s that simple. Losing differentiation is death by low margins. It’s that simple. It’s business. Apple is right to keep control of its platform’s future.

I agree with the analysis as far as it goes. The real question is: Will they get away with it? In the short-term, I think yes. There's a gold rush and developers want to be a part of it. As the mobile computing market leader, Apple gets to call the shots. In essence, Jobs wants to keep the iPhone OS developers on the plantation. As long as developers take advantage of Apple-only technology, everyone will keep buying from Apple. Cupertino's underlying fear is that iPhone OS developers might become successful enough to establish their own brands, which would allow them to take customers to other mobile computing platforms with ports of hit applications on Android and other devices. At that point, consumers will be looking for the cheapest platform for those top apps, and commodity pricing is not Apple's game.

Apple's bet is that they can ride the wave long enough to grab a lot of money out of mobile computing before it becomes commoditized. Adobe wants to be the gatekeeper for fancy web apps. They won last decade's war, but they're in bad shape for the next one. Google wants to commoditize mobile computing -- history is on their side in the long run, but for the near term, it's Apple's game.

I also think that Jobs really isn't worried about developers abandoning the iPhone. He's confident that Apple can supply all the software he needs to succeed with the iPhone and iPad. (It's not necessary to beat everyone to be a big success.) He's thinking more like a game console vendor rather than a PC manufacturer. The game developers are used to jumping through hoops to deliver on a specific platform. They'll play by Apple's rules as long as there's money in it. It's nice to have the traditional software developers on the platform, but they're not driving this market.

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Java 1.7 - What's new? Release date, code examples and performance

Scheduled for September 2010.  So maybe, next year sometime :-)

http://inebium.com/post/java-7-new-release-performance-code

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Daring Fireball: New iPhone Developer Agreement Bans the Use of Adobe's Flash-to-iPhone Compiler

Apple's lawyers have gone crazy!

http://daringfireball.net/2010/04/iphone_agreement_bans_flash_compiler

> In the new version of the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement released by Apple today (and which developers must agree to before downloading the 4.0 SDK beta), section 3.3.1 now reads:
>>> 3.3.1 — Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).
>> My reading of this new language is that cross-compilers, such as theFlash-to-iPhone compiler in Adobe’s upcoming Flash Professional CS5 release, are prohibited. This also bans apps compiled using MonoTouch — a tool that compiles C# and .NET apps to the iPhone. It’s unclear what this means for tools like Titanium and PhoneGap, which let developers write JavaScript code that runs in WebKit inside a native iPhone app wrapper. They might be OK. This tweet from the PhoneGap Twitter accountsuggests they’re not worried. The folks at Appcelerator realize, though, that they might be out of bounds with Titanium. Ansca’s Corona SDK, which lets you write iPhone apps using Lua, strikes me as out of bounds.
>> I originally thought this would ban games written using Unity3D, but perhaps not — Unity3D produces a complete Xcode project and Objective-C source files, so it’s more like a pre-processor than a cross-compiler. Hard to tell. If you forced me to bet, though, the fact that developers are writing C# code puts Unity3D on the wrong side of this rule.

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Asteroids Game in HTML5

Works in Chrome and Safari.

http://www.chromeexperiments.com/detail/asteroids-game/

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Mom wins the Egg War

Here is the champion egg from Easter Sunday. (Photo credit: Carolyn.)

For those of you who don't know about the Egg War, it is a family tradition in the McCarthy clan, brought to America many years ago by my great-grandfather. Everyone starts with an Easter Egg. Last year's champion makes the first challenge. The challenged contestant holds his egg with one end exposed while the current winner taps it with his egg. The one that cracks is the loser. The winner makes the next challenge. Each egg has two ends so it's basically a double elimination challenge system. (Sometimes we all start with two eggs.) The champion is the final player with an uncracked end.

Grandpa McCarthy sometimes would cheat by moving his thumb over the top of his egg at the last instant. This is explicitly disallowed by the rules, but sometimes tolerated when a youngster seems to be winning.

Congratulations to Mom for winning.

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Google Translate for Animals

I've been beta-testing this with Cleo (our Great Dane), and I have to admit, I'm very impressed:

http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/landing/translateforanimals/

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