Saw this linked in a mailing list, and just had to share it:
Archive for the ‘Web’ Category
I’ve been hosting my site with MediaTemple for the last couple of years now, but ever since I “upgraded” to their GridServer setup, I’ve been less than satisfied with my service. My sites seems a little slower, accessing files via FTP seems a little slower, and I’ve had problems getting my email more & more as well.
I’ve heard good things about Dreamhost, and after checking out their plans, I’ve very tempted to switch. Especially since it looks like I’ll get more features for half the price I’m paying MediaTemple.
So, here’s my question: Those of you that are on Dreamhost, or, that have used either service, which do you prefer, and why?
Regardless of your religion or other personal beliefs, there’s definitely some truth in this statement.
UPDATE: Read the press release
At least, that’s what we believe at Footnote. You can either read a transcript of notes from the Continental Congress, or, you can view them yourself. View a collection of Civil War photos. Or, browse one of my favorite collections so far, the Investigative Case Files of the Bureau of Investigation 1908-1922, where you can learn about Albert Miller’s arrest in 1917, and subsequent fine of one dollar, for practicing medicine without a license.
Many of the records that we’re offering have never been available online before now. Now you can view high-res scans of documents available from various sources, including The National Archives. Many of these documents have been indexed and are searchable - you won’t have to read every page to find what you’re looking for - search, and be taken to the relevant image. You’ll be able to dig pretty deep into history - both American and your own.
Earlier this year, the development team did a series of “van trips” to various parts of the country to visit with people and show them early builds of the site, and to get feedback on how to improve it. We learned a lot on that trip, and made some significant improvements to our site. While on one of these trips, a few of the people we were visiting with did some searching and were able to pull up some Civil War records that had to do with their ancestors. It was a pretty exciting moment - because something we made had become more than just another website for that person - it was now something that they could use to learn more about their own personal history.
Another important feature is the ability to upload your own content to our site. While we have millions of records & documents already available, if you have content of your own that you would like to share with others, go ahead and upload it. You’ll be able to write articles about various topics, linking to documents & images you’ve uploaded, and the existing content on our site. You’ll be able to write your Wikipedia articles, and point to the original document as a source for your info.
I left mediaRAIN in September of last year to work on the Footnote project because it was something that sounded like a fun Flash project to build. However, the more I started to get into it, and really understand the scope of our site, it became something more. I had been feeling kind of burnt out, and not really all that excited about Flash development, and I saw this as a nice change of pace. It was still Flash, but it was going to be a change for me going to an actual product that could be steadily improved, as opposed to a one-off site for a client. It’s definitely been a challenge to get the image viewer I made online in just a few months, but it’s been a lot of fun. For the first time in a long time, I’ve enjoyed coming in to work again each day.
The site is online, and we’re proud of it. The entire Footnote team has done a great job - pretty much everyone at the company has contributed to the site in one way or another. There’s still some room for improvement, and we know it. The site will be constantly evolving as we learn what works, what doesn’t work, and what could work better. But when you want your product to be the best it can be, you need to recognize that there’s always room for improvement. Like any big project, we had tons of ideas that just didn’t have time to be implemented. So, stay tuned, because what we have now is just the beginning.
We’ve recently begun upgrading our phone system at the office to a new VOIP setup. We’ve been setting everyone up with some nice Linksys phones. These things are pretty nice, with lots of neat features for a desk phone. One of these features is the ability to check a phone’s status over the network - you can see if someone is available to take a call, if the line is busy, stuff like that. Good stuff to know if you need to transfer a client to someone - you can check if they’re available or not before trying to transfer them.
Now for the reason I mention Spry, and think it rocks: John setup a mini web service that checks our VOIP server and returns some XML that gives the status of everyone’s phone. I then built a Dashboard Widget that pings this service and displays everyone’s phone status in the Dashboard. I decided to give Spry a go, and it was slick.
I spent more time playing with the design and layout of the widget than I did actually writing the JavaScript that parses the XML to display the phone info. It was a little tricky at first, as I couldn’t find any documentation on what methods were available, but once I found what I needed, the actual code took about 15 minutes.
If you haven’t checked out Spry, I suggest you do:
Normally, I can’t stand sites that resize my browser window when I visit them. And when I first received this link from a friend, I was upset with it for shrinking my browser window.
However, for these guys, I’ll make an exception. Using a combination of Flash Video and JavaScript, these two have made something entertaining, and pretty impressive, when you start to think of the work involved to sync their video antics with JavaScript effects.
If you’re going to watch this on your Mac, it works in Safari, but it works best in Camino or Firefox, as the video doesn’t stutter when resizing the browser.
Link: http://www.circoripopolo.be/comicduo/
Unfortunately, I don’t know much more about this site, or who these guys are, as a lot of their site wasn’t working for me. So if you know more about it, just leave a note in the comments.
A while back I posted about MyStickies.com, that was created by some friends of mine, Jacob Wright, and Derek Andriesian.
MyStickies just received a Best In Class award for “Best Integration with a Web Service” from the Mozilla Foundation in their Extend Firefox Contest
Check out MyStickies.com when you get a chance. Currently it’s Firefox only, but there are other versions in the works that should be released soon.
Opera Software has announced that the Opera browser will be available for Nintendo DS. The browser will be sold as a game cartridge that can be used with the built in Wi-Fi connection. With the touch-screen, and the dual screens to fit more content, this should work out pretty good
This is awesome! Sure, I won’t be using it to replace Safari or Firefox, but being able to browse the web or check my mail from anywhere with a WiFi connection, but without a laptop, will be great. Especially since I don’t own a laptop.
This will be released in Japan first, with no release date yet for North America. In addition to knowing when I can actually get my grubby little mitts on this, I’d also like to know some info as to how to design a page for this new screen, HTTPS support, as well as info on plugin support. I’d be suprised if you would be able to install new plugins, but it would be great if Flash was included on that cartridge.
[UPDATE:] - I contacted Michelle Valdivia, of Opera’s US PR staff with some questions, and here’s some additional details she gave me:
The Nintendo DS browser will support the following, just like the Opera 8.5 desktop browser:
- HTML 4.01
- XHTML 1.1
- DOM2
- CSS 1,2 and 2.1
- JavaScript 1.5
- Screen resolution on the DS is 256 x 192 (each screen)
And here’s the bad news: Flash will not be supported.
A good friend and co-worker of mine, Jac Wright has recently launched a new service he and a partner have been working on for a while.
MyStickies.com is a free service that gives you the ability to place “sticky” notes on web sites you visit. Sort of an amped-up set of bookmarks. They require a free account on MyStickies.com, and a Firefox extension to activate. Essentially, when you find a site you want to remember some info on, use the extension to create a sticky note, place it on the screen, and when you return the site later on, it’ll be right where you’ve left it. It’s nice for remembering why you bookmarked a site in the first place.
You can also login to your account at MyStickies to view a list of all the sites you have left sticky notes at, and create note pages to jot stuff down as well. Currently, only Firefox is supported, both on Mac and Windows, and support for other browsers is on the way.
It’s free, it’s easy to use, and it’s pretty neat. So, you really don’t have anything to lose by trying it out.
Link: MyStickies.com
It’s been a while since I’ve posted, as I’ve been pretty busy finishing a project for finals next week, and a lot of my free time has been eaten up by my new addiction. So today, I’ll mention two quick downloads for Mac users I think are worth checking out, a build of Firefox for G5 users, and a PongClock screensaver.
Firefox for G5
Most of you know that FIrefox 1.5 was released earlier this week, and shortly after that, a build optimized for you Mac users with a G5 was released by Neil Lee.
FIrefox is definitely my browser of choice for when I’m using a Windows machine, but on a Mac, I’m a big fan of Safari. Mostly because Firefox has always seemed a little slower than Safari on a Mac. However, after using this new G5-build for the last few days, it’s a lot snappier than the official build of Firefox, so I’ll be using Firefox a lot more now. If you’re using a G5 based Mac, it’s the way to go. Neil also offers a build that he’s targeted towards G4 based Mac’s as well if you’ve got one of those.
You can download this new build from the link below.
G5-optimized Firefox: http://www.beatnikpad.com/archives/2005/11/29/firefox15
PongClock Screensaver
Last week when I saw the Pong Clock, I immediately thought to myself “I could make that!”, and turn it into a Dashboard widget or something. (I still think I’ll do it for the fun of it.) I’m sure a lot of you developers thought the same thing as well.
Well, so did Mike at Rogue Amoeba. He’s made available a screensaver for OS X based on the Pong Clock that’s pretty good.
Download: http://www.rogueamoeba.com/utm/posts/Random/PongSaver-2005-11-28-10-00.html
Via: Cool OSX Apps