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Shout Text Windows 8 App Development Notes

2013 Jun 27, 1:00

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);
PermalinkCommentsdevelopment html javascript shout-text technical windows windows-store

Windows Store on Windows 8 Fun For Independent Developers

2013 Jun 24, 1:00
Having worked on Windows 8 I'm not in a neutral position to review aspects of it, however I'll say from a high level I love taking the following various positives from smart phone apps and app stores and applying it to the desktop:
  • Independent developers can easily publish apps.
  • One trusted place for a user to find apps.
  • User can trust apps are limited to a declared set of capabilities.
  • One common and easy way for users to buy and try apps.
  • Easy mechanism for independent developers to collect revenue.
Relieving the independent developer of software development overhead, in this case Windows taking care of distribution and sales infrastructure is wonderful for me with my third party developer hat on. This combined with my new found fun of developing in JavaScript and the new Windows Runtime APIs means I've been implementing and finishing various ideas I've had - some for fun and some for productivity on my Surface. Development notes to follow.
PermalinkCommentsstore technical windows windows-store

In Depth Review: New NSA Documents Expose How Americans Can Be Spied on Without A Warrant

2013 Jun 21, 10:43

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.

PermalinkCommentstechnical legal tor nsa eff spying security privacy

Microsoft will pay up to $100K for new Windows exploit techniques

2013 Jun 21, 4:29


Good news everyone! Of course Microsoft employees are not eligible but that’s probably for the best.

PermalinkCommentssecurity exploit money microsoft technical

App Developer Agreement (Windows)

2013 Jun 21, 4:20

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."

PermalinkCommentsmicrosoft developement software windows money

STRIP SEARCH SPOILERS FOLLOW! BEWARE! jspowerblogger: WARNING:...

2013 Jun 19, 2:50


STRIP SEARCH SPOILERS FOLLOW! BEWARE!

jspowerblogger:

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!

PermalinkCommentskickstarter strip-search

laughingsquid: How Common Is Your Birthday, A Chart of Birth...

2013 Jun 10, 2:49


laughingsquid:

How Common Is Your Birthday, A Chart of Birth Date Frequencies

PermalinkCommentsbirth-day chart

LAPD confronts Call of Duty 'Ghost' statue in tense standoff | Polygon

2013 May 31, 7:01PermalinkCommentsvideo-games police

laughingsquid: The Ultimate Spaceship Face-off, Interactive...

2013 May 22, 3:10


laughingsquid:

The Ultimate Spaceship Face-off, Interactive Guide For Comparing the Speeds of Famed Sci-Fi Ships

PermalinkCommentssci-fi scifi tardis doctor-who star-trek star-wars nerd

lohikaappaus: same Classic.

2013 May 17, 12:07


lohikaappaus:

same

Classic.

PermalinkCommentsxfiles scully humor x-files

This might be the strangest release of classic Chicago label...

2013 May 17, 5:43


This might be the strangest release of classic Chicago label Trax yet! The clue’s in the title - it’s Daft Punk brassified. We get four classics by the world’s most famous Gallic robot duo: “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” gets turned into a 1940s Dick Tracy-style riff-off with every form of trumpet imaginable, “Around The World” mixes wind instruments with that famous vocal mantra, “Da Funk” features plenty of sassy brass and “One More Time” wraps things up on a swingin’, jazzy high.

PermalinkCommentsSoundCloud Iamjasonalexander Brass Music music cover daft-punk

laughingsquid: Arrested Development Season 4 Trailer Brings...

2013 May 13, 2:47


laughingsquid:

Arrested Development Season 4 Trailer Brings Back the Dysfunctional Bluth Family

Come on!

PermalinkCommentshumor trailer arrested-development awesome

wilwheaton: owlturdcomix: Thoughts I have instead of smart...

2013 May 13, 2:31




wilwheaton:

owlturdcomix:

Thoughts I have instead of smart thoughts.

http://i.imgur.com/b9h1rc5.png

Owl Turd is rapidly becoming one of my favourite webcomics.

This may have been a Serial Experiments Lain episode synopsis.

PermalinkCommentshumor map

robhuebel: Axe Cop coming this summer!   Nick Offerman, Tyler...

2013 May 13, 2:26


robhuebel:

Axe Cop coming this summer!  

Nick Offerman, Tyler the Creator, Me (Rob Huebel), Giancarlo Esposito and Vincent Kartheiser.  

PermalinkCommentsaxe-cop humor video tv

Will Arnett Explains the Origins of His Arrested Development Chicken Dance

2013 May 8, 11:26

thebluthcompany:

To decide what Gob’s bad impression of a chicken might be, Arnett consulted on set in 2003 with series executive producers Mitch Hurwitz and James Vallely. They all tried out different versions for each other. “Jimmy started doing a little bit, then Mitch got up and did some, and then I began trying things,” remembers Arnett. “Picture three grown men hopping around, working out what it would be … They were pitching this really taunting dance, but I wanted to give it this very sharp, almost roosterlike, chest-sticking-out mannerism, like a real macho bravado dance.” And how did clapping get introduced to the move? “Because I wanted it to be only sort of threatening.”

Read More | Vulture

PermalinkCommentshumor chicken chicken-dance arrested-development

laughingsquid: Time Travel in Movies Flowchart

2013 Apr 15, 3:41


laughingsquid:

Time Travel in Movies Flowchart

PermalinkCommentstime-travel movies chart movie bttf

eclecticmethod: Hackers

2013 Apr 13, 1:57

eclecticmethod:

You don’t use the same password over and over right? Let’s be honest this is the day and age of the hacker. Eclectic Method brings you “Hackers” , Hollywood’s celebration of basement dwelling 128 bit encryption masters. They’ll shut down before you can trace them, hack into the mainframe…

Hack the planet!

PermalinkCommentshack hackers movie video mix remix mashup eclectic-method

laughingsquid: Tetris Stackable LED Desk Lamp

2013 Apr 13, 12:57


laughingsquid:

Tetris Stackable LED Desk Lamp

PermalinkCommentstetris lamp game humor

wilwheaton: cameron-stewart: My contribution in full to the...

2013 Apr 4, 5:34








wilwheaton:

cameron-stewart:

My contribution in full to the #bartkira project. This was tons of fun to do.

Holy shit.

Everything’s coming up Milhouse

PermalinkCommentshumor comic art mashup simpsons akira

laughingsquid: An ‘American Psycho’ Parody Starring Huey Lewis...

2013 Apr 4, 5:33


laughingsquid:

An ‘American Psycho’ Parody Starring Huey Lewis & Weird Al

Hey its the high school band audition judge from Back to the Future.

PermalinkCommentshumor weird-al huey-lewis american-psycho video
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