It's clear there's a core group of computer enthusiasts who still love the command line, 1984 Apple advertisements notwithstanding.
Ever notice that most screenshots intended to show off Linux user interface bling still sport a terminal window, usually with some green text on a black background? Or that one of the shiny new technologies coming out of Microsoft is the scripting and command environment called Monad? (It's officially called Windows PowerShell, but I like Monad better.)
The latest example of new-meets-old: the gcalcli command-line interface to Google's online calendar application. It's an open-source utility that lets people read and update Google calendars--either their own or shared ones.
Sure, a lot of people like to point and click, and this whole Internet thing got a big kick in the pants in the 1990s when the World Wide Web put a slick interface on a previously textual experience. But there is a lot of utility to be had from command lines when it comes to programming.
Text is the most flexible programming medium for whipping up scripts to automatically check a calendar at a specified time of the day. You also can show agenda items automatically in a system monitor such as Conky or quickly add calendar items from the command line without having to fire up a Web browser.
Broadcom programmer Eric Davis released the first public version of the software on Monday, and he's updated it once already. It's released under the MIT License and requires Python programming tools and some Python extensions to be installed.
(Via LifeHacker)
I got a press release about Nintendo's new social democracy channel this morning, but not before I had already noticed it while checking the Wii's weather channel between bites of cereal (yeah I'm that guy). The new channel--called "Everybody Votes"--is a simple yes-or-no voting system with a gorgeous interface. It might be the most colorful and well-designed Wii channel yet.
Everybody Votes allows Wii users to vote on simple questions. It also allows you to suggest your own poll to be featured on the service. The entire voting process is done using your self-created Wii profiles called Miis. Your Mii is your vote, and to cast it you simply need to pick it up (using the remote of course) and drop him or her onto your answer of choice. There's also the option to predict which side of the argument will have the majority, which gets tracked in your Mii's profile. After you've voted on a number of issues, the channel will provide you with more advanced statistics, like how "tuned in" you are, and alternately, how much your vote differs from the popular opinion.
The service is reminiscent of several Web voting platforms (see EasyPoll and Buzzvote), but what really gets me is how much more enjoyable of an experience this is than an actual election in person or by mail. If we could get a system this simple and efficient for state and federal elections, I think most people would prefer remote control voting in their pajamas.
Below is a video overview of the service from YouTube user VOOK64:
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