Month: August 2006

Productivity
August 31, 2006
Use your browser when ports are blocked.
Since being back on campus, I have been doing a lot of my work on the school’s LAN and WiFi networks, as well as their computers. While usually I can get my work done without problems, sometimes I run into blocked ports or computers I cannot download. To fix the problem, I have been doing things like FTPing and IMing via the broswer, on some very powerful web apps. Here are a couple of resources I have been using.
Meebo is a great web app that allows for IMing on a number of different clients including AIM, Yahoo, Jabber and MSN. Once logged in you have your buddy list and moveable IM windows, as if you were working on the desktop within your browser. You can view profiles, set away messages, etc. MUCH better than AIM express.
The second website I have been using while on campus is an FTP Client called FTP Live. It’s a little slow and as far as I know you can’t upload multiple files. But when you need something in the clinch, It’s a good site to use.
I have not found an SSH/Telnet program within browser yet, so if you know of one, let me know in the comments! Later!
General
August 25, 2006
Little or No Internet
I have moved in at school for the semester and as of right now I am not getting internet in my room. I need to run a wire up to it, and I hate running wires. I am trying to pick up WiFi but it’s not working out. I am fixing the problem ASAP!!
UPDATE: It’s working now. More posts soon
Code
August 22, 2006
New Facebook Fun
For all the people out there with Facebook, an online social site for college and now high school students all across America, it got some new features. CollegeV2 has an extensive write up on it here, but I wanted to add my 2 cents in.
First is the Facebook API. An API is an “Application Programming Interface,” which basically amounts to developers being able to use some of facebook’s programming to make their own 3rd party applications. What it means is (probably) a bunch of new websites and resources for those of us who have a facebook account. And if you are a programmer, you get the opportunity to create some of that 3rd party software and be recognized on the site. If anyone has any ideas, I’d love to help.
What you see to the left is a facebook badge. It is a little add on you can put on your website, blog (live journal, blogger, xanga, etc.), or even your myspace, and it displays whatever information you choose to display from your facebook profile. Mine will be added to the about page, and probably won’t change much. It also links directly to your profile.
Finally, Facebook Notes. It’s kind of like a blog, but they aren’t calling it that. You can write notes for yourself, about your friends (linking your friends in the note), add pictures, and import your blog, which I did. It seems like a pretty cool idea, and looks A LOT nicer than the MySpace blog.
That’s all I got! Let me know if you find anything new, or what your thoughts are on the aforementioned in the comments! Later!
Reviews
August 19, 2006
Snakes on a Plane
This movie is proof; a testament if you will, to a number of things. The first is that the internet is a powerful tool able to influence a movie, and influence it in a positive way. The movie would not have been the same if the name was really changed to “South Pacific Flight 121,” and made into a PG-13 flick. It would have been a bad movie. Because from the title you would have assumed that this was a serious movie. Because you can’t do what they did in a PG-13 movie. The second is that Samuel L. Jackson can take anything, anything, and make it awesome.
Snakes on a Plane is about a man named Sean Jones who witnesses a very dangerous man commit a murder. This man now wants Jones dead, and will do anything to make it happen. After “Exhausting EVERY OTHER option”, he decides to release deadly snakes on his plane to LA, where Sean is going to testify against him. Sam L, playing FBI Agent Nevil Flynn, must protect him.
The movie continues to surprise the audience with outrageous occurrences, continual problems, a lot of jokes and some great quotes. This movie, as a movie- as a script- is not good. However, from the script to the silver screen, it is an awesome movie that will be the most fun you have in the theater. And if you are afraid of snakes, well, so am I. It’s a movie. It can’t hurt you! Later!
Business
August 15, 2006
Tick Time Tracker
LifeHacker is a resource of infite knowledge. While reading the site today, I came across their write up on a site called Tick. This is a web-based, very AJAXy application that helps you budget your time spent on projects by allowing you to make Clients (or subjects) and then add projects you are doing. You then input an over-all time you think you will spend on the project and you can create tasks for the project. While it is a very nifty program I will be using for my business, You can just as easily use it for school projects. With this along with Stu.dicio.us, you should be all set for the upcoming semester! Later!
Code
August 11, 2006
Uploading Images in PHP
After dabbling in PHP for some time, and writing an image upload script about 8 months ago, I would like to post it here, with a short tutorial. I have recently reused the script and a friend of mine asked how he would go about doing such a thing. My upload script, to begin, is a function in PHP that returns the path of the image file, which I then add to a database.
The first thing you must do is set the form up correctly. along with the form name and method (for this, method="post"), you have to specify that you are uploading more than text. Simply add enctype="multipart/form-data" in the form tag. Second, you have to set the permissions on your server to allow uploads. You have to set the Permissions to “777” or Read, Write, Execute for Owner, Group and Public (or World).
Now onto the function. While processing the form, all you do is add something like $image= upload_pic($picName);. This calls the function upload_pic(), passing the argument $picName. The following is an image with well documented code explaining what is going on. For some reason, WordPress doesn’t like it when I code right in the post. At the bottom of the post is a .txt file with all of the code in this post.
Here is the .txt file with all of the code shown above. If you have any questions, or feel I missed something, be sure to comment on it! Later.
Productivity
August 8, 2006
Stu.dicio.us
Stu.dicio.us is a social note-taking website that looks really nice and handy. It has your schedule, todo list for each class and notes, which anyone using the site can search. This is great for sharing notes with classmates or getting notes if you were skipp….Umm, out sick. Plus, on September 1st, they are integrating Wikipedia, grade tracker and file manager.
Lifehacker has a great write-up/discussion here. I will definitely be giving this a try, and I encourage everyone (especially those who I share classes with) to try it too! Later!
Productivity
August 7, 2006
Getting Organized II
Last Time, I talked about a number of different calendars to get organized. I also mentioned my personal favorite was my Treo, as well as a date book (paper organizer). Now I want to talk about To Do Lists. Everyone uses them and I highly recommend using them. Unlike the calendars, you have a little more freedom with a to do or tasks list, as you can write them anywhere. But be sure to keep track of them. I want to tell you about some of the methods I use, as well as a couple of nice resources.
My Treo:
As I mentioned in the last post of this series, I use my Treo for everything. The Tasks feature is displayed right with the calendar, and you can set reminders on it. Not to mention it auto-syncs with my PC so I will get reminders while I work too.
Paper Lists:
The absolute best for an ad-hock to do list, though I have been known to use my treo’s memos feature for that as well. I will usually scribble a to do list in my datebook, on one of the days of the week that has already past- that way I will still see it when I check my calendar for the week (at least until the end of that week). I will also jot one down on a legal pad I have on me or the white board that is up in my room
White Boards:
I have used one every year of school, and plan on it for my senior year. Easy to update, always on display, and writing that list you wrote during class one more time will help you remember it.
Online Resources:
Admittedly, I do not use online resources that often. The problem with to do lists I have used online is the same I have with online calendars- You need to be at a computer. I have emailed myself lists (I always check my email, a million times a day. AND I get my email on my treo) on occasion. The best site I have seen is TaDa List. It is nice and easy to use. With that said, I would like to plug a project I am working on, that I hope to have complete soonish. TasksBook.com will be a way to bring your online tasks list to you- It will be clean and easy to use, and it will send you not only email reminders but txt message reminders to your phone. It is really a project I started to hone my AJAX skills, as well as a build a useful app for users. While I have taken on a few clients and school is starting soon, I will use my free time to develop the site and get it into beta as soon as possible.
What do you use for your tasks?? Is there a website or really good method I missed?? Next time: Contacts List. Later!
Productivity
August 1, 2006
Getting Organized
With just a few weeks until school started (me going into my senior year I am both excited and apprehensive), I am started now to try and get organized. With the number of credits I am taking as well as my level of involvement, I can’t help but think my senior year is going to be a busy one. Pretty much since high school I have been trying to find the perfect way to get and stay organized, and well, I am not very good at it. But I have tried my hand at ALOT of things, and I will tell you what has worked better, and what I am going with now.
Paper Organizer:
Honestly, in this world of tech and cheap PDAs I feel a paper organizer is still great to go with. Really good for use at meetings where you might be taking notes, a nice layout of your week and month, and plenty of room for notes in those places too. Not to mention many come with folders you can put important documents into. This is one method I am going to use this year, as I did last year.
PDA/Smart Phone:
I love them. But I find I never used JUST a PDA. As a techie, of course, I would want more features; not just a calendar, address book, todo list. They are small and compact, most are easy to use. I would just need a little more incentive to carry one around- Such as my HP iPAQ with WiFi, or what I currently have, my Treo 650. This is my phone as well as an organizer, etc. So I carry it around everywhere I go, and as a result, I use it for everything. I also use Outlook, which the Treo syncs with
Computer Organizers:
I find that while something like Outlook is nice, it’s only really useful if you have something else with it. Unless you plan on having your computer with you, on all the time ready to type in appointments, Outlook or the like isn’t your best bet.
Online Organizers:
In the world of Web 2.0, there are an infinite amount of resources for someone to get organized online. However, it poses the same problem as a Computer Organizer- unless you are around a computer all the time with Internet access, you will need something else. Some of you best bets, however, include Google Calendar or HipCal.
I will be going with a paper organizer, as well as my treo. I could rely solely on the treo, but I suppose I am kind of old fashioned for a techie. I just like the feel of the paper organizer and find it a little easier to use at times. Well, I wasn’t really planning on making this a series, but this post was getting long, so Next time I will talk about tasks/todo lists. Later!

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