Posted 08/27/09 at 03:30:20 PM by David Murphy

It sounds like Buzzword Bingo, but a new Mozilla Labs project is applying an open-source, crowd-sourced routine to solve common Web developer issues. The program's called TestSwarm, and I must confess, it's a novel idea for increasing a developer's ability to test out new JavaScript framework on a variety of browsers at once. And the fact that this an open-source project is cooler still: Aspiring testers can load the framework onto their own servers and set up their own test

TestSwarm was developed by one of the Mozilla Foundation's JavaScript Tool Developers, John Resig, to deal with the scalability issues that factor into JavaScript code testing. To Resig, the proper testing platform includes at least five different browsers split into 12 total versions per operating system. Although he doesn't go into this length in his example, you should triple that number to factor in the Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 operating environments.

Factor these (now) thirty-six tests against an average of ten test suite iterations--a minimum number of variances that Resig runs in a common jQuery testing environment. That's three hundred and sixty runs for every test you create, more if you're expanding to include OSX and Linux platforms. And did I mention that the best results tend to occur when actual human beings are behind the testing instead of some automated attempt at user interaction? Yeaaaah...

So how did Resig address this grand problem of JavaScript testing scalability? You should know--you're a part of the solution, after all. Click the jump.

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Posted 08/21/09 at 10:01:54 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Seeing touch screens get daubed with finger marks and other blemishes can be a heart-wrenching experience. Although screen overlays that help protect touch screen devices are easily available, scientists are trying to figure out ways to make touch screens more smudge resistant. They have developed a test for ascertaining the efficacy of anti-smudge – and reflection – coatings found on touch screens.

"Surfaces are particularly important in consumer products. This work investigates how products can be modified to reduce smudging and reflections. These modifications can offer improved resistance to fingerprints, anti-reflection properties or enhanced physical resistance,” Dr Stephen Carlo said while describing the test at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Dr Carlo’s team used depth profile X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to compare the chemistry of anti-smudge and anti-reflective coatings. Their findings could lead to touch screens that are clearer and more immune to smudge. 

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Posted 08/11/09 at 11:30:40 AM by Paul Lilly

Commercialized PC repair services like Best Buy's Geek Squad and, when it was still around, Circuit City's Firedog are often mocked for being over priced and under qualified, the latter of which might be an unfair generalization. Or maybe not, now that we've seen Geek Squad's CompTIA A+ preparation exam.

The exam questions were sent in to Gizmodo from an "anonymous tipster," and while some of the multiple choice answers are a bit amusing, you'd be hard pressed to find a question/answer combo that you couldn't answer correctly without too much thought. For example:

Q: What is the most effective way to increase the performance of your PC?

• Upgrade your processor from Intel to AMD
• Tweak the registry for maximum efficiency
• Installing more RAM
• Use your PC for shorter periods during the day

It doesn't get any more challenging than that out of the six samples Gizmodo posted. And we suddenly understand why a dislodged hard drive cable was so hard to diagnose.

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Posted 03/27/09 at 05:53:07 PM by Mark Edward Soper

Microsoft's latest browser, Internet Explorer 8, has gotten mixed reviews from MaximumPC.com readers (see comments here and here), but one question that's hard for any individual user to answer about any browser is "how secure is it?"

To find out, Microsoft asked NSS Labs to pit IE8 RC1 against its predecessor, IE7, as well as the following third-party browsers: Firefox 3.0.7, Safari 3.2, Chrome 1.0.154, and Opera 9.64. The objective: find out which browser did the best job at handling so-called social-engineering malware sites - the ones that try to con you into downloading malware disguised as something else ("Adobe Flash update," anyone?).

ComputerWorld reports that IE8 did the best job of fending off attacks from 492 malware-distributing websites, blocking 69% of attacks (details here [PDF link]). If you're not using IE8, join us after the jump to learn how your favorite browser fared.

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Posted 02/23/09 at 04:57:17 PM by Mark Edward Soper

Attention Windows 7 beta users, up to five (5), I said f-i-v-e test updates are coming via Windows Update tomorrow (February 24). These updates are strictly for testing purposes, our friends in Redmond tell us. By the way, you must install these updates manually via Windows Update - even if you run WU in Automatic mode. BTW Mark 2: these updates replace some system files with the same version that's already on your system.

So, what's the point of running WU and selecting these updates? Mama Microsoft want to make sure it can update Windows 7 properly. Don't want to play? See the Microsoft Update Team Blog to learn more.  

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Posted 01/05/09 at 12:34:10 PM by Mark Edward Soper

Let's face it, web developers. Even if you're the most devoted fan of Firefox, Opera, or Safari, the 800-pound gorilla in the room is still Internet Explorer. Like IE or hate it, your pages had better work properly with it. Unfortunately, you can only have one version of IE running on a test PC at a time...or can you?

Add Virtual PC 2007 SP1 to your Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows Server 2003 or 2008 box, and install your choice  of Windows XP SP3+IE6, Windows XP SP3+IE7, Windows XP+IE8 Beta 2, or Windows Vista+IE7 in VHD format. Now, it's easy to find out which pages make a particular flavor of IE gag, and you can switch between IE versions running in different VMs with the click of a mouse. For more Virtual PC downloads, including release notes, click here.

These disk images work until April 2009, so you have plenty of time to work out page glitches. Not developing websites? No problem! Try them anyway. 

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Posted 07/17/08 at 08:09:44 PM by Norman Chan

As you probably know, one of the new features in the iPhone 3G is the built-in GPS radio, which lets you pinpoint your location for hipster-loving social networking apps like twitter and loopt. In Steve Jobs’ WWDC keynote, he showed off the GPS functionality with a video of the Maps application tracking a car as it drove down Lombard Street in San Francisco. The blinking blue dot followed the car as to passed each block, updating at a short enough intervals to move fluidly. While that’s cool and practical, we wanted to push the iPhone’s GPS to its limits. And the best way we could think of to stress test vehicle tracking was to try it on a moving airplane.

Read on to see how the iPhone performed at 200 miles per hour – in the air.  

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Posted 07/03/08 at 03:50:03 PM by Gordon Mah Ung

I still own a vintage Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera but feeding it was expensive then and now nigh impossible thanks to the end of instant film. Polaroid’s POGO portable printer brings back some of the fun I had with the SX-70. This pocket printer is the first to use Zero Imaging’s Zero Ink paper that does away with ink in favor of billions of embedded crystals in the 2x3 sheets of paper.

Hook your PictBridge-enabled digital camera up to the POGO via a Type A USB cable and let the fun begin. Once the camera has finished chewing on the image, it will take about 30 seconds to print out. The POGO will print full bleed to the tiny pieces of paper and the adhesive back lets you stick ‘em anywhere. Fun, right?

Hit the jump for more impressions and a gallery of sticky photos.

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