Month: February 2007

  • February 24, 2007

    New Design- Overview

    Introduction

    I suppose if I had to give this version a number, I’d say it’s version 4.0. TheJoey.Net has seen 3 major redesigns and I had a “blog” when I first started web design. This design by far has seen the most innovation and customization on my part. On the About Page it says this site is my sandbox. That is the absolute truth, and probably the reason the design changes so often (I’d say once a year is pretty often). But this time around I wanted something that will hopefully last longer than that. So not only did I work in a ‘change of face,’ I added new features and showcased some of my new skills.

    What’s Coming

    This mini series on the redesign will probably be four posts: Design, Dynamics, Projects and Plug-ins. Within these four posts I’ll be able to talk about all of the new and improved features of the site. For example, I am using a layout optimized for a 1024 screen resolution instead of 800. I also changed all of the pages so they can be updated from the back end. I worked in some Ajax and wrote my first plug in.

    What do you want?

    If there is a feature you want to hear specifically about, just leave a comment and I will make note of it. I personally think I was about to do some cool stuff, and while there is still some house keeping I need to attend to, I am happy with how the site came out.

  • February 20, 2007

    EMusic

    EMusic

    Over the last week or so, I have been using a website called Emusic to download music. It is a subscription based website where you pay monthly and get a monthly quota on song downloads. The subscriptions break down like this:

    • $10.00/month- 30 songs
    • $15.00/month- 50 songs
    • $20.00/month- 75 songs

    I’d say that’s a pretty good deal. 75 songs works out to about 5 or 6 cds(12-15 songs per CD). That works out to $75-$90 (at $15/cd). So you save quite a bit. Plus, now EMusic is running a promotion where you get 25 free songs before your subscription starts. I got 100 songs for $20. That’s pretty tough to beat. But I have not mentioned the best part of Emusic. There is NO DRM. Zip. Zilch. Nada. You download the songs with EMusic’s download manager and do with them what you will. That being said, here is one complaint I have about Emusic.

    Their music collection, while vast, is limited to certain record labels. It’s still a huge collection. I was able to blow through 100 downloads in one night and I want more. That means I’ll be signing on again for at least March. But when I did a search for bands I listen to, I didn’t find a lot, or what I did find was compilation albums. I hope that as EMusic grows, so does the list of labels they have to offer. But I would say it’s at least worth the 25 free downloads. Just don’t forget to cancel your subscription after that!

    Emusic

  • February 15, 2007

    New Design Launch!

    New Design

    Announcing (finally), the new design of TheJoey.Net. You may have noticed over the last 2 days, this design was up more and more. I was putting the finishing touches on the design and wanted to see how it looked live, in the flesh. Over the next couple of weeks I will talk about all of the new stuff, including the design, AJAX features, my first crack and a WordPress plugin, and more.

    As for right now, I am just happy I finally launched it. I started working on it in late December, and if you’ll recall, I started doing a live update a month ago. Let me know what you think in the comments!

  • February 10, 2007

    Prey by Michael Crichton

    PREY

    Prey by Michael Crichton is a SciFi book that focuses on the possibilities of evolutionary programming and nano technology. Problems arise at a nano technology company call Xymos when they lose control of a nano particle swarm. Jack Foreman is called in to help. They used his genetic algorithm, PREDPREY, to program the swarm, and hoped he would be able to get it under control. When Jack arrives, he begins to find out that there is much more to the story than what he has been told. The swarm that has broken free is evolving and fast. They also seem to be reproducing. If they don’t do something fast, they are in a lot of trouble.

    This book was appealing to me for two reasons: It’s a good story, and it goes pretty in depth about genetic algorithms, evolutionary programming, and programming in general. What we see in Prey seems pretty real, possible, and close to being done. Genetic Algorithms are something I have learned about in school and have started to program. Right from the beginning we start hearing about the kind of work that Jack does, and how he views the world, how he thinks, etc. This is a surprisingly accurate representation of the typical programmer. Crichton really did his research. The story also starts to pick up right at the beginning. Jack’s wife is a VP of Xymos, and has been working long hours lately. Her character has changed and he can’t put is finger on why. There is suspicion of cheating. Things start to get weird at home. That’s when Jack is called into Xymos, and goes against his wife’s wishes.

    All in all, it’s a pretty fast read. The continued plot twists, surprises and frightening reality of it all makes it quite the page turner. And the references to programming don’t hurt either.