Blog posts categorized as Reply
Q&A: Are there any easter eggs in iOS apps?
I think this site may help: 5 Genius Easter Eggs Hidden on Your iPhone
Q&A: What are some types of maps? How are they used?
There are many different types of maps used, from citizens to analysts. By default, Google Maps have these types: By default, Google Maps show streets and places. This is commonly called as city maps and tourist maps, and they are used for travelling daily. Traffic layer is a feature to show recent traffic conditions. On some areas this feature may be unavailable. Public Transit maps are used to find bus routes, train stations, Subway/Metro/Underground/MRT stations, monorail and others. Satellite maps shows the Earth image from satellites. In Google maps, the image is “static”, which mean the image is updated less frequently. Live satellite maps are commonly used in governments, where there is a need to control a country from criminal actions and other activities. Terrain maps provide less detail on transport and roads, since the map is special for activities such as trekking, mountain climbing and some geological analysis. Weather maps are used for weather and climate analysis. There are types of weather maps, such as a map to show the wind direction, cloud, precipitation (rain), temperature and so on. For normal users, they are likely to get information from websites and apps instead of these weather maps. Special purpose maps are maps which shows parts of an area, such as water pipes, drainage, electric cables, gas pipes and so on. This is commonly used for technical purposes and this may be used inside a company. Evacuation maps are generally maps which shows emergency routes for incidents such as tsunami, earthquake, volcanic activities, and so on. For general uses, this information may be replaced with signs in a place.
Q&A: Will anything replace iOS or Android in the near future?
Currently and previously there are many alternatives to iOS and Android, but they are having problems with gaining developers' interest and user base. Symbian OS. If you have a Nokia smart feature phone with Nokia Ovi App Store instaled it means that the feature phone is powered by Symbian. Symbian also powers many feature phones around the world. MeeGo. This OS is also preinstalled in some Nokia phones (before acquired by Microsoft). Now, MeeGo's source code are used for some projects such as Tizen and Sailfish OS. Tizen. This OS is built by companies such as Samsung and Intel, as well as the Linux foundation. Currently, this OS is preinstalled in some Samsung smartphones in India, most of Samsung Gear smartwatches and recent Samsung Smart TVs. Tizen is based from MeeGo, plus Samsung's Bada and Linux's LiMo. Sailfish OS. Made by Jolla, a company which is founded by former Nokia employees, uses MeeGo's source code as the core of the OS. Sailfish OS can also run some Android apps, but with limited support because of lack of Google Play Services and other Google Play apps, such as the Google Play Store. Microsoft Windows Mobile (version < 7) and Windows Phone (version 7 and up). Windows Mobile powers most of the PDA devices before the release of iPhone, but Windows Phone powers Nokia's Lumia smartphones. The main differences are the User Interface and how the app is installed. For Windows Mobile, you can just run the normal .exe files, while in Windows Phone the apps are Windows 8 Apps and Universal Windows 10 Apps. One of the main problems that may cause a lack of interest on this OS is limited third-party app support and the only office suite (Microsoft Office) that now requires a subscription fee. Ubuntu Phone (formerly Ubuntu Touch). Made by Canonical and some contributors, and brings the entire Ubuntu into a smartphone. Ubuntu Touch has a unique feature called Scopes, which would compete with Google Now Cards to show current information nearby. Meanwhile, the lack of app support and a home screen may cause users to refrain from using it. BlackBerry OS 4-7.1 and BlackBerry 10. BB OS 4-7.1 are based on Java, but BB10 is based on QNX (QT, C++ and Java) which is developed by BlackBerry. QNX also powers the BlackBerry PlayBook devices. BlackBerry 10 UI is similar to Sailfish OS and MeeGo. Same with Sailfish OS, BB10 can run Android Apps without Google Play Services. KDE Plasma Mobile. This is a new project by KDE, which aims to support native Linux apps as well as Tizen, Android, and other Mobile OS' apps. This project is experimental, but it is a good idea to be implemented later. Firefox OS and B2G OS. Firefox OS is developed by Mozilla for some smartphones, meanwhile B2G OS is developed by Mozilla volunteers and contributors. B2G OS is created due to the statement that Mozilla stops Firefox OS for smartphones in 2016. Firefox OS now runs on a Panasonic Smart TV, while B2G OS runs on Firefox OS-powered smartphones and some Android devices. There are many technical differences between these OSes, but it's still an interesting project to create "The Web is the Platform". As you can see, there are many alternatives that may take over iOS and Android. Each of these OSes have their potential. These OSes may be (re)used as an alternative when one of iOS and Android falls.
Q&A: What is the most visited website in the world that makes no use of JavaScript?
Even though current popular websites are mostly using JavaScript, the first webpage in the world on http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html is just containing a simple HTML text with links. There are no CSS and JavaScript scripts, no images, no HTML5, no Java Applets/Flash and Silverlight Objects, and even no PHP at all. The webpage is "ugly" due to no styling on text, headers and hyperlinks (unlike Google websites). Even though the site is "ugly", but it's a good example of a popular site without any JavaScript.
Q&A: How do you get plain text from HTML?
You can view the plain text from any of HTML tags: <p>, <h1>, <h2>, <h3> <h4>, <h5>, <h6>, <td> (inside a <tr> in a <table>), <th> (inside a <tr> in a <table>) and all text inside a tag are texts. Some of the text may disappear from the webpage. This is done by CSS, JS and other scripts. Some of the text may changed by a script (such as JavaScript). You can see the final results in the web inspector. Some of the texts are images. This cannot be converted unless the image is converted by some kind of OCRs and Online OCRs. Some of the texts may be hidden due to another object blocking it. For example, a text is located inside the <div> tag but blocked by other elements inside the tag. Another example is when the text inside the HTML5 <video> tag is hidden because the tag shows content in a video format. Some images have hidden text, too. This can be located by the attribute alt="..." inside the <img> tag. Texts that are inside of an applet/object that requires plugins (such as Java, Flash and Silverlight) may not be copied completely as text. Meanwhile, you can still obtain the plain text from HTML via Reading View feature that is available on some browsers such as Android Stock browser, Firefox and Safari. There may be extensions available for Chrome and other browser's users.
Q&A: What is the best HTML5 eReader around?
Firefox's PDF.JS on http://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/ is a good HTML5 eReader. It supports .pdf reading and can be installed without git. If you know how to edit the CSS codes there you can style your viewer. The disadvantage here is that there's a problem when copying text from documents and not all older and mobile browsers are supported. Edit March 22, 2017: The select and copy problem mentioned earlier has being improved recently. Google Chrome's pdfium on https://code.google.com/p/pdfium/ is a HTML5 eReader that has simple user interface and can read and copy .pdf document. The disadvantage here is that to install you need to use git to install.
