Howard Oakley

iBoom to iBust

by Howard Oakley on 29 June 2010 in Help
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Despite banks investing vast sums of money in computer-based models to increase their returns, they’re no more accurate than chicken entrails. By now, we’re getting used to wild swings in financial markets, such as the thousand-point collapse in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in a mere half hour on 7 May. On that occasion, blame [...]

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Shaping the future

by Howard Oakley on 18 June 2010 in Help

Apple has decided to constrain iPhone/iPad developers to its own developer tools, but there’s more to this than a simple Flash snub… The howls of protest following Apple’s decision to constrain iPad and iPhone OS 4 developers to its own development tools were understandable: telling professionals they must use Objective-C or C++ is pretty insulting. [...]

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The big read

by Howard Oakley on 28 May 2010 in Help

Before electronic books can take off, a universal format that can be read on different devices needs to be agreed and implemented. It seemed a simple enough request: a well-illustrated history of painting that I can browse on both Mac and iPad. There’s no shortage of excellent printed books that would fit the bill, but [...]

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Colour coordination

by Howard Oakley on 18 May 2010 in Help

Your Mac’s built-in tools aren’t always the best way to test colour combinations. Sometimes, it’s better to rely on your instinct instead. It was probably Leonardo da Vinci who first proposed that red and green complemented one another, although French painter Roger de Piles later castigated such combinations as ugly. That dogma delayed the widespread [...]

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Unqualified opinion

by Howard Oakley on 18 May 2010 in Help

Universities are churning out students with computing degrees, but these mean little until a universal certification standard is introduced. The past couple of decades have seen an explosion in qualifications. Whereas degrees used to be the prerogative of the few, everyone now seems to have gone to university; even your postman may sport a degree [...]

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Back to Apple’s roots

by Howard Oakley on 18 May 2010 in Help

Apple has become a success by offering a diverse range of products, but it needs to remember its roots if it’s to continue its current renaissance. It seems that the days of the Renaissance man are long past, it being exceptional to find contemporary artists who are great all-rounders. Among the last to achieve greatness [...]

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