Wednesday, January 30, 2008
CSS Question: Dynamic parameters?
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 
6 Comments
I am coding up a client's logo page in CSS for HTML delivery right now, and I have rollovers working on the images without using javascript... which was the goal.
Here is an example image file:
You see that it has both states for it in the image... faded and full-color rolled. The rollover is achieved with some CSS:
Now, what if you want to display a bunch of different logos in the same manner... that leads to a whole lot of CSS... two chunks for EACH logo on a page.
Is there some kind of way to supply CSS with a parameter... the only thing changing in the CSS above would be the image path really. Javascript would be okay I suppose, but the solution would need to work in FF, Safari and IE7.
Any ideas? I can't use PHP, but can use SHTML or ASP.
Here is an example image file:
You see that it has both states for it in the image... faded and full-color rolled. The rollover is achieved with some CSS:
a.kronosNow here is the snippet of HTML that displays the logo itself:
{
display: block;
cursor: default;
width: 112px;
height: 87px;
background: url("client_logos/logo.gif") 0 0 no-repeat;
background-color: #FFF;
text-decoration: none;
float: left;
}
a:hover.kronos
{
background-position: -112px 0;
}
<a class="kronos" href="#"> </a>Now thats cool enough, the image is shifted 1/2 of its width when rolled over. Giving you a rollover effect.
Now, what if you want to display a bunch of different logos in the same manner... that leads to a whole lot of CSS... two chunks for EACH logo on a page.
Is there some kind of way to supply CSS with a parameter... the only thing changing in the CSS above would be the image path really. Javascript would be okay I suppose, but the solution would need to work in FF, Safari and IE7.
Any ideas? I can't use PHP, but can use SHTML or ASP.
Global Photoshop guides... how about local?
1 Comments
I am working on GUI designs and I am building views into the Photoshop file. Each folder contains a view in a larger system. I am using guides to determine pixel placements, etc. However, guides are global, and my views are not.
While in general global guides are extremely useful, it would be cool to have sets of them. By default, guides would indeed maintain their global status. Right-clicking on a guide would bring up a menu of items: Global, list of folders, possibly layers. In this way, if you turned a folder off, layer off, etc. the guide(s) associated with that folder/guide would disappear too when guide view was turned on.
In this way you could have different sets of guides associated directly with different material.
How would this work for slicing? Perhaps only visible guides at the time of slicing would be considered (actually, I think it would have to work this way). What are your thoughts?
Update:
I was thinking, what about "guide layers" - like in Flash, but they are reserved for guides only, and you could apply colors to the layers that would reflect on the guides themselves. This way you could slap some guides on a guide layer, then place that inside a folder. Turn off the folder, you turn off the guides in that folder too.
While in general global guides are extremely useful, it would be cool to have sets of them. By default, guides would indeed maintain their global status. Right-clicking on a guide would bring up a menu of items: Global, list of folders, possibly layers. In this way, if you turned a folder off, layer off, etc. the guide(s) associated with that folder/guide would disappear too when guide view was turned on.
In this way you could have different sets of guides associated directly with different material.
How would this work for slicing? Perhaps only visible guides at the time of slicing would be considered (actually, I think it would have to work this way). What are your thoughts?
Update:
I was thinking, what about "guide layers" - like in Flash, but they are reserved for guides only, and you could apply colors to the layers that would reflect on the guides themselves. This way you could slap some guides on a guide layer, then place that inside a folder. Turn off the folder, you turn off the guides in that folder too.
Scotch on the Rocks
0 Comments
Every time I see a posted or read information about Scotch on the Rocks, I think to myself, "You really should never treat your scotch like that. Keep it neat." :)
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
4D ultrasounds
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
0 Comments
A few images from our session.
My wife and I had a 4D ultrasound a while ago and the results are stunning. The same technology as a traditional ultrasound, but the image is rendered in 3 dimensions. We have stunning video from our visit and saw our baby grabbing their right foot throughout the entire procedure. We have several prints from the session as well.
Our son asked repeatedly to watch the DVD and kept saying, "baby!" while he watched. We have a small framed photo in the kitchen, and he often points to it and again says, "baby!" What a great way to introduce our son to his unborn sibling!
Life is a miracle, and technology has brought us a little closer to that bundle of joy. If you're on the fence about a 3D/4D ultrasound, they are safe (playback in spots so that there isn't constant waves sent which can increase tissue temperature), and they aren't too terribly expensive.
Where are the XBox 360 Elites?
2 Comments
A co-worker had his 360 red ring the other night. He is sending his bricked one to Microsoft for a fixed one, however he wants the Elite so he can use an HDMI cable, etc. So he plans on selling the model he gets back. The problem? It seems like the world's supply of 360 Elites seems to have dried up.Best Buy has nadda in stock. Amazon only offers 3rd party models. Rumor from somewhere was that a store had 700+ in stock and then after the weekend had none. Sent them back?
Either Microsoft planned poorly and there is a lag between manufacturing drops, or Microsoft might be clearing out the present Elites with a refresh. Thing is I haven't seen many talking about the lack of Elites that are out there. Have an idea what might be going on?
No right-click menu? Change container menu?
0 Comments
Have you ever wanted to remove the right-click from a Flash projector? Or perhaps change the labels of the menu items themselves?I bumped into information about a tool (Google is crazy sometimes) that seems like it can do this quite easily.
The application is called Resource Hacker, and its not limited to Flash projectors. I am not linking to it, but you can find it easily enough.
Resource Hacker™ is a freeware utility to view, modify, rename, add, delete and extract resources in 32bit Windows executables and resource files (*.res). It incorporates an internal resource script compiler and decompiler and works on Win95, Win98, WinME, WinNT, Win2000 and WinXP operating systems.
Viewing Resources: Cursor, Icon, Bitmap, GIF, AVI, and JPG resource images can be viewed. WAV and MIDI audio resources can be played. Menus, Dialogs, MessageTables, StringTables, Accelerators, Delphi Forms, and VersionInfo resources can be viewed as decompiled resource scripts. Menus and Dialogs can also be viewed as they would appear in a running application.
Saving Resources: Resources can be saved as image files (*.ico, *.bmp etc), as script files (*.rc), as binary resource files (*.res), or as untyped binary files (*.bin).
Modifying Resources: Resources can be modified by replacing the resource with a resource located in another file (*.ico, *.bmp, *.res etc) or by using the internal resource script compiler (for menus, dialogs etc). Dialog controls can also be visually moved and/or resized by clicking and dragging the respective dialog controls prior to recompiling with the internal compiler.
Adding Resources: Resources can be added to an application by copying them from external resource files (*.res).
Deleting Resources: Most compilers add resources into applications which are never used by the application. Removing unused resources can reduce an application's size.
Last Updated: 24 March 2002 Version: 3.4.0
If you remove only the english menu resource, the next in the list is used, so if you remove them all for the right-click menu, you kill the right-click menu altogether. Well, sort of. It will be called, there just won't be anything to display.
You can tweak all kinds of things, but I AM NOT SAYING you should do this. I found it interesting is all. I personally don't have any need for something like this.
My MediaTemple neighbors
1 Comments
I use the gridserver account from MediaTemple and wondered who my neighbors on the shared web server were. I did a reverse lookup using a YouGetSignal tool and found that I share the space with 155 other domains. Thats crazy as I haven't had any problems with gS or downtime, etc. MediaTemple rocks.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Hosted Subversion
Monday, January 28, 2008
3 Comments
Beanstalk.
I have a nice subversion server at work, but I don't have one for use at home. I could use Google's thing or roll my own at home, but I found Beanstalk and I am giving it a try. So far its pretty sweet, here are some screens showing how it looks.
Above is a shot of my local directory subversion files and how the thing looks the beanstalk browser. You can see the bread crumbing, and revision number.
When you navigate down to an actual item, you'll see who last checked the item in, the revision number, that nice bread crumb, and you're able to download the file outright, preview, and other stuff.
An activity viewer... more friendly in my opinion... nothing really special here, but its quite useful.
Here is the other side of Activity page, showing storage. This system is seriously cool, I don't have to worry about firewalls or local servers when I'm on the outside trying to look in, its really user-friendly, and its pretty cheap... free if you're only working with one repository. Give it a go, I think its sweet.
I have a nice subversion server at work, but I don't have one for use at home. I could use Google's thing or roll my own at home, but I found Beanstalk and I am giving it a try. So far its pretty sweet, here are some screens showing how it looks.
Above is a shot of my local directory subversion files and how the thing looks the beanstalk browser. You can see the bread crumbing, and revision number.
When you navigate down to an actual item, you'll see who last checked the item in, the revision number, that nice bread crumb, and you're able to download the file outright, preview, and other stuff.
An activity viewer... more friendly in my opinion... nothing really special here, but its quite useful.
Here is the other side of Activity page, showing storage. This system is seriously cool, I don't have to worry about firewalls or local servers when I'm on the outside trying to look in, its really user-friendly, and its pretty cheap... free if you're only working with one repository. Give it a go, I think its sweet.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Free music?
Sunday, January 27, 2008
2 Comments
I read this today, and wondered aloud if this is indeed real.
TimesOnline snippet: After a decade fighting to stop illegal file-sharing, the music industry will give fans today what they have always wanted: an unlimited supply of free and legal songs.Its gonna be Vista/XP until March 18th. Interesting to say the least. Artists get paid by music played tracking. Advertising in the app. The app looks like an AIR offering, but the whole PC-only thing for now kind of shatters that idea. But wouldn't it be cool if it was an AIR offering? It says it offers a Mozilla-based browser. Would Mozilla ever drop Gecko for Webkit (or am I out of the loop on that one?)
With CD sales in free fall and legal downloads yet to fill the gap, the music industry has reluctantly embraced the file-sharing technology that threatened to destroy it. Qtrax, a digital service announced today, promises a catalogue of more than 25 million songs that users can download to keep, free and with no limit on the number of tracks.
Ajax and Safari and Private Browsing
0 Comments
There is a Safari menu item called "Private Browsing." If that is enabled, even though you have Javascript enabled for the browser, javascript commands don't seem to fire. I was just debugging some AJAX code in a page and couldn't understand what was happening. Turning Private Browsing OFF fixed things right back up. Just a FYI if you haven't seen this yet.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Package consolidation
Saturday, January 26, 2008
1 Comments
So you've worked on several projects and you might end up with class packages scattered across various folders. How often do you spend the time to clean those up and put them all in your com, net, etc. directories to keep things all organized, and then add those via SVN or other source control?I have to do this myself. Just curious how serious others take this, or do you end up with class packages all over the place and not worry about it. I probably don't need to worry too much, but you never know... it just means preparing some documentation at the head of those classes so I don't need to worry about AS3Doc or things like that... until later. So much to do even when its not specifically project related, huh? But staying organized will pay off I'm sure. And its easier to run out tons of docs (if you've prepared with proper commenting) on the whole shebang, keeping your motherload of golden code documented as a big book you can feel good about.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Slap an EQ on your chest
Friday, January 25, 2008
2 Comments
If you're like Peppi Roni and visit Avalon in Boston and just dance, dance, dance, then I think you'll want one of these to go with your glow stick mania. Its a twenty pound tshirt (ie. British currency, silly) with a built-in mic and electro luminescent display. To be honest, even if you're not a club rippin' X-taking clubhound, this still might be a cool shirt to wear to a concert, or just wear to work and have people groove on it. This is some pretty geeky but cool electro-wear. The EQ seems to have some latency in it, so its not like you'll be wearing a high-quality top-end EQ/band display, but its close enough to approximate the audio it picks up. Adobe Newton Pre-release Event
1 Comments
Eventhough my wrist was killing me, I attended the Adobe Newton Pre-release event. While nothing really new was revealed, it was cool to see Dave Gruber, Tim Buntel & Tim's boss Phil there. Phil is one freaking smart dude, thats for sure.
I forgot Tim has a blog, and there is a lot of useful insight into Flex 3 and beyond to be read there, I highly suggest giving it a visit.
I won an Adobe backpack (swank) and FlexBuilder 2 for the Mac. A $99 upgrade to 3 will be nice, thanks guys. The backpack is extremely nice, I thought I wanted a Flex one, but it pales in comparison. I never win anything in these drawings, so I'm happy. They raffled off an iPod nano, but I have about 6 iPods now, the last thing I need is another one.
The event was well attended & I have never seen so much Bertucci's pizza in my life. For the 49 who showed, I'd say there was about half a pie per person there.
I forgot Tim has a blog, and there is a lot of useful insight into Flex 3 and beyond to be read there, I highly suggest giving it a visit.
I won an Adobe backpack (swank) and FlexBuilder 2 for the Mac. A $99 upgrade to 3 will be nice, thanks guys. The backpack is extremely nice, I thought I wanted a Flex one, but it pales in comparison. I never win anything in these drawings, so I'm happy. They raffled off an iPod nano, but I have about 6 iPods now, the last thing I need is another one.
The event was well attended & I have never seen so much Bertucci's pizza in my life. For the 49 who showed, I'd say there was about half a pie per person there.
My developer status fulfilled... carpal
2 Comments
I have been a build engineer, I have broken builds with check-ins into source control, I refactored code, I have built enterprise-level UI and code components, co-authored some books, but until now my developer status has been a little suspect in my mind.
I just returned from my doctor, diagnosis: carpal tunnel. I have a splint and am taking 800mg of Motrin (4 200mg tablets every 8 hours). Last night my wrist hurt so badly that I couldn't sleep. Even trying to lift a styrofoam cup of coffee with my right hand resulted in agony. So now I feel the circle is about complete. I have to shop around for ergonomic keyboards and mice... and hope I find a winner.
Anyone out there suggest brand/models? Logitech seems to make nice stuff, and I'm hoping to get wireless in both cases. I am starting to get pretty good with one-handed typing, although its really quick hunt & peck at the moment. Too slow o develop, and if I don't take it easy, this won't ever get better. If it doesn't, I'm looking at cortisone shots in the wrist (I guess they don't surgically repair these anymore by cutting a ligament/tendon).
I just returned from my doctor, diagnosis: carpal tunnel. I have a splint and am taking 800mg of Motrin (4 200mg tablets every 8 hours). Last night my wrist hurt so badly that I couldn't sleep. Even trying to lift a styrofoam cup of coffee with my right hand resulted in agony. So now I feel the circle is about complete. I have to shop around for ergonomic keyboards and mice... and hope I find a winner.
Anyone out there suggest brand/models? Logitech seems to make nice stuff, and I'm hoping to get wireless in both cases. I am starting to get pretty good with one-handed typing, although its really quick hunt & peck at the moment. Too slow o develop, and if I don't take it easy, this won't ever get better. If it doesn't, I'm looking at cortisone shots in the wrist (I guess they don't surgically repair these anymore by cutting a ligament/tendon).
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
WebClip Bookmark here
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
2 Comments
If you make a webclip bookmark on your iPhone or iPod Touch of any page on my site, you should get a badge of my face. I can't test it now, but if someone could try it and let me know, that would be cool of you ;)
Scott Fegette took this snap of it working, thanks Scott:
Scott Fegette took this snap of it working, thanks Scott:
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Whats up with Tom Brady?
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
1 Comments
First Tom Brady is seen visiting Giselle wearing a walking cast on his foot. Everyone is speculating an injury. ESPN is reporting on it, etc.
Did things get out of hand? Because just a little while later, Tom comes out walking perfectly fine NOT wearing a walking cast, but his dress shoes.
Umm. Huh? What was that all about? Maybe it was just some preventative thing, or heel spurs, or something stupid.
Did things get out of hand? Because just a little while later, Tom comes out walking perfectly fine NOT wearing a walking cast, but his dress shoes.
Umm. Huh? What was that all about? Maybe it was just some preventative thing, or heel spurs, or something stupid.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
MacHeist
Saturday, January 19, 2008
0 Comments
12 Applications for very little money, and contributing to charity at the same time. Okay, I bit. $49 for 12 applications (a few I will actually use) is pretty wonderful. I do edit CSS quite a bit, Snapz Pro X is powerful, CoverSutra is nice, and the additional games is a nice addition too. Give Macheist a look.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Sad news: Ernie Holmes...
Friday, January 18, 2008
0 Comments
"We are deeply saddened to learn of the sudden and untimely death of Ernie Holmes," says Rooney. "Ernie was one of the toughest players to ever wear a Steelers uniform. He was a key member of our famous Steel Curtain defense, and many people who played against him considered Ernie almost impossible to block. At his best, he was an intimidating player who even the toughest of opponents did not want to play against."
Rush back on tour
0 Comments
Rush coming to Boston, so I'm quite happy about that. Here is the press release that I received from SRO Management Inc./Anthem Entertainment Group.
RUSH TOUR 2008 - Dates, cities and venues confirmed
TORONTO, ON – January 18, 2008:
After a hugely successful 2007 tour, the fans have spoken and they want more. Rush officially announce dates for their extended 2008 Snakes & Arrows World Tour. The tour will kick off with their first ever appearance in San Juan, Puerto Rico April 11 and hit over 45 cities throughout the United States and Canada. For Rush fans this will be the first time in over a decade the band will make stops in Orlando, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Reno, Moline, Boise, Austin, Jacksonville and Winnipeg to name a few. Also for the first time in years the band will play Albuquerque, Edmonton, Vancouver, Hershey and Manchester.
The 2008 tour dates and venues are listed below. Tickets for New Orleans, Reno, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Denver and Detroit go on sale SATURDAY JANUARY 26.
American Express Cardmembers will also have the opportunity to purchase advance tickets January 26th through February 1st for Rush performances in Boston; Chicago, Ft. Lauderdale, Holmdel, Wantagh and January 27th through February 2nd in Los Angeles and Irvine. In addition there will be a MUSICTODAY fan club presale for all Rush performances in conjunction with RUSH.COM starting January 22 through January 24.
A SNAKES AND ARROWS LIVE CD will be released sometime in April. Details are forthcoming. In addition, the track "Malignant Narcissism" from the band’s 2007 release "SNAKES & ARROWS" (Anthem/Atlantic) has been nominated for a Grammy Award in the category Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
Fans will experience the technical virtuosity and hard-rocking compositions they have come to expect from Rush members, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart. In addition the band will update their set list for the 2008 tour.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Pimp your gear
Thursday, January 17, 2008
0 Comments
Let's face facts -- the majority of portable music players are iPods. With so many out there, your own device looks like someone else's. It might even get confusing in some situations. And everyone (I know) are making the leap to OS X, and that means lots and lots of Apple laptops. This can get a little confusing too, especially at conferences where one sees oceans of glowing Apple logos.
You can safely pimp your gear (including PC laptops) by pointing your browser of choice to Gelaskins.com. I just placed an order for some iPod skins to try out as I have a bunch of them. If these turn out to be as cool as they look online, then I'm going to get one for the MacBook for sure. You may have already purchased from them and can share your own personal insight into the quality of these protective and expressionistic skins. They do PayPal, so thats cool too.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Xobni Invites
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
12 Comments
If you are currently an Outlook user, I have five (5) Xobni initiations. If you leave your email address in a comment to this post, I'll set you up. Leave your address like so: username at domain dot com... so you won't have your addy snaked by miscreants. What is it? Well, its pretty much changed the way I use email so far.I think Outlook kinda sucks, but I have to use it. And with this, it sucks so much less ;)
Xobni Insight is an add-on for Microsoft Outlook that offers effortless email management and provides instant access to the most important information in your email.
After a quick install, you'll see the new Xobni toolbar appear in Outlook - and suddenly your Outlook productivity will burst to life with blazing fast email search, automatic phone number discovery, threaded conversations, and more.
Update:
I am now fresh out of invitations. Unless I get more, thats it. Enjoy.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Fisheye/OS X dock-like interaction, but...
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
1 Comments
There are several classic Mac OS X dock recreations and also fisheye implementations in the wild, but I am looking for something a little unique. The OS X dock and fisheye menus have their items equally spaced. I'm looking for something a bit different than that. Imagine a square with a different number of items on each side. Three on top, ten on the right, 5 on the bottom, and 7 on the left.
So something where the scale of an item rolled with the mouse would affect the scale of others... the three items on the top of the square divide up that space into 3 large chunks, etc. around the edges. So it wouldn't work to be mouse-based. Has anyone seen anything like this?
Update:
What I did was basically have various spheres of influence, depending on mouse position and the changing sphere of influence, I got this to work pretty well. Think fisheye menu or OS X dock with elements that are not evenly spaced out, and in fact are also on different tangents. It might seem hacky, but its working pretty well.
So something where the scale of an item rolled with the mouse would affect the scale of others... the three items on the top of the square divide up that space into 3 large chunks, etc. around the edges. So it wouldn't work to be mouse-based. Has anyone seen anything like this?
Update:
What I did was basically have various spheres of influence, depending on mouse position and the changing sphere of influence, I got this to work pretty well. Think fisheye menu or OS X dock with elements that are not evenly spaced out, and in fact are also on different tangents. It might seem hacky, but its working pretty well.
Monday, January 14, 2008
I Am Duality.
Monday, January 14, 2008
1 Comments
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Deep linking Flash content
Saturday, January 12, 2008
3 Comments
I am about to embark on implementing some deep linking into a Flash mini-application on a web page and wanted to know if there are any gotchas when doing this. It seems quite straightforward and uses javascript to pull it all off. Would there be an issue when using named anchor frames in multiple SWF content where the anchor names do not collide, but is this really meant for a single SWF instance? Things like that. I'm sure I'll discover something when I get into this approach.
Why can't it blizzard in Boston on Tuesday?
0 Comments
The weather in Boston has been pretty great lately. I originally come from Pennsylvania near Lake Erie, so I know what winter really means (lake effect time, so tons of snow daily, almost no sun to speak of, and very frigid temperatures). So Sunday night/Monday morning/Monday we are supposed to receive 10-14 inches of the white stuff in Boston. Which means a killer commute and perhaps leaving work early.
Macworld is Tuesday. Why couldn't it snow on Tuesday!?!?
Macworld is Tuesday. Why couldn't it snow on Tuesday!?!?
Pierogi...
2 Comments
Gdzie Bedziesz Pamietac Mame
Pierogi have a very special meaning for me. My Grandmother used to make them and they were completely amazing. They take a lot of work to make too, two days total per batch, so the batches were usually large and frozen. If you don't have access to a decent purveyor and you don't want to go the craptacular Mrs. T's frozen in the grocer route, you should try The Perogie Palace in Oil City, PA. They are a bit larger than what my Grandmother used to make, but they are indeed hand-made and are very good. They ship with ice packs so they arrive frozen. If you've never had them, I suggest a cheese variant first.
Oil City is a little hamlet of a place where I spent my time growing up as I visited grandparents. It was a small town full of friendly people. An antique feel to it, everything felt perfect. Lots of woods to walk in, clean neighborhoods, genuine people, lots of Polish, devotion to one's religion, and people looking out for other people. My youth was spent in a few homes in this magical, hilly landscape. Oil City is now run down and a haven for crack labs in the majestic woods along the Allegheny River. But there are still good people there, and a good person runs this store I mentioned above. I've driven by the music store a million times before they sold perogi.
Roman Catholic churches in the area used to seel perogi a few times a year, men and women got together and made magic in the kitchens. Because the populace is growing older in Oil City (not much to bring new people in), the churches stopped with the perogi sales. It takes a lot of work. So in response to that, Perogi Palace is serving a need in the community. Its keeping ties alive by making good, home-made perogi still available in the area. Not everyone's Babcia or Grandmother knows how to make good perogi.
Place an order to help these guys out. Its good food made by good people in a town that still holds a lot of magic for me.
Pierogi have a very special meaning for me. My Grandmother used to make them and they were completely amazing. They take a lot of work to make too, two days total per batch, so the batches were usually large and frozen. If you don't have access to a decent purveyor and you don't want to go the craptacular Mrs. T's frozen in the grocer route, you should try The Perogie Palace in Oil City, PA. They are a bit larger than what my Grandmother used to make, but they are indeed hand-made and are very good. They ship with ice packs so they arrive frozen. If you've never had them, I suggest a cheese variant first.
Oil City is a little hamlet of a place where I spent my time growing up as I visited grandparents. It was a small town full of friendly people. An antique feel to it, everything felt perfect. Lots of woods to walk in, clean neighborhoods, genuine people, lots of Polish, devotion to one's religion, and people looking out for other people. My youth was spent in a few homes in this magical, hilly landscape. Oil City is now run down and a haven for crack labs in the majestic woods along the Allegheny River. But there are still good people there, and a good person runs this store I mentioned above. I've driven by the music store a million times before they sold perogi.
Roman Catholic churches in the area used to seel perogi a few times a year, men and women got together and made magic in the kitchens. Because the populace is growing older in Oil City (not much to bring new people in), the churches stopped with the perogi sales. It takes a lot of work. So in response to that, Perogi Palace is serving a need in the community. Its keeping ties alive by making good, home-made perogi still available in the area. Not everyone's Babcia or Grandmother knows how to make good perogi.
Place an order to help these guys out. Its good food made by good people in a town that still holds a lot of magic for me.
Gizmodo CES Banishment
0 Comments
A staffer from Gizmodo has been banned from all future CES events because of his antics of shutting off flat panel displays with an IR emitter. It was pretty funny to see exhibit screens go down, but when he started turning them off repeatedly and also turned off a panel during a *press conference* he crossed the line. Its childlike, but when you mess with stuff that badly and then brag about it with video footage, you knew something was going to happen. I'm glad responsible folk at Gizmodo haven't been banned, just the yahoo who decided to take a prank too far and then brag about it.
Friday, January 11, 2008
HD content in iTunes
Friday, January 11, 2008
0 Comments
I just got done watching Diggnation in HD via iTunes. Quality is pretty spectacular... overkill for a video podcast, but once you go HD, there just isn't any going back. Have to watch it big.
Ok, I'll bite. Prediction for MacWorld
0 Comments
"There's something in the air"
Sounds like it could be Apple TV 2.0, new form factor, new guts, revamped UI, and the key being wireless HDMI (component) to stream movie rentals, etc. to your set. I don't think the iPhone or iPod Touch are up to the challenge of HD content. Maybe it would be for standard def. movie downloads to those devices though.
We might even see an Apple TV (think cinema display with a large form factor with the Apple TV built right into it). Perhaps a cable card to boot, so Apple would have tighter control over the sources that come into such a device. And the TV could broadcast to standard Apple TV 2.0 units around the house if you had them.
Sounds like it could be Apple TV 2.0, new form factor, new guts, revamped UI, and the key being wireless HDMI (component) to stream movie rentals, etc. to your set. I don't think the iPhone or iPod Touch are up to the challenge of HD content. Maybe it would be for standard def. movie downloads to those devices though.
We might even see an Apple TV (think cinema display with a large form factor with the Apple TV built right into it). Perhaps a cable card to boot, so Apple would have tighter control over the sources that come into such a device. And the TV could broadcast to standard Apple TV 2.0 units around the house if you had them.
My PC's Registry Bonkers
0 Comments
No idea if this application provides false positives or not, but every single time I run Uniblue's RegistryBooster software, it finds stuff that need repairing. For example, I haven't run it in 9 days (since repairs made). So I just ran it...
51 Problems/Errors Found
Activex, OLE, COM Sections (2)
Invalid File Associations (3)
User Software Settings (36)
System Software Settings (3)
File Extensions (4)
Help Section (3)
How the hell can I possibly have these many problems after only 9 days of fairly normal usage? Either this software wants me to think I really, really need it and its almost never really doing anything, or this PC of mine is rather flaky. Ugh.
51 Problems/Errors Found
Activex, OLE, COM Sections (2)
Invalid File Associations (3)
User Software Settings (36)
System Software Settings (3)
File Extensions (4)
Help Section (3)
How the hell can I possibly have these many problems after only 9 days of fairly normal usage? Either this software wants me to think I really, really need it and its almost never really doing anything, or this PC of mine is rather flaky. Ugh.
Rinnai Tankless Hot Water
13 Comments
We are seriously considering getting a Rinnai in our home, an interior natural gas powered SKU. We have a decently sized tank, but one shower following another can sometimes result in lukewarm water. Our tank is about 10 years old too, so its probably close to seeing the end of its useful days.
Do you own one of these? Do you love it? Any problems? I see they are about $1,100 - but not sure if that includes installation, but I doubt it. I hear beyond the upfront cost these things end up saving you money because you don't have to heat a huge tank of water all the time. Looking for some feedback on this technology.
Do you own one of these? Do you love it? Any problems? I see they are about $1,100 - but not sure if that includes installation, but I doubt it. I hear beyond the upfront cost these things end up saving you money because you don't have to heat a huge tank of water all the time. Looking for some feedback on this technology.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
128GB RAM?
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
2 Comments
When I saw the new Mac Pros come out and saw that you could slap up to 32GB RAM into them:
With a total of eight DIMM slots available, you can install up to 32GB of 800MHz ECC fully buffered DIMM memory.I then saw the very ugly but up-to-date Dell PT7400 which boasts of up to 64GB of RAM. They go so far to say that they will support up to 128GB of RAM:
Up to 128GB (available in Q2 2008 with expected availability of 8GB FB DIMMs) quad-channel architecture DDR2 Fully-Buffered DIMM 667 and 800 MHz ECC memoryNow, I'm sure the Mac Pro could do the same given its 64-bit and assume it has the same number of slots. However, who in their right mind would actually *need* that much RAM? That is the size of small hard drives. And I'm sure it would cost about the same as your car (right now anyway).
Shoutcast on PSP
0 Comments
The latest PSP network update brings with it the ability to download and use two internet radio players. One uses Shoutcast, the other Icecast. I've had better luck with Shoutcast, and tried listening to Groovesalad on it. It works quite nicely and there are a slew of stations based on genre (mostly) that you can choose from.
The application injects some "radio noise" beeps and stuff to make it seem more like a real radio station tuner which I found a bit annoying, but overall the experience is pretty nice.
It seems to download the entire streaming file and plays it back via cache in case you lose your wireless connection. I know this because I turned my wireless switch off and the current song played through.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
AS3 new Array methods
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
0 Comments
Well kick me square in the figs, I didn't realize all these new Array methods were available in AS3, chalk that up to more than pilot error but to pilot negligence. every(), filter(), forEach(), indexOf(), lastIndexOf(), map(), and some(). Found this page describing each of the new methods when I was looking for something else. What a good find, next time I should just spend a few hours and go through the online AS3 documentation to see what I didn't see before. Its good just to see them explained too.
ADC: 100 videos for $499
0 Comments
Purchase the ADC Video Collection for IT US$499.00
Upon purchase and activation, you can:
Access over 100 session videos and presentation slides from WWDC covering essential topic areas for IT professionals and developers, including:
Leopard Server
Best Practices in Mac OS X Administration
Managing Apple Technologies in Heterogeneous Environments
Download the videos and presentation slides through ADC on iTunes, then take them with you on your Mac, your iPod or your iPhone.
The fight to resist "componentizing" everything
2 Comments
I often get requests to produce pieces of UI that integrate with data of some sort for specific uses. After I code it all up and see that its working and extensible to be able to handle most anything a developer might throw at it or wish it would do, I always start to whip it up into a component so I can easily package it up as a component... just in case someone else might need to use it too, or might have a need do use it more than once.
However, thats a bit of extra work, and I always produce documentation (since you can't really use a component unless you have good documentation to go with it). I have to stop doing this, as it eats up time and if I keep doing this, there is going to be a whopper of a component folder in developer's IDEs (I'm not really creating Flex components at the moment). When does one really know when to draw the line? If I keep things well organized, I can rummage through files and pick it out again to use for the same thing again for someone, or extend something I already made. Its a conundrum I haven't quite found the answer too yet. But years of development == tons of useful code. One-offs seem like a shame to me. But perhaps one-offs really will remain one-offs and I'm spending time building out ease of future use when it might not be needed. I suppose when I get down time, I can "componentize" some of this work just for fun.
How do you personally fight the urge?
Update
Well, the latest component-type code thing I produced has now evolved into a full-blown application. Call it feature creep, code evolution, or whatever, but now the point is moot. It is no longer a single component, its a component nestled within a greater application that requires my attention and efforts. I'm all for it, but now componentization consideration is taking a serious back-seat to the efforts I need to exercise on the current state of need. This will surely keep me from componentizing anything anytime soon™... perhaps thats a good thing.
However, thats a bit of extra work, and I always produce documentation (since you can't really use a component unless you have good documentation to go with it). I have to stop doing this, as it eats up time and if I keep doing this, there is going to be a whopper of a component folder in developer's IDEs (I'm not really creating Flex components at the moment). When does one really know when to draw the line? If I keep things well organized, I can rummage through files and pick it out again to use for the same thing again for someone, or extend something I already made. Its a conundrum I haven't quite found the answer too yet. But years of development == tons of useful code. One-offs seem like a shame to me. But perhaps one-offs really will remain one-offs and I'm spending time building out ease of future use when it might not be needed. I suppose when I get down time, I can "componentize" some of this work just for fun.
How do you personally fight the urge?
Update
Well, the latest component-type code thing I produced has now evolved into a full-blown application. Call it feature creep, code evolution, or whatever, but now the point is moot. It is no longer a single component, its a component nestled within a greater application that requires my attention and efforts. I'm all for it, but now componentization consideration is taking a serious back-seat to the efforts I need to exercise on the current state of need. This will surely keep me from componentizing anything anytime soon™... perhaps thats a good thing.
Sometimes laziness pays off
0 Comments
I've been meaning to pick up one of those XBox 360 HD-DVD kits for a while now, but I've been too lazy to get my butt to a store and bring it home. Well, now that Paramount has joined Warner Brothers in going Blu-Ray only, you can hear that death bell ringing high up in the steeple of the format war. I didn't care too much who won, just that someone did. Looks like the forks are flying at high-velocity towards that HD-DVD pig now. I hope Apple comes out with Mac Pros with Blu-Ray opticals in them at MacWorld... that would make my day. Anyway, glad I didn't spend the money on a 360 HD-DVD drive that is destined to quickly become an afterthought and obsolete.
Update
Well, Apple unleashed the Mac Pro hounds a week before MacWorld and there is no mention of Blu-Ray. With the current events being too... current... I assume that Apple had to make a decision about any Blu-Ray or HD-DVD support months ago to ensure the design worked properly and that the manufacturing process had enough time to get product built ready to ship. So the seeming death of HD-DVD came later than Apple had time to properly respond to. I could always buy a drive and slap it into the new enclosure.
And yes, I am going place a BTO for one of the shiny new Mac Pros...
Update
Well, Apple unleashed the Mac Pro hounds a week before MacWorld and there is no mention of Blu-Ray. With the current events being too... current... I assume that Apple had to make a decision about any Blu-Ray or HD-DVD support months ago to ensure the design worked properly and that the manufacturing process had enough time to get product built ready to ship. So the seeming death of HD-DVD came later than Apple had time to properly respond to. I could always buy a drive and slap it into the new enclosure.
And yes, I am going place a BTO for one of the shiny new Mac Pros...
- Two 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (8-core)
- 4GB (4 x 1GB)
- 500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
- 500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
- NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB (Two dual-link DVI)
- One 16x SuperDrive
- Apple wireless Mighty Mouse
- Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) + Mac OS X
Monday, January 7, 2008
In Boston? Try some Boatyard Resin
Monday, January 7, 2008
2 Comments
If you live in Boston and you like funky music (if you like the Grateful Dead its a plus), then you need to head on over to The Middle East on January 11th (downstairs) and see what you think. Boatyard Resin is going to be playing there at 9PM. Its been cold in Boston, these jams make you feel a little bit warmer, and as the band says themselves, bring an extra pair of pants :)
Saturday, January 5, 2008
The perils of modding your Mail.app
Saturday, January 5, 2008
1 Comments
Back in the time of Tiger, I wanted a 3 column-view for my Mail.app since I have this gorgeous widescreen Cinema Display to take advantage of such a thing. I downloaded a mod (made with Interface Builder I think) that replaced some of the guts of the application. It worked like a charm. I added MailTags and other stuff too.
When I upgraded to Leopard the first moment it was out, my Mail.app stopped displaying mail counts. If I resized the app, the whole display went white & I'd have to relaunch it. I couldn't for the life of me remember what I did to mod my Mail.app and thought I was kind of stuck. After tons of googling, uninstalling hacks, etc. I found mention of an application in a post that rang a bell... Letterbox. A new version is out for Leopard (beta). I tried this and it fixed the mail counts and the resize problems.
If I didn't find that obscure post, I was going to see if Mail could be installed from the Leopard disk separately. That would have been a fairly big pain in the rear. So glad its back to working fine again.
When I upgraded to Leopard the first moment it was out, my Mail.app stopped displaying mail counts. If I resized the app, the whole display went white & I'd have to relaunch it. I couldn't for the life of me remember what I did to mod my Mail.app and thought I was kind of stuck. After tons of googling, uninstalling hacks, etc. I found mention of an application in a post that rang a bell... Letterbox. A new version is out for Leopard (beta). I tried this and it fixed the mail counts and the resize problems.
If I didn't find that obscure post, I was going to see if Mail could be installed from the Leopard disk separately. That would have been a fairly big pain in the rear. So glad its back to working fine again.
Looking at HD camcorders
7 Comments
We're about to upgrade our family camera to something in the mid-range digital SLR category, and felt we should upgrade our digital camcorder at the same time as well. Now, I know what we'll bite on for the SLR, but I have little experience with HD-capable (1080 would be great but 720 is still okay... prefer 1080 for our set of course) digital camcorders.
If you have an HD digital camcorder, please let me know the model and your experiences with it. Thanks in advance.
If you have an HD digital camcorder, please let me know the model and your experiences with it. Thanks in advance.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Tea... so much to enjoy
Friday, January 4, 2008
0 Comments
Obligatory image resizing badge from Pixelmator above.
A gentle warmth, not a lip-blistering heat. A higher level of caffeine when choosing a non-herbal variety.
If you want your tea sweet, milk and sugar can turn it into the closest thing to candy there is... without officially being candy. Coffee gets you that quick fix, then you feel yourself drop and its time for some more. With tea, the experience is more even keeled for me.
The caffeine buzz lasts longer, and its more even throughout. The taste is more pleasant, its not something you suck down because you're mainly after the effects, but its something you can sip and enjoy because its got substance and complexity. I've paid for the fancy coffees, and they are good, but it still feels like a quick fix.
When I drink tea, even though I'm hyped, I am more inclined to read something a little slower, code a little slower giving it more thought, and it makes me feel a little... smarter.
So its time for a little Earl Grey. And YES, I know, get some more PG Tips! (not pictured above -- hence the need to procure more).
Crucible
0 Comments
Stay tuned™
My choice for President and Vice-President
1 Comments
Imagine.Dave on the left for President and on the right Bruce. I know Bruce isn't eligible because he is not a citizen, but what a wonderful four years these two would bring to the world of politics.
The inaugural ball alone would be something approaching nirvana. Marshall stacks in the Oval Office. A wet bar in the foyer. Bruce could actually fly Airforce One (he has his commercial pilot's license). Dave would make a kick-ass Commander in Chief and wouldn't take prisoners or take any sh*t.
I have Maiden/Bruce and Megadeth on constant rotation over here on shuffle, I've been rocking out while coding and designing, and its been a bountiful afternoon. So this article is purely the offshoot of that. I love it.
If there's a new way. I'll be the first in line. But it better work this time.
Flash/Flex/Air Podcasts - what direction?
1 Comments
I have been quite remiss in not producing podcasts regularly. I see that the only one updated with predictable consistency is The Flex Show (that I am aware of anyway). I have been head down developing and thus have found producing a podcast a little difficult. I feel that interview-type of technology podcasts seem to be the best & have been unable to sync up with some in my social network... something I've really been trying to nail down since my podcasts inception.
How many of you regularly listen to tech podcasts in regards to Flash and the RIA space? Do you listen mostly for entertainment, or do you listen in order to learn techniques or trends? I predict its the former, but of course I cannot be sure. What kind of podcasts would benefit you the most? As developers, we're all quite busy as the industry has been heating up for quite some time now... perhaps podcasts are too distracting while we work, and perhaps we don't commute as much as we live in our code holes... coding?
How many of you regularly listen to tech podcasts in regards to Flash and the RIA space? Do you listen mostly for entertainment, or do you listen in order to learn techniques or trends? I predict its the former, but of course I cannot be sure. What kind of podcasts would benefit you the most? As developers, we're all quite busy as the industry has been heating up for quite some time now... perhaps podcasts are too distracting while we work, and perhaps we don't commute as much as we live in our code holes... coding?
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Band Sites
Thursday, January 3, 2008
0 Comments
Most of us really love music, and we follow certain bands religiously. I am like this, and there are a number of bands I have followed for decades. It pains me to see most of their sites as being functional but lacking any real graphic design or wow factor. Rush's website got a lift about a year ago and its pretty decent. However, Iron Maiden, Jethro Tull and other band's sites are really lacking in polish. They work, they provide the necessary data to followers, but if you were knew to them, you might think they take things as seriously as they could. Thats not the case musically, but first and ongoing impressions count for something. I've already done some behind-the-scenes need-to-be-a-member stuff for Iron Maiden that has turned out very well. Tull simply needs a whole new package in my opinion. Perhaps these older bands don't see the need... they have their throngs of loyal followers who simply appreciate there being a site to visit at all. That could be the case, but there are so many times when I will mock-up new site designs for lots of these bands that just get filed away. I'd love to implement some of my work... and I'd do it for free, just because these bands have given me so many great memories and listening enjoyment that its my way of saying thank you beyond purchasing their work and attending their shows. Rant is over, daydreaming suspended. Back to regular work.
J.R.R.T. Happy Birthday
1 Comments
Wishing Johnathan Ronald Reuel Tolkien a happy birthday today. You shaped my imagination and brought me a more profound love of the majestic outdoors.
Tonight I toast your name with my finest port wine, laid down 18 years ago after having been aged 25 prior.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Prediction for 2008
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
0 Comments
2008 is here now and I had a dream, a dream about clarity, proper hygiene, underarm anti-antiperspirant, and someone finally getting a clue. Steve Balmer, this is your year to get your head out of your ass.
Flash Non-linear slideshow foundation
0 Comments
I haven't seen anything that makes creating a PPT-like Flash presentation with variable branching available anywhere. With minimal coding for the person preparing the thing.
If you know of one or something like it, I'd be interested. So you'd be able to jump to any "slide" or when you get to one, you'd have some branching options (with a UI control for it).
If there isn't one, I think I should get coding and put one together. The least amount of code for a user, the better.
If you know of one or something like it, I'd be interested. So you'd be able to jump to any "slide" or when you get to one, you'd have some branching options (with a UI control for it).
If there isn't one, I think I should get coding and put one together. The least amount of code for a user, the better.