My first app for Windows 8 was Shout Text. You type into Shout Text, and your text is scaled up as large as possible while still fitting on the screen, as you type. It is the closest thing to a Hello World app as you'll find on the Windows Store that doesn't contain that phrase (by default) and I approached it as the simplest app I could make to learn about Windows modern app development and Windows Store app submission.
I rely on WinJS's default layout to use CSS transforms to scale up the user's text as they type. And they are typing into a simple content editable div.
The app was too simple for me to even consider using ads or charging for it which I learned more about in future apps.
The first interesting issue I ran into was that copying from and then pasting into the content editable div resulted in duplicates of the containing div with copied CSS appearing recursively inside of the content editable div. To fix this I had to catch the paste operation and remove the HTML data from the clipboard to ensure only the plain text data is pasted:
function onPaste() {
var text;
if (window.clipboardData) {
text = window.clipboardData.getData("Text").toString();
window.clipboardData.clearData("Html");
window.clipboardData.setData("Text", util.normalizeContentEditableText(text));
}
}
shoutText.addEventListener("beforepaste", function () { return false; }, false);
shoutText.addEventListener("paste", onPaste, false);I additionally found an issue in IE in which applying a CSS transform to a content editable div that has focus doesn't move the screen position of the user input caret - the text is scaled up or down but the caret remains the same size and in the same place on the screen. To fix this I made the following hack to reapply the current cursor position and text selection which resets the screen position of the user input caret.
function resetCaret() {
setTimeout(function () {
var cursorPos = document.selection.createRange().duplicate();
cursorPos.select();
}, 200);
}
shoutText.attachEvent("onresize", function () { resetCaret(); }, true);
Number 1 and Benford’s Law - Numberphile (by numberphile)
I’d heard of Benford’s Law before but it sounded totally counter intuitive to me. This video does a good job explaining why one shows up as the leading digit in sets of random numbers that span large ranges.
What It All Means: All Your Communications are Belong to U.S. In sum, if you use encryption they’ll keep your data forever. If you use Tor, they’ll keep your data for at least five years. If an American talks with someone outside the US, they’ll keep your data for five years. If you’re talking to your attorney, you don’t have any sense of privacy. And the NSA can hand over you information to the FBI for evidence of any crime, not just terrorism. All without a warrant or even a specific FISA order.
Not sure if this is saying all Tor data is collected or saying if someone uses Tor then start collecting that someone’s communication.
Redmond finally joins Google, Mozilla, by offering cash rewards for security flaws.
Good news everyone! Of course Microsoft employees are not eligible but that’s probably for the best.
The Windows Store supports refunds and as the developer you are responsible for fulfilling those refunds even after Microsoft pays you. That seems reasonable I suppose but there’s no time limit mentioned…
"g. Reconciliation and Offset. You are responsible for all costs and expenses for returns and chargebacks of your app, including the full refund and chargeback amounts paid or credited to customers. Refunds processed after you receive the App Proceeds will be debited against your account. Microsoft may offset any amounts owed to Microsoft (including the refund and chargeback costs described in this paragraph) against amounts Microsoft owes you. Refunds processed by Microsoft can only be initiated by Microsoft; if you wish to offer a customer a refund, directly, you must do so via your own payment processing tools."
STRIP SEARCH SPOILERS FOLLOW! BEWARE!
WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS RIDICULOUS STRIP SEARCH SPOILERS
So I lost. Wah, boohoo, etc etc. It doesn’t mean I’m going to give up. I love The Last Halloween. If you also loved The Last Halloween, don’t worry, it’s happening. But first I have to Kickstart it! The Kickstarter goes up within the next few days, and I hope you guys will fund it, if you’ll have me.
I’ll do a much larger post when the Kickstarter kickstarts so you’ll all know my feelings and how great everything is and how much you will be into backing it.
I’m one of these guys being sshhhhhsh’ed. Abby had the best comics on Strip Search and so for my continued entertainment I shall help kickstart!
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