LetterMeister 0.3b released

A small update to the free desktop version of LetterMeister has been released today. If you're into puzzle games and you haven't tried it yet, then what are you waiting for?

If you're not familiar with the game, then the idea is to re-arrange letters in a "crossword" grid to reveal the original scrambled words. To help you, coloured clues guide you to the correct positions. The game can be configured to suit your level of vocabulary, so it is suitable for both English learners at a relatively basic level and advanced students of English and word game aficionados.

If you download the game, please remember to Like LetterMeister on Facebook to follow updates.

Thinking of switching to Mac? Don't throw your PC away yet!

It turns out that Orbitz are planning to offer Mac users more expensive hotels than PC users when booking their holiday.

Just two questions:

• will this lead to a spate of "disguise your Mac as a PC" plugins for Safari?
• will Orbitz also be offering Linux users a selection of hotels with reprogrammable safes and replumbable showers?

We're going into space!

I will be participating in the ArduSat project to send an Arduino-based satellite into space. This means I will have a week's runtime on the satellite and will be asking Javamex readers for your suggestions of experiments/photographs that you would like to see taken from the satellite. More details to follow shortly: watch this space!

UPDATE: The ArduSat team have been enormously successful in reaching their funding goal within a few days of launching the project. The goal is now to raise funds to send a larger satellite, allowing more interesting experiments. This is really a unique opportunity for ordinary developers to get involved. Click here to see why you should back the project.

(Right: the Orion Nebula. Photo: Neil Coffey.)

Don't leave your iPhone connector plugged in near moisture!

How many of you leave your iPhone connector permanently plugged in ready to charge your iPhone when needed? Well, if you do, be careful that the connector doesn't get near moisture. This is what I discovered had happened to mine the other day!

Nothing to do with Java programming: today's lunar eclipse

It's got nothing to do with Java programming whatsoever other than my scheduled coffee consumption for the rest of the day. I made the effort to get up early today to capture a few pictures of this morning's lunar eclipse and the results were not disappointing. This picture is taken through a 5 inch telescope just as the moon begins to set over the horizon as the day dawns: you can see the approaching silhouettes of the trees on the left and the section of the moon in the earth's shadow in the bottom right.

So as I settle in for a caffeinated less-than-productive day of programming, I thought I'd share this picture with fellow programmers... :)

See @BitterCoffey on Twitter for a larger version of this and another picture from the eclipse.

Javamex now has a Facebook page

Finally, a Facebook page has been set up for Javamex. Announcements about new material, discussions about Java etc will be posted to the page.

Like Javamex on Facebook.

Can Java be copyrighted? Last chance to give your opinion!

Please don't forget to give your opinion in this site's survey on whether a programming language can be copyrighted. Over 100 responses have been received, but it would be nice to get a few more before publishing the results. So... don't be shy!

How do you convert to and from hex in Java?

A question that I've seen come up fairly regularly among beginners, and indeed among some more experienced programmers, is that of how to convert from decimal to hexadecimal and vice versa in Java. This page explains how to convert integers to/from hex in Java.

LetterMeister v 0.2 beta for Windows/Linux/Mac OS

Version 0.2 beta of the LetterMeister word puzzle game was released today and is now available as a free download. To run the game, you will need Java runtime version 6 or later.

This is a port of the original LetterMeister game for iOS.

The update brings some graphical and UI improvements. If you do download the game, then in order to receive notifications of updates please also subscribe to the game's Facebook page via the in-game button.