Topics Ben joined

• • My password hell

  Recently discovered a service called PassPack (http://www.passpack.com/) which is a good solution for the problem of accessing passwords remotely. It uses AES…  more

  Recently discovered a service called PassPack (http://www.passpack.com/) which is a good solution for the problem of accessing passwords remotely. It uses AES encryption on the client via JavaScript so your pass key is never sent through the wire and means that even the site cannot decrypt your passwords (so if they are compromised your data is still safe). They provide a password generator to create strong, random passwords and have an auto-login facility so that you don't even have to type the passwords.

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• • Is the idea of key influencers and heroic leaders deeply flawed?

  I read The Tipping Point back in 2007 and thought it gave a compelling argument. The linked article is a good enough read…  more

  I read The Tipping Point back in 2007 and thought it gave a compelling argument. The linked article is a good enough read providing a counter-argument to one of the ideas raised in the book.

  The Tipping Point highlights three rules of epidemics; "The Law of the Few", "The Stickiness Factor" and "The Power of Context" yet the article only tries to refute the first claim. Stating that influentials seem no more likely to start a trend as anyone else, the key idea from the article for me is the following.

  "Watts believes this is because a trend's success depends not on the person who starts it, but on how susceptible the society is overall to the trend--not how persuasive the early adopter is, but whether everyone else is easily persuaded."

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• • Does the iPhone mark the first mobile platorm really worth developing for?

  I'm assuming we're talking about web apps rather than native (since the iPhone SDK isn't available yet). With that in mind I'd say…  more

  I'm assuming we're talking about web apps rather than native (since the iPhone SDK isn't available yet). With that in mind I'd say there are two sides to the mobile story for the iPhone. Firstly, most standards compliant websites should work fine as the iPhone runs a modified version of the Safari web browser (writing this using an iPhone - yabb works perfectly). Since all contracts come with unlimited data you don't have to worry about usage either.

  Having an optimised version is beneficial because you can take advantage of the unique interface and minimise page size which really helps when using GPRS.

  I've developed an optimised version of a web app and it's noticeably better to use than a non-iPhone specific site. Would be happy to discuss the topic further with anyone who's interested.

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• • Does Merb really offer anything more than Ruby on Rails?

  I've been hearing good things about Merb; it's fast, ORM and template language agnostic, and the core is as small as possible. My…  more

  I've been hearing good things about Merb; it's fast, ORM and template language agnostic, and the core is as small as possible. My question is what does it offer over and above Rails and is it worth the jump. My own opinion is that it's too early for production use at the moment, but once it it hits 1.0 then worth re-evaluating.

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• • the phrase "Stranger Danger"

  This is very relevant to yabb since the basic idea is to find people to have conversations with, in most cases this will…  more

  This is very relevant to yabb since the basic idea is to find people to have conversations with, in most cases this will involve talking to 'strangers'. I think you've hit upon something here because people who I've spoken to, in relation to yabb, didn't feel comfortable with the notion of talking to people they didn't already know.

  Hopefully through yabb we can change that perception since we're trying to bring together like-minded people. This should allow people to be much more open with others as they both have similar interests and actually want to discuss interesting topics.

  Back to the topic, the "stranger danger" idea is now being phased out since it's role of protecting children doesn't work in most cases. Almost all child abuse involves someone that the victim already knows; usually a relative or family friend.

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• • new features for Yabb..

  Any feedback for yabb is appreciated, we're always open to suggestions for new ideas and features.

  Any feedback for yabb is appreciated, we're always open to suggestions for new ideas and features.

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• • What do you think of Microsoft development tools?

  I voted with my feet and jumped ship after over four years working commercially with Microsoft-only technology and tools. Visual Studio is a…  more

  I voted with my feet and jumped ship after over four years working commercially with Microsoft-only technology and tools. Visual Studio is a competent enough IDE but would frequently drive me crazy. Now I'm much happier simply using a good text editor - TextMate - on a Mac and working with Rails. As an added benefit, I now have almost no reason to use Windows either.

  On a positive note, some of the stuff coming from the 'ALT.NET' group is looking good; the new MVC framework, Subsonic etc.

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• • Which will be the best tech conferences and events to go to in 2008?

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• • How to create a topic on yabb that lots of people then join?

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• • What can be done to speed up the adoption of Ruby on Rails?

  Take a look through the list of the top 100 Rails websites (http://rails100.pbwiki.com/). These sites (and of course yabb) help to demonstrate…  more

  Take a look through the list of the top 100 Rails websites (http://rails100.pbwiki.com/). These sites (and of course yabb) help to demonstrate the capabilities of Rails - the most convincing argument for technology is what it can help you to achieve.

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• • flexiscale.com hosting

  Another relatively new company offering Ruby on Rails hosting is Brightbox (http://www.brightbox.co.uk/). They're also UK based, haven't heard much about them (either…  more

  Another relatively new company offering Ruby on Rails hosting is Brightbox (http://www.brightbox.co.uk/). They're also UK based, haven't heard much about them (either good or bad) yet.

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