Robert O'Callahan: Technical Advantages Of A Web-Only Platform
Canonical's new Mir display server, and the discussion/controversy around it, illustrate some of the technical advantages of FirefoxOS. By supporting nothing but Web applications, we've raised the...
View ArticleRobert O'Callahan: There Is No Such Thing As Computer Security
Attention Boeing, US Department of Defense, and everyone else: Please stop automating your planes, armies, etc and connecting them to computer networks. Their security will fail and you will lose...
View ArticleRobert O'Callahan: Seeking Relevance
In the media scrum around the papal election, a lot of commentators called for the Catholic church to "modernize" to "stay relevant". As a Protestant I agree my Catholic brothers and sisters could make...
View ArticleRobert O'Callahan: Why I Work
Recently Pascal Finette quoted Tom Chi as saying: When you come home from your job in the evening and pretty much all you want to do is slouch on the sofa, watch a movie and have a beer: Quit your...
View ArticleRobert O'Callahan: Getting The Facts
I'd feel worse about the decline of traditional media if it wasn't so disappointing when they write about issues I have first-hand knowledge of. Today's example is a story about the lack of pedestrian...
View ArticleRobert O'Callahan: RIP Crazy Noodle
For several years Crazy Noodle Bar was one of our favourite restaurants in Newmarket. It served cheap tasty Hong Kong cafe food --- a mix of Chinese dishes and Chinese-style Western dishes. Last year...
View ArticleRobert O'Callahan: Mitigating Control-Flow Exploits With x86 ISA Extensions
A lot of exploit styles (e.g. "return-oriented programming") rely on jumping or calling into code that was never meant to be executed "stand-alone" --- i.e., jumping to an instruction that was only...
View ArticleAsa Dotzler: Firefox in the Market
The latest browser usage stats are out at Net Applications:Firefox has been mostly stable over the last year with Chrome down about 15% from its high. The increasingly solid IE 9 and 10 browsers have...
View ArticleRobert O'Callahan: Blink
I blogged last time the browser engine count changed, so I think to be fair I should blog about this one too. I think this is good news for the Web. When we lost an engine, that was bad for engine...
View ArticleRobert O'Callahan: The Future Of Cheating
I went to an orienteering event on Saturday. Orienteering is a race through a set of waypoints on a map; what sets it apart from a regular running race is the need to navigate via the map. Obviously it...
View ArticleRobert O'Callahan: The Chris Problem
I just sent a message to public-audio replying to Chris Rogers, Chris Pike and Chris Lowis. Fortunately Chris Wilson wasn't involved in the thread, although he could join at any moment. It reminded me...
View ArticleRobert O'Callahan: Google Vs New Zealand
The head of "Google NZ", Tony Keusgen, has been talking about New Zealand's shortage of "IT experts". And apparently, unlike most people who complain about it, he's actually tried to do something to...
View ArticleRobert O'Callahan: Upcoming Travel Plans
If the weather forecast isn't too horrible I'll be away the coming Sunday afternoon to Tuesday morning tramping in the Hunua hills southeast of Auckland. Thursday is Anzac Day, a public holiday, and...
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Robert O'Callahan: Hunuas Tramp
We drove out to the Upper Mangatawhiri Dam on Sunday afternoon and took a couple of hours to get to Piggotts campsite. It's a pretty small patch of flat grass, so I don't know how you'd get 20 people...
View ArticlePostbox Team: Postbox 3.0.8 is Now Available
Postbox 3.0.8 is now available. Here’s what’s new in this release: Reduce power usage (and increase laptop battery life) by only using the integrated GPU on Mac OS X Added a “Run Filters on Folder”...
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Robert O'Callahan: Rotorua
We had a lovely few days away. On the drive to Rotorua we stopped at Waihi and rode the old railway up to Waikino in an open carriage. Later we stopped at Mount Manganui and walked to the top ---...
View ArticleRobert O'Callahan: Web Audio Progress
Our Web Audio implementation is making great progress. This is mainly due to the efforts of Ehsan Akhgari, who is, astoundingly, cranking out one or two features per day. Paul Adenot and I are spending...
View ArticleRobert O'Callahan: The Direct Route
Over time I've become increasingly impressed with the broad applicability of Matthew 18:15-17: If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen...
View ArticleRobert O'Callahan: Travel
Last week I was in California. It was my first time in the Mozilla SF office --- lovely view of the Bay from the roof. I always enjoy the free snacks and I'm always glad we don't have them in Auckland....
View ArticleRobert O'Callahan: Taiwan Travelogue
In Taipei we had probably the best Gecko work week I've ever been to. It was also, for me, the most draining. Apart from getting the regular Gecko teams together for work and fun, we also got to meet...
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