February 13th, 2010
It seems for many people I know this year seems to be accelerating the growth of ideas. I hope that yours are helping both yourself and others. Creating lasting value that will build upon a strong foundation of great work.
We are approaching the 10 year mark of living within a new millennium. As we become a largely knowledge based economy the cost of ownership of your dreams is shrinking. More ideas are being implemented faster due to access to knowledge thanks to companies like Google.
So I am left to ask, what is your great idea and how can you share it with more people? What is the platform that you are building?
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October 8th, 2009
Now repeat this for IETHANK YOU GOOGLE!!!!
A new plugin has been released that will soon be included with most sites I and others create. Chrome Frame. When visited by an Internet Explorer browser it will spawn a full screen frame with a copy of Google Chrome running inside it. If you are a developer of any sort you will recognize the time this will save, no more creating 4 different versions of a site to support all the different “features” of different versions of IE. If you’ve never heard of this then this news will likely mean very little to you, one day you will be asked to install a plugin to properly view a web-site and it will go from looking rather funky to a correct layout.
Google THANK YOU!!
Very brief background on the joys of this new plugin: IE 6 displays web-pages different than most every other browser on the market, unless you do one of 3 things:
- use a very limited and ineffecient method of structure code
- make a version of the page that will load ONLY for IE 6 users
- use a hack such as IE-7.js to make it behave a little more like others
Now rinse and repeat for IE7, and if you want to use a new technology such as the HTML5 tag Canvas (which make very cool eye candy & interfaces possible) IE8
Since all other browsers draw their base from one of 2 sources Webkit (think Apple Safari & Google Chrome) and Gecko (think Firefox). That makes a potential of 5 different versions of a web-site being built so that it will display properly for everyone. There are standards that have been established by the World Wide Web Consortium which both Webkit & Gecko follow fairly well, including keeping up with new standards as they are released. IE…. well they pick and choose, and sometimes just play their own way, so chances are you are building 4 versions of a site to be displayed properly.
Now enter Google Chromeframe which you will be asked to install once through a single click and BAM… instant standards compatible displayed web-pages without the need to build 3 extra versions. For Web Developers the world over this is a happy day indeed, if you are looking to have a new web-site built then you can share the joy as the costs to build and maintain a site will be reduced to anyone that wants to use this new tool.
Posted in Good, Open Source, Web Function | No Comments »
December 4th, 2008
This one goes out to all the code writers, web developers, and open source script fans.
This is a short script I built for a project, ended up opting to use individual AJAX uploads rather than multiple uploads at once. Yet a script this useful deserves to see the rest of the world so I give you.
Multiple File Uploads with JQuery and Code Igniter
To get it running extract into the root directory of a Code Igniter installation, included are:
The upload library is based upon the CI upload library, it will check for attacks, and check whether the files uploaded are images or something else. You can restrict the files to any extension(s), if you need more security than that then I’ll assume you know enough to add in the function you need.
The beauty of this script is the simplicity, with a few lines of code you can allow for multiple uploads from a single page, then let this script handle the uploads and pass on information about everything that happened.
If you are not familiar with Code Igniter it is a rather lightweight PHP MVC framework. Which is a geeky way of saying that it is a programming framework that can save you time without eating your server. Of course the same goes for JQuery, which is for Javascript framework that will save you time.
If you have any questions please leave a comment or ask me through the contact form.
Tags: Code Igniter, JQuery, Open Source
Posted in Open Source | 10 Comments »
December 3rd, 2008
What’s in this stuff anyways? Ever find yourself asking that about the cleaners under your sink? or your (baby) shampoo? What about who is making it? Not just the company that owns the brand, how about the ethics that company employs? Wonder how you are voting with your dollar each time you go shopping? You can now find all this information along with a simple scorecard at a new website GoodGuide. The group behind this idea is nothing short of awesome, to hear them tell it:
One summer a few years ago, Dara O’Rourke was doing what he’d done dozens of times before: putting sunscreen on his five-year old daughter Minju before she went outside to play in the summer sun. The thought occurred to Dara,
“I wonder what’s really in this stuff?” So being a Professor at the University of California-Berkeley, Dara researched the sunscreen. What he found was surprising and disturbing: the sunscreen he’d been putting on Minju for years had a toxic ingredient.
At that moment, Dara realized how little we know about the products we bring into our homes every day, and that other parents should have the same access to product information that he and his fellow researchers had. He also wanted to solve the problem of increasingly confusing marketing claims regarding whether products were actually healthy, safe or green.
That idea evolved into a research project, that research project evolved into a “for-benefit” company which has joined forces with a wide range of scientific research and non-profit organizations for compiling data from specific ingredients and their effects upon you, the environment, their surrounding community, and on and on.
If you are still reading this post then hop on over and take a look, while the site is still in Beta I see it becomming a rather large success, especially being able to send in UPC codes via text message with your phone and get a rating back. Thinking it through this idea seems so obvious it’s amazing that no-one has done it yet, so my hats off to the guys at GoodGuide.com
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December 2nd, 2008
A little bit ago I announce that this web site is green. So what the heck does that mean?
The server powering this web site and all web sites that we offer hosting to is now certified to be powered by Texas wind farms, and it gets even better, this server is powered 130% by texas wind, so it’s not just carbon neutral, it’s carbon negative. This was done with the help of 3 Degrees a supplier of Renewable Energy Credits, which is a fancy way to say they work with renewable energy producers (Mostly Wind Farms) to offset the initial price of creating clean energy as opposed to using… coal or other fossil fuels.
Great… So that means what exactly? In this day in age you’ve probably heard of climate change, if not feeel free to visit google, wikipedia, the World Bank, or to quote the International Monetary Fund
Most scientists agree that the global temperature is rising as a result of man-made emissions of greenhouse gases, and that the earth’s climate is changing.
While this small step is just that, powering an average server takes the equivilient of a 15mpg SUV in terms of carbon emmissions. Not too shabby, and merely a beginning. While I have made a conscious effort to leave as small a footprint as I can for several years, I also seek to make a big impact. As time goes on I will be publishing more resources to help you reduce your own footprint, for now I offer this quick list;
This is a beginning, though I must admit that sharing my views feels better each time I write. All to often we get in the mix of holding back our beliefs to avoid creating controversy. Taking a stand will get you snubbed out of a nubmer of invitations, trust me you probably didn’t want them anyway. So go make a stand for yourself and share your belifs, those that listen will be far more in your favor for it, and you will feel better for aligning yourself with your truth.
Tags: climate change, green, renewnable energy, sustainability, web hosting
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November 14th, 2008
originally by: Seth Godin
You probably don’t need to read this, but I bet you know people who do. Please feel free to repost or forward:
Times are tough, and many say they are going to be tougher. That makes some people more focused, it turns others desperate.
You may be tempted at some point to try to make a million dollars. To do it without a lot of effort or skill or risk. Using a system, some shortcut perhaps, or mortgaging something you already own.
There are countless infomercials and programs and systems that promise to help you do this. There are financial instruments and investments and documents you can sign that promise similar relief from financial stress.
Resist.
There are four ways to make a million dollars. Luck. Patient effort. Skill. Risk.
(Five if you count inheritance, and six if you count starting with two million dollars).
Conspicuously missing from this list are effortless 1-2-3 systems that involve buying an expensive book or series of tapes. Also missing are complicated tax shelters or other ‘proven’ systems. The harder someone tries to sell you this solution, the more certain you should be that it is a scam. If no skill or effort is required, then why doesn’t the promoter just hire a bunch of people at minimum wage and keep the profits?
There are literally a million ways to make a good living online, ten million ways to start and thrive with your own business offline. But all of these require effort, and none of them are likely to make you a million dollars.
Short version of my opinion: If someone offers to sell you the secret system, don’t buy it. If you need to invest in a system before you use it, walk away. If you are promised big returns with no risk and little effort, you know the person is lying to you. Every time.
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November 2nd, 2008
These guys are giving a buck for everyone that places a fake beard on their photo and sends it in.
Care to join in to help gather donations for Kiva a micro loan group that funds entrepreneurs in developing nations. Enabliing many families to support themselves.
Tags: charity, Good, help
Posted in Good | 1 Comment »
October 30th, 2008
Mitesdesign.com will be showing up green rather soon. I figured it’d time to let my colors show.
For several months now Mitesdesign.com and a number of affiliated web-sites have been hosted by 130% green carbon credits. Meaning that every month the power used by our server is carbon neutral and 30% of the power is credited back to the grid.
This is a simple beginning of a number of changes that have been discussed recently when we asked what is our story? Personally I have been a supporter of sustainable energy since 5th grade when I first played with solar panels in my school science fair. It took many years before I came to realize how those panels hooked up to a motor could reshape the world. We live at a time when “global warming” has gone from a myth of the extremists, to a responsibility hot potatoe being tossed around, “well it may exist, but it’s not our fault”. This while the World Bank held their first conference on how to deal with climate change over 2 years ago.
Sustainability is a rather big word when you first hear it, in a nutshell it means that what we do now, our grandchildren and their grandchildren will be able to do. I’m not here to harp on anyone, however over the next several weeks I will be happy to show a new face, and look forward to sharing tips on how to green up your own business. Most things are rather simple, and the beauty of it is that most things that are green save green.
GO GREEN!
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October 16th, 2008
I recently came across a project Google has put together to give away $10 million to the idea that can help the most people Project 10 to the 100.Until this coming Monday October 20th they are accepting any idea to help others in whatever way you, and anyone else has to share. So I present the question: Given the chance how would you change the world?You have friends and associates who have been thinking of that one thing they would do if only there was enough _______________. I can think of a few I’ve had over the years, such as using solar powered electrolysis to convert ocean water into pure drinking water while running a small engine with some of the extra hydrogen.In this competition there are no wrong answers.Please share your ideas with the world, think how you would like things to change and then think how you could do it bigger. This competition gives the grand prize to the idea that can help the most people.What a beautiful idea,share Project 10 to the 100 far and wide
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