John Siracusa just posted his (canonical?) review of Mountain Lion to Ars Technica twenty minutes ago. Based on his past work, it’s going to be exhaustive, amazing, and well worth it for any Mac geek who wants to learn what’s different about the 10.8 release today.
Ars Technica’s Kyle Orland:
Not only does going through Microsoft Studios mean keeping your game exclusive to Xbox Live Arcade for a certain period of time after launch, but the outfit also takes an additional percentage of a game’s revenues on top of the standard cut taken for all Xbox Live Arcade titles, Carmel said. “That’s why we see savvy console developers like Supergiant [Bastion] and Klei [Shank] go through third-party publishers—those publishers get better terms from XBLA (directly) than a small developer could get from Microsoft Studios, and they can launch the game simultaneously on multiple platforms.”
Steam and iOS are clearly leading the pack here. Will the traditional consoles have a better solution for more open game distribution when the PS4/Xbox 720 are released next year? I hope so, but I have my doubts.
LiveReload is an app that does exactly what it sounds like: Apply CSS edits and image changes in your web work live; no annoying manual reloads of your web page any more. I while ago I gave an earlier version of this tool a whirl, but it was hard to set up; lots of command line calls and Ruby gems.
Not anymore – one $10 Mac App Store app and a simple Chrome extension and I’m ready for business. I’m a bit embarrassed that I didn’t discover and start using this tool earlier; I’d highly recommend checking it out if you’re a web developer.
Nice open debate thread over on Stack Exchange regarding developer attitude and work ethic in the office. A lot of interesting and helpful replies here.
Shawn Blanc reviewed the Nexus 7. He likes what he saw, but:
On a technical level, Jelly Bean is noticeable improvement over Ice Cream Sandwich. But I still do not see the appeal of an Android device over an iOS device unless your motives for using one are based solely on price, screen size, or a vendetta against Apple Inc.
For me, when it comes down to it, software will always trump hardware. When I’m using a device like the Nexus 7 I want to know where the details are. Where is the magic? The fun?
I’m a huge fan of Shawn’s writing, but I think he’s a bit too harsh on the Android tablet. I feel like lately there’s been some goal post shifting among big iPad defenders (myself potentially among them.) At first, the argument was that nobody could produce a quality tablet, and for years, that was the case. Now finally we’ve got a pretty universally praised device. Even the UI of Jelly Bean is rated as solid but…there’s still not enough good third party apps.
Give it time; I think the Nexus could finally be the device that Android developers are waiting for: a solid piece of hardware with good enough sales (we’ve yet to see this for a non-Apple device, but if I’d bet on any, it would be the Nexus) to really kick start better apps.
Cool story over at Movies.com on how author Katie Calautti’s friend landed a bit part in the ultimate summer blockbuster:
Movies.com: So when did you realize it was for real?
AD: My agent said, “The paperwork looks legit!” And then I went in for a costume fitting and by then they were in New York. And then I was like, “OK – it’s totally legit” – because their offices took over an entire building and the costumes took over an entire floor. There were hundreds of Army outfits…
Movies.com: What was it like on set?
AD: They had hundreds of extras there, because in the scene there’s a lot of people yelling and screaming. Christopher Nolan shows up and he chats with Bale, Gordon-Levitt and the DP. Eventually Nolan asks me, “Do you know your lines?” And I said, “Yeah” and repeated them. And he said, “Alright, don’t worry about your lines, just get the point across.”
Clever tutorial site focused on quick keyboard drills in the most popular text editors. They’ve got everything from Vim to Sublime Text 2 covered. Alas, it’s most of the site requires payment, but the initial free Sublime tutorial was so slick and simple I can see myself diving in for a membership at some point.
Spike Lee, talking to Vulture’s Will Leitch on the recent popularity of Tyler Perry movies:
SL: I would not call it a syndrome. Thing is, those box-office numbers prove there is an audience for those films. Yet, at the same time, I think there is an audience that would like to see something else. At this moment, those other films have to be made outside the Hollywood studio system. This comes down to the gatekeepers, and I do not think there is going to be any substantial movement until people of color get into those gatekeeper positions of people who have a green-light vote…When I first started making films and I would have Hollywood meetings—and I know this for a fact—they would bring black people out of the mailroom to be in the meeting.
WL: That doesn’t still happen, does it?
SL: I do not know. But I will say the best chance of me meeting somebody of color is the brother man at the gate who is checking to see if I am on the list.
Great, revealing interview with a director who generally has a less than ideal relationship with the press.
Seriously awesome interview with the notoriously private former Batman. A very loose, eclectic conversation here: Keaton discusses his rumored rejection of Batman 3, fly fishing in Montana, drunken escapades with Quentin Tarantino and much more. I loved his thoughts on playing the same Elmore Leonard character Ray Nicolette in two different movies (Jackie Brown and Out of Sight):
Keaton: Yeah, I’ve never seen that done — ever. And I hope I’m not getting too esoteric about this, but it was almost like postmodernism.
Daniel Kellison, Grantland: If people are still reading this far into this article, they’re obviously pretty big Michael Keaton fans — I don’t think you can get too esoteric for them.
Michael: What I felt was: It’s like he exists in the world. He might show up in your barbershop, you know what I mean? Different studio, different script, different story, different director. Everything is different, and all of a sudden, this guy shows up again. And I thought, Man, it would be cool — I’d just like to show up again somewhere else.
Really smart work. Alas, this is probably the first and last time I’ll tag a post for both ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘web development’.