Sublime text !

Well that's a great name - but also the best lightweight editor out there. If you like CSS/HTML and JavaScript, get yourself a copy of that gem Sublime Text

This is damn awsome

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Kindle vs iPad

iPad 1, iPad 2, iPad 3 iPad 12, it doesn't matter how far they go, the Kindle will remain the best device to read eBooks.

Why ? Because it's an eBook reader. Period.

One could go on and on about comparing features offered by the iPad and other Android tablets, but the Kindle simply embeds the right technology to offer the best reading experience. It took me a long time to get myself one of those, but there are the reasons it surpasses by far all the other tablets:

Simplicity

It doesn't do anything but offer one feature: eReader. No apps, no mp3, no notification, it's plain and simple, it reads eBooks. Resulting in all the advantages below...

Size/weight

It's exactly the right size, and lighter than a pocket book

e-Ink

Let's not talk about brightness, contrast and pixel density.. Kindle use real ink to draw text and images, it's black and white, but so are 99.99% of real books, and that's fine that way. No pixel mean no red eyes and headache, it's like reading real sheets of papers.

Also, it means one can take it to the beach or other sunny environments.. let's not try that with an iPad.

Battery

1 or 2 months, it doesn't matter, we are talking about weeks of battery life here.

Price

Oh and it's almost 10 times cheaper, the most basic model offers all one coud need, this means it's affordable, and less likely to be stolen. And if it breaks... oh well let's buy another one.

Mechanical Keyboard

The right keyboard

Three main types of keyboard exist, cheap dome keyboards that most people use with desktop computers, cisors keyboards buit on laptops - and the mechanical ones, used by gamers and geeks - those, more expensive were the kind of gear built with old machines.

Membrane switches is what most keyboards are built with, consisting of plastic domes under each keycap. Each dome must be fully pressed down to make contact with the circuit board underneath. The computer recognizes the contact and registers it as a keystroke. They aren't very durable, the dome can handle from 1 to 10 millions strokes.

Below is one of the best membrane keyboard I found so far:

One of Dell's keyboard

Benefits of membrane Keys:
- Cheap
- Spill water on it with no regret

Scissors switches also use rubber domes, but a special plastic 'scissors' mechanism links the keycap to a plunger that depresses the rubber dome with a much shorter travel distance than the typical rubber dome (2 mm instead of 3.5 - 4 mm for membrane keyswitches).

The stabilizing scissor-like devices extend the lifespan of the membrane to as much as 20 million keystrokes, also they feel more solid due to less side to side movement during key travel. This type of keyswitch is usually found on the built-in keyboards on laptops.

Scissor-switch membrane keyboards are typically slightly more expensive and have a 'bouncier' feel to them, as the keys have scissor mechanisms to help them 'spring back' after you depress the keyswitch. They are harder to clean (due to the limited movement of the keys) but also less likely to get debris in them as the gaps between the keys are often less (as there is no need for extra room to allow for the 'wiggle' in the key) as you would find on a membrane keyboard.

Scissors switches

Scissors switch keyboards can also be found for desktop computers, I personally enjoyed using this Apple aluminum keyboard before I converted myself to Mechanical keyboards.

Apple aluminium keyboard

Benefits of scissors Keys:
- Last longer
- Quieter
- Stay clean longer

Mechanical swiches now, each key has its own physical switch. Once the switch is triggered, a signal is sent with the information of the key you just pressed. Seems similar to the membrane one but it does have benefits under the cover. On main difference is that on a membrane keyboard the fully press down is necessary to register the keystroke. On a mechanical keyboard, the switch handles it differently. The actuation point for a keystroke to register, for example is about 2mm on Cherry MX switches. Pressing down and “bottoming-out” on a key is about 4mm. This results in less fatigue and strain on your hands.

Switches - under the hood:

Cherry Brown - force 55cN - tactile non clicky

Cherry Black - force 60cN - non tactile non clicky

Cherry Blue - force 60cN - tactile clicky       

Cherry Red - force 45cN - non-tactile non clicky       

Resistance, membrane keyboards don't even specify the resistance of the keys - but with mechanical keyboards you get a range of switches which offer different resistance

Tactile, standard keyboards are all the same, needing a full press to register the stroke, typing indeed requires feeling the bottom of the key. With mechanical keyboards, the switch can either gives a feedback when the stroke is registered (mechanically), or give no feedback at all (smooth all the way down). Also, the feedback can be very gentle like on the cherry brown switches, or very strong like on the blue switches. Black switches are not tactile at all.

Clicky, some mechanical keyboards are clicky (often very loud) when the switch registers the stroke, the non clicky ones aren't completely silent but it won't trigger a click noise at key stroke.

Benefits of Mechanical Keys:
- Robustness
- Personalization
- Comfort

Mechanical keyboards offer a much better built quality due to their price mostly, and offer a wide range of switches to suits user's preferences. They are known to last longer than membrane keyboards. Each switch is expected to last around 50 million keystrokes. While a membrane keyboard lasts around 5-10 million. There is also a feature called, “N-key rollover” that is found in mechanical keyboards. This means no matter how many keys are being pressed at the same time, the computer will still register each one. This is made possible due to each key having its own switch.

Pressing a bunch of keys down on a membrane or scissors keyboard won’t give the same results...

A few great mechanical keyboards:

Termaltake Meka G1, owning this with black switches

Filco Majestouch

Das keyboard

Steel series 6v2

Credits to the animated images taken from Geekhack, also where I learned what I know about switches, great forum to get advice on gear in general

The Eighth Passenger

The design of the adult Alien, from initial descriptions, designs, and props.

The original terror. Written by Dan O’Bannon after his space comedy, Dark Star, with further revisions and drafts by producers Walter Hill and David Giler. Designed by artists Ron Cobb, Chris Foss, and HR Giger, with some minimal artistic input from the famous Jean ‘Moebius’ Giraud. Directed by The Duellistshelmer, Ridley Scott. Alien received a mixed critical reception upon its 1979 release but was lauded by fans. The critics quickly followed. It remains a rarely matched watermark in science-fiction and horror history
Read full article on Strange Shapes

Slow websites...

Something to keep in mind

http://www.webperformancetoday.com/2012/11/06/this-is-your-brain-on-a-slow-website-infographics/

Headphones

I would rank headphones number one among the list of tools a developer needs - Some people don't even have anything to put on their ears but many have some sets which don't even deserve to be manufactured:

Bad sound quality - uncomfortable 

Here are some more fancy but equally bad headphones:

Great looking but expensive for the sound quality

I don't understand why those Dr Dre gadgets are so popular, I agree they look good, but sound quality wise I keep being disappointed when trying them on.

So what to use ?

My criteria:

- Great sound reproduction

- Sound isolating

- Confort 

- Built quality

Here is my first choice:

Sony MDR V6

These are simply the best sound product I ever touched. I own it and I can't think of any alternative making me switch to another model. What's surprising is its price, those can easily be found for about £50-£60 brand new. 

They reproduce sounds as they come out of the amplifier which is what makes those the perfect choice. All that matters is to have the right source (not some lowly encoded mp3). 

Professional DJs use headphones belonging to this series and it's not shocking, they don't distort sounds, they don't amplify or covers bass, they just do what they are meant to do: reproduce sounds.

The MDR-7506 model which was made to replace the V6 are meant to be more 'professional' they ship with some gold connector, and the magnet is meant to be made with different material but the frequency response is a bit narrower on the 7506 (not going higher than 20k), I doubt normal ears could notice the frequencies above 20k but I don't see any proof that gold connectors improve anything and the magnet change is not proven (nor claimed) to bring anything better. So the V6 to me is a better choice as it sells at a slightly lower price.

These headphones have flaws though:

- They could be more confortable, the ear-cup is not very large, bigger ears would not fit in, I don't have this problem but still would have preferred having more room. Also, the material they used for the ear pad is terrible, some sort of fake leather that does not feel good after an hour of use. This was easily solved as I purchased some compatible replacement pair made of Velour from beyerdynamic

- The cord is ridiculous, way too long and curl like the cord of the home phone my grand ma still uses.

- The built quality is very good, but I do regularly get my fingers stuck and squeezed in the intersections on the ear-cups hooks  

I won't talk about the positives because everything else is perfect, I can't think any equipment delivering better sound - there might be dozens of models having deeper bass but these then struggle to throw clear mediums and high. I never had a chance to experiment some very high ends sets ( > $1000) but I'm sure with such budget one expects something else than a a pair of headphones to casually listen to music.

Those Sony MDR-V6 are the best choice, they are relatively cheap, solid, covers most of the surrounding sound.

Step up alternative:

The Denon D2000 also are a great choice, now owning and making use of both the Sony above and these, they offer a "deeper" sound, with a stronger accent on the bass.

They are much more expensive but at this price you get great level of comfort with real leather used to make the earpads. The cable this time was designed intelligently, as thick and straight. Also, this will fit bigger heads.
They are becoming harder to find, as I believe they were discontinued - pricing around £200 I think it's worth putting the money in when listening to hours of music every day.