Apple Leopard (Mac OSX 10.5) for Indian users

If you are in India and own a Apple box, you must be wondering, how to upgrade to Apple Leopard? I figured out that, we are required to print an order-form(PDF), fill it and send (fax or postal-email) to Apple Singapore, address/fax-number is mentioned in form-document.

That’s some work? Why can’t we buy stuff from Apple/Adobe sites? Why Indian users are treated like this? I have raised this question in past, would be raising again in future.

Anyway, you can check out Apple Asia web-site to find out about Apple Leopard and download this order-form(PDF).

Update: I just noticed that form is for users/customers who purchase a qualifying computer between 1 October 2007 and 29 December 2007.

Technorati tags: apple, leopard, india, upgrade, store

Ruby Gems errors - MacOSX

Today, I started installing tools/utils required for Ruby on Rails. I found a very informative step by step instructions on HiveLogic blog, thanks Dan for posting it.
Entire build/installation process was smooth except a few errors related to ruby-gems.

ERROR: While executing gem ... (NoMethodError) undefined method ```

refresh’ for #

Console output:-

$ sudo gem install rails –include-dependencies ERROR: While executing gem … (NoMethodError) undefined method ```refresh’ for #

Fix:

  • Remove /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/source_cache and ~/.gems directories.
  • Run the command (sudo gem install rails --include-dependencies) again.

ERROR: While executing gem ... (Gem::GemNotFoundException) Could not find rails (> 0) in any repository

Console output:-

$ sudo gem install rails –include-dependencies Bulk updating Gem source index for: http://gems.rubyforge.org ERROR: While executing gem … (Gem::GemNotFoundException) Could not find rails (> 0) in any repository

Fix:

Update gem and its dependencies, it seems while setting up gems (as instructed in tutorial), setup script is not taking care of it. Run the following command and install all dependencies.

$ sudo gem update

Once gems and it’s dependencies are updated/installed, run the command (sudo gem install rails --include-dependencies) again.
I am posting this, even when its posted here and there on different blogs/mailing-lists, because I had to spend sometime to figure it out. Hope it helps.

Technorati tags: ruby, gems, rails, error

Aviary tools: Adobe Flex/AIR based Rich Internet Applications (RIA)

I got to know about Aviary through a colleague. I looked at their site and realized, they have some amazing tools (Flex/AIR based), which are editors/generators for image, vector, 3d, video, audio etc. As mentioned, these tools are web-based (flex) and desktop-client (air).

I am yet to look at their tools which are accessible only on invitation. I hope, I would get an invite soon. Why don’t you check it out too?

This is one more example to show why entire flash/flex ecosystem is so cool.

Technorati tags: aviary, ria, flex, air, adobe, createonthefly

WWW helped an old-schoolmate find me

An old schoolmate found me via Technorati, Google and Flickr. Thanks WWW for indexing/syndicating/storing all relevant (and irrelevant) data (blog posts, feeds, photographs, comments, mailing-list archives etc) about me.

I kept wondering how my friend got my primary email-id? it’s not trivial but determined-person can know it. I am lately very concerned about privacy.

Technorati tags: www, google, technorati, flickr, privacy, schoolmate

Vim Actionscript And Mxml Syntax Files


--- layout: post status: publish published: true title: ‘VIM: ActionScript and MXML syntax files’ author: display_name: Abdul Qabiz login: admin email: [email protected] url: http://www.abdulqabiz.com author_login: admin author_email: [email protected] author_url: http://www.abdulqabiz.com wordpress_id: 339 wordpress_url: http://www.abdulqabiz.com/wordpress/?p=339 date: ‘2007-10-12 12:59:41 +0530’ date_gmt: ‘2007-10-12 07:29:41 +0530’ categories: - Flash and Actionscript - Macromedia Flex tags: [] comments: - id: 1725 author: DLikhten author_email: [email protected] author_url: ‘’ date: ‘2007-11-16 02:30:14 +0530’ date_gmt: ‘2007-11-15 21:00:14 +0530’ content: | You rule!!!! This is great! Now all we need is to modify eclipse java editor to take in syntax from actionscript and eclipse jsp editor to handle MXML (after all it is just like JSPs) and we got a semi-working ide :) - id: 1726 author: Devon author_email: [email protected] author_url: ‘’ date: ‘2007-11-21 06:27:09 +0530’ date_gmt: ‘2007-11-21 00:57:09 +0530’ content: | Quick suggestion on implementing them: Add this to your $HOME/.vimrc: au BufNewFile,BufRead *.mxml set filetype=mxml au BufNewFile,BufRead *.as set filetype=actionscript The instructions that are linked to don’t include the mxml line and they don’t work when you’re creating a new file! - id: 1727 author: Geoff author_email: [email protected] author_url: http://www.geoffreymoller.com date: ‘2007-12-01 01:22:40 +0530’ date_gmt: ‘2007-11-30 19:52:40 +0530’ content: | Incredibly helpful - thanks! For Actionscript 3 within an mxml file script tag, the syntax coloring is different than actionscript in a standalone *.as file - is that your intention (or maybe my environment is messed up :) ? - id: 1728 author: Martin author_email: [email protected] author_url: ‘’ date: ‘2008-08-20 00:20:44 +0530’ date_gmt: ‘2008-08-19 18:50:44 +0530’ content: ‘Is there a way to enable/add folding on the actionscript syntax file? ‘ - id: 1729 author: Burteen author_email: [email protected] author_url: ‘’ date: ‘2008-12-22 10:29:59 +0530’ date_gmt: ‘2008-12-22 04:59:59 +0530’ content: ‘This is awesome ‘ - id: 1730 author: vuthecuong author_email: [email protected] author_url: ‘’ date: ‘2009-01-05 08:44:40 +0530’ date_gmt: ‘2009-01-05 03:14:40 +0530’ content: | It works very well in mxml file with embedded actionscript functions. However, when I indent above mxml file (gg=G), the mxml parts indented well but the actionscript funtions code did not being indented at all. Does anyone as same as me? If indent well, this is perfect :) Could anyone tell me how can I indent mxml file with embedded actionscript code? thanks and regards - id: 1731 author: Abdul Qabiz author_email: [email protected] author_url: http://abdulqabiz.com/blog/ date: ‘2009-03-07 02:03:57 +0530’ date_gmt: ‘2009-03-06 20:33:57 +0530’ content: | \@vuthecuong I need to check that and probably fix it. \@Martin I would check that too. Thanks for update. -abdul - id: 4363 author: Sam Wilson author_email: [email protected] author_url: http://www.storypixel.com date: ‘2009-07-07 18:21:32 +0530’ date_gmt: ‘2009-07-07 13:21:32 +0530’ content: Very nice stuff, I’m going to try to implement these files today. My dream would be a vim plugin that matches Eclipse (FDT). There is a Ruby vim plugin that allows the functionality of clicking on a class name and doing some key command and you go to that class’s definition. That’s exactly what I’d like to see here, maybe I can learn enough to make that happen. - id: 4372 author: Abdul Qabiz author_email: [email protected] author_url: http://www.abdulqabiz.com date: ‘2009-07-07 23:10:17 +0530’ date_gmt: ‘2009-07-07 18:10:17 +0530’ content: |- \@Sam Thanks. I know, I also wanted a VIM plugin for Eclipse and realized there are couple of such plugins, not really stable and usable. Then I realized, Eclipse is different thing and while using existing VIM plugins for Eclipse, my experience has not been good. It’s like trying to fit something meant for different world into something else. However, I would see when one appears. -abdul - id: 6640 author: queria author_email: [email protected] author_url: ‘’ date: ‘2009-08-25 13:14:08 +0530’ date_gmt: ‘2009-08-25 08:14:08 +0530’ content: “Hi Abdul.\r\n\r\nIts great ... thanks very much!\r\n\r\nQ.” - id: 7258 author: morch author_email: [email protected] author_url: ‘’ date: ‘2009-09-23 03:27:00 +0530’ date_gmt: ‘2009-09-22 21:57:00 +0530’ content: “Patch: Let syntax files be stored in ~/.vim/syntax\n\nI’m sure if I put the syntax files under /usr/share they’d work fine. But when I put them under ~/.vim/syntax, I got this error:\n\nError detected while processing /home/pvm/.vim/syntax/mxml.vim:\nline \ 302:\nE484: Can’t open file /home/pvm/.vim/syntax/dtd.vim\n\nThis patch fixed that for me, allowing me to put the syntax files in my user .vim dir:\n> svn diff\nIndex: mxml.vim\n===================================================================\n--- mxml.vim\t(revision 1527)\n+++ mxml.vim\t(working copy)\n@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@\n \n syn keyword xmlDocTypeKeyword contained DOCTYPE PUBLIC SYSTEM\n syn region \ xmlInlineDTD contained matchgroup=xmlDocTypeDecl start=\”[\” end=\”]\” contains=@xmlDTD\n-syn include \@xmlDTD :p:h/dtd.vim\n+runtime ! syntax/dtd.vim\n unlet b:current_syntax\n” - id: 7259 author: morch author_email: [email protected] author_url: ‘’ date: ‘2009-09-23 03:28:00 +0530’ date_gmt: ‘2009-09-22 21:58:00 +0530’ content: And I second Geoff’s comment about actionscript inside a CDATA in a MXML file being syntax highlighted differently than in an actionscript file. It looks wierd... - id: 7410 author: Puppies for Sale author_email: [email protected] author_url: http://www.k9stud.com date: ‘2010-05-21 07:53:00 +0530’ date_gmt: ‘2010-05-21 02:23:00 +0530’ content: There is a Ruby vim plugin that allows the functionality of clicking on a class name and doing some key command and you go to that class’s definition. - id: 7450 author: Orlando Puppies author_email: [email protected] author_url: http://www.9breedershappytails.com date: ‘2010-08-09 20:16:00 +0530’ date_gmt: ‘2010-08-09 14:46:00 +0530’ content: |- Incredibly helpful - thanks! For Actionscript 3 within an mxml file script tag, the syntax coloring is different than actionscript in a standalone *.as file - is that your intention (or maybe my environment is messed up :) ? - id: 7529 author: Anon author_email: [email protected] author_url: ‘’ date: ‘2011-03-31 19:21:00 +0530’ date_gmt: ‘2011-03-31 13:51:00 +0530’ content: thx for your work! ---

I am sharing VIM syntax files for ActionScript and MXML, which I was about to share last-year, I got lazy after Manish’s post. I hope, these syntax files would provide more (if not better) syntax-highlighting :-)

Click following links to download/see:-

You can refer to Manish’s post to learn how to use these files. Instruction applies to any VIM syntax file.

Credit goes to original creators of actionscript.vim and xml.vim. These files were starting points.

Disclaimer:These files work for me, these are not perfect or clean. I would try to clean up, add more (if any missing) syntax and share whenever I get time.

Technorati Tags: vim, syntax, actionscript, mxml, flex, flash

Yahoo! Open Hack Day - Update

Yahoo! Open Hack Day has started with sessions from Joe Arnold (of Yahoo!), Christian Heilmann (of Yahoo! on Yahoo API and YUI) and Raghu (of Adobe on Flex and Mashup examples). More than hundred hackers have turned up, I am sure there would be more developers coming in, as time passes.

Technorati tags: hackdayindia, yahoo

Adobe acquires Buzzword

Adobe has acquired Buzzword, the word-processor application built using Adobe Flex, by Virtual Ubiquity. It reminds me of Arul’s prediction, how some products are good candidates for acquisition by Adobe.

This is really motivating for flex developers. If you can build something cool and useful, Adobe might think of buying it.

Technorati Tags: buzzword, acquisition, adobe

Adobe Flex 3 beta-2, AIR beta-2 and Media Player prerelease version are available on Labs

Adobe has just released new prerelease builds of Adobe Flex 3, AIR and Media Player (AMP) on labs.adobe.com. I downloaded Adobe Media Player and checking it out, it looks good.

Technorati Tags: adobe, air, flex, media-player, prerelease, beta

And India wins..

India has won ICC twenty-twenty cricket world-cup. Final match was entertaining, breath-taking and totally cool. Congratulations to everyone. I hope and wish, Indian team continues the same form and wins the upcoming series with Australia.

Yahoo! Open Hack Day in Bangalore

::: {#hcalendar-Yahoo!-Hack-Day-India .vevent} Yahoo! Bangalore is hosting [Yahoo! Hack Day]{.url} between [October 5th 2:30pm] and [October 6th 11pm 2007] at The Taj Residency, Bangalore{.location}. :::

This is indeed a great opportunity to meet other smart people (hackers) and build/hack some cool stuff. Just carry your laptop and no need to worry about other things (Internet, food, snacks etc), I am sure Yahoo! would take care of all that for you.

If you are game, apply here, remember only a select number of developers would be invited.

Technorati Tags: hackday, yahoo, bangalore, hack-day