Month: October 2006

  • October 25, 2006

    New Server

    TheJoey.Net has a new home! After a lot of debating (and pulling my hair out), I have decided it is time to move onto bigger and better things than my really bad ex-host, Jiffynet.Net. You may have noticed lately the frequent site outages, errors, etc. This was due to very poor hosting that has pretty much existed since I have been with Jiffynet. While these things can be expected sometimes, it recent weeks it has become unmanageable. I have decided to switch hosting over to DreamHost, after hearing some good things about them.

    Right now I am still in the moving process, and it would be a great help if would tell me about any bugs you see on the site (you can find a report bug form on the about page). Thanks! Later!

    UPDATE: The comments are not working nor is the Report Bug function. I will be working on these later. for now if you see anything else, email me at joe [at] casabona [dot] org. Thanks!

    UPDATE 2: Comments art FINALLY Working! With that said, I will probably be doing a more AJAX-tastic redesign soon. Later!

  • October 21, 2006

    The Gift of Faith Foundation

    Gift of Faith

    Bill Conroy contacted me over the summer about creating a website for a non-profit organization he started called The Gift of Faith Foundation, which offers a college scholarship to the winner of an annual contest. What he wanted, to put it in his own words, was something “simple but elegant.”

    He gave me a lot of control for the design, but did bring some of his ideas to the table. For example, the images in the background on each page was his idea that I made happen. I used a lot of blues and glowing/light effects to give the website a ‘promising’ and welcoming feel. Since it was religiously based, I tried to capture that kind of heavenly aspect. He also provided text for all of the pages, with the exception of the home page. I felt that it should be pretty informative, as well as just pretty. I added boxes for each major section of the site- separate boxes to give the site a modular, Web 2.0ish feel. While the site is admittedly a simple one, I feel it does accomplish its goal and has enough flare there to make it not boring. Right now I am looking into added an online donation button to the site, probably via Google Checkout. I am of-course, open to suggestions. Later!

  • October 18, 2006

    Google Notebook

    Google Notebook

    For a long time now I have carried an “Ideas” Notebook around with me to jot down ideas and plans for websites, logos, clients, and anything that popped in my head really. Recently (maybe due to my Treo?), I have been carrying an Ideas Notebook around less and less. However, this leads to writing out ideas on scrap paper, in the back of class notebooks, napkins, etc. This also means that there is not one solitary place I can go to view all of my ideas. This is where Google Notebook comes in.

    As usual, Google has made an awesome application, accessible anywhere, and easy to use with great power. While still in the “Labs” part of Google, Notebook has some great features that instantly made it a keeper for me. You don’t just create notes- you create notebooks. And within those notebooks, you can set up as many headings as you want, with as many notes as you want under them. That means I can contain all of my ideas to an ideas notebook, and all my current site to do lists to an entirely different notebook. You can also share your notebooks with other Google Users. This is great for collaboration. And of course, you can do what Google does best- search. But not just through your notebooks. Through all public notebooks. There is also a really neat drag and drop feature to easily move notes and sections to other notebooks.

    Along with Google Notebook is the Notebook Firefox Extension. This allows your to add notes right from Firefox, with the ability to add a link to the current page you are on, or even content from that page.

    One thing I would like to see before Notebook leaves the labs is the ability to email yourself notes, much like you can with Google Docs. Still, this is a great and easy to use app that I highly recommend. Later!

  • October 16, 2006

    Page Nav

    Just a bit of site news: I finally added buttons at the bottom of the main page to navigate through older pages. Click Previous to see older pages and Next to see newer pages. Later!

    UPDATE: My friend Dan (of What’s on my Bookshelf fame) was so gracious as to redesign the side bar and page navigation buttons to make them look a little (ok, a lot) nicer. This of-course has sparked something in me to go around the site updating somethings to make it look and feel a little more “Web 2.0.” So look out in the next few weeks for some changes! around these parts!

  • October 15, 2006

    Time Management

    Since school has started I have had less time for well, a lot of things. Most things, as it turns out. However, the thing about being a small business owner who is still in school is that you still have a client base you need to keep- no matter what obligations you have. To keep it professional, you must still meet deadlines, keep in contact and NOT use school as an excuse. This semester most of all, I have had to learn how to balance school (and along with school, extracurriculars, etc.) and business (and along with business, side projects, etc.).

    The first thing you have to do is be straight with your client. Tell them that you are in school and let them know when you are available. Most will be understanding of that. If they aren’t, they probably aren’t the greatest to work with anyway. Once you have done that, see what services you want and give yourself plenty of time to complete them. Over at AlexKing.Org Alex writes about The Engineering Estimate, which explains that engineers (programmers, etc.) usually grossly underestimate the time they need for a project. Alex says that you should take the estimate and: Multiple the integer value by two, Increment the type of time used in the estimate (IE 2 hours = 4 days). If you are doing this type of work in school, you should take that estimate and at least multiply the integer value by 4, along with increment the type of time. This allots you not only enough time for the project, but also unforeseen school work, study time, etc.

    I know the money will seem tempting, but don’t take up too many clients at the same time- especially while school is in session. You will find that you will get very overwhelmed very fast, and you will cut corners on all of your projects to find more time. Then your grades and your work will suffer. I find that with my level of involvement (17 credits, Student Government, 2 positions on USPB, a number of other clubs) I should max out at 2 clients a month. Anything else will be too stressful, and bad for business. On that same note, don’t get caught up in too many side projects. I have a hundred ideas bouncing around, but until I have sufficient time for them, I am not going to start any. If I cannot finish them it will have cost me money, and it won’t look so good on my end. Finally, if you know someone else in your field- who can do the same quality of work as you- see if they would be interested in teaming up. Having a helping hand doesn’t hurt as long as they know what they are doing.

    If you can find a good balance between work and school enough to start and keep up with your own business, I say great- go for it. Hopefully these tips will help. However, keep in mind that while this is more than an extracurricular, your should always focus on your school work first. Failing at a side business while you are still in school is something you can bounce back from- it’s a little harder to bounce back from failing at a higher education. Later!

  • October 12, 2006

    ABC does TV right

    The Nine

    Last week The Nine, a show about nine people involved in a traumatic bank robbery, premiered on ABC. I don’t really watch too many prime time shows, but I liked the premise and checked it out. This week however, I was at a meeting for the second episode (the show airs Wednesdays at 10pm) and missed it. Luckily, ABC keeps a video archive of their more popular shows online.

    Over at ABC.com you can view the current season’s past episodes on The Nine, LOST, and Grey’s Anatomy, among others. It seems other TV Stations offer this too, but I am very impressed with how clean and sleek ABC’s player is. It loads the videos in portions at a time, separated by three 30 second commercial breaks. Then you can resume. You can view this videos at any time after they are added, and it looks like that can be anywhere from 4-24 hours after they air.

    So if you miss one of you ABC shows, be sure to go on over to ABC.com and check it out there, assuming of course you have a broadband connection and flash. Later!

  • October 12, 2006

    vNES

    vNES

    While scanning the internet the other day (something I tend to do every 3 hours or so), I came across a nice little site called vNES. It is an NES emulator that runs right from the browser! It uses Java, so you will need that to use it, but that is a small price to pay for this. Select from a number of classics including 1942, Super Mario Bros., and my personal favorite, BattleToads. They are currently working on saving games and mapping your own controls, among other things! It is definitely a site to check out. Later!

  • October 10, 2006

    Firefox 2 RC2

    Firefox 2

    Recently I downloaded Firefox 2 RC2. While I have not examined it too closely, there are two very cool features that make it worth downloading. The first one is simply Google Suggest built right into the search. It’s a pretty neat feature, especially because before getting Firefox, Google Suggest was my search of choice. Since getting Firefox, I have used the easy to access search bar that is top right. The next feature, however, makes RC2 worthwhile.

    In this latest build of Firefox, an auto spell check for text boxes has been added. That means any text box you type into is automatically spell checked by Firefox. Before this, I have had to copy and paste anything into a website I used called SpellCheck.net. It is not a pretty site, but it gets the job done. Now, however, I have one less step I need to complete. AND just like in Word, you can Add to Dictionary. Later!

  • October 8, 2006

    Canon S3 IS

    Canon S3 IS

    A couple of weeks ago I wrote about “the 2 year swing” and my intentions to buy a new digital camera. Since then I purchased the Canon Powershot S3 IS and could not be happier. I liked my Nikon Coolpix 4100 for what it was worth, but the Canon is just so much more powerful, with a multitude of shooting modes and options.

    At about 3x3x4.5 and .91 pounds, it is significantly bigger (albeit slightly lighter) that my 1.5×3.5×2.6 and 1 pound Nikon, but as I mentioned in the previous post, size was not a major factor in the decision. Zoom was the prominent factor, and with 12x Optical Zoom, I went with the right choice. There is also the option of getting newer, more powerful lenses for it, which is absolutely great. Plus, with 6 mega pixel photos, they come out not only close, but clear and crisp. Another great feature about the camera is the amount of shooting modes it has- 12 to switch from, with an number of options to play with on each one. For sports composite, which I used a lot on my Nikon, all I have to do is hold down the button to take as many shots as I want. My favorite shooting mode, however, is the Manual mode.

    Last semester I took a photo class where we learn about how to control the shutter speed, the amount of light that entered the camera, how to utilize the focus and a few other factors essential for good photos. With the Nikon I was not able to put this knowledge into practice. With the Canon not only can I do all of the above, switch between manual presets and control the flash, a simple option that was left out in the making of the Nikon.

    While there is so much more to talk about with my new camera (like the movable, “tumble” screen), I just wanted to touch on my favorite features. If you want to take great, professional looking pictures- this camera might be the best in its price range (~ $400). If you would like to see some pictures I have taken, you can go to my Flickr site and take a look at my Washington DC and [most recent] Yankee Game pictures. Later!

  • October 3, 2006

    Using Remember the Milk for Assignments

    Remember the Milk

    After reading about Gradefix over at College V2, I started thinking about the best way for me to keep track of my assignments. I know a month into the semester, I probably should have thought about it already, but the app I was using for my Treo wasn’t working out. I figure that the best way to keep track of my assignments is to keep them with my tasks at Remember the Milk.

    I found out about Remember the Milk via this post on LifeHacker, and have been using it ever since. The application itself is great, having a number of features that I wanted to incorporate into a Tasks App I was developing. There is TXT MSG reminders, the ability to email yourself tasks, notes, tags and even a mobile site, which is great because I can access it with ease on my Treo.

    One featured I haven’t really utilized until now is the ability to add lists. So to keep track of my assignments, I added a list for each class, as well as a general school list (which was actually already there). I also tag each assignment with school, and whatever type of assignment it is (IE- test, report, etc.). What I am left with is this:

    Screen

    I have also set up Remember the Milk to email and IM me reminders 1 day before the tasks is due, and you can easily make it Nag You. One feature I would like to see added is a calendar view of your tasks/assignments. I would also like to have a comprehensive review of Remember the Milk, which I will probably make into a mini series. Later!

    PS- Since I haven’t found a way to view all of your tasks at once, I came up with a nice ‘hack’ to do so- I simply add the tag ‘all’ to all of my tasks.