Archive for the 'Web' Category

Elsewhere

Saturday, December 23rd, 2006

I like this idea of Jeremy Keith’s elsewhere. Grabbing all the pieces of information on the web about you and then placing it all in one spot. I had a go and look at what I came up with.

Nice idea, I suppose I could redo my whole blog to just be a collection of other information about me around the internet all complied in one spot.

Go Jeremy!

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Harvester Killer

Wednesday, December 6th, 2006

http://www.spamhelp.org/harvesterkiller/

Not a very nice looking site, but wow what a great idea. Do your bit to hit back at the spam bots, but clogging up there database with invalid email addresses. Ever been caught in an endless loop while programming one of your applications. I know I have. Hopefully this can annoy the spam bots as much as they annoy me.

Well done http://www.spamhelp.org/

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Spam should be canned

Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006

Spam should be canned or is it spam in a can!

I can’t stand spam, from junk emails to spam comments on this blog. Does anyone remember the days before spam. Wow, I could hear the calm sound of the ocean as I soak up the sun on the beach with my free time. But not now. Spam. Spam. Spam is all I hear as I attempt to find the relevant information between all the spam.

Why do we receive spam emails. Because they must work! Why people click on them is beyond me, but they must work or there would be no reason for them at all.

I can understand why there is blog comments spam. At least akismet and the web community is trying to collectively do something about this.

From work to personal email all I see is spam. So if anyone has created an effective way of managing their spam emails please let me know.
I hope it invloves frying up what comes out of the can.

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Book me in

Wednesday, November 15th, 2006

http://www.rosefu.net/

Wow, clean code in book form, who would have thought. Now this is a really nice portfolio site. Clean HTML and CSS, combined with fantastic graphic design to create a unique user experience, that hopefully get Rose Fu some work.

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Tools of the Trade

Saturday, October 28th, 2006

I have had a few conversations lately about what are the most essential tools for any web designer or developer. So here you go, here is a list of my “can’t do without’ applications that I use on a day to day basis.

So there you go – that is me and my day in a lunch box.

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Live Mail vs Hotmail

Saturday, October 28th, 2006

I recently changed back from Windows Live Mail to the traditional hotmail. Why? Slow load times, inconsistent behaviors with check boxes, small reading panes that you can resize, not being able to export contacts, shall I go on. Sure it is a beta version and sure it is free. However, why should I upgrade from a stable hotmail to a clunky, nonuser-friendly email client.

Long live hotmail!

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Mashup the design process

Sunday, October 8th, 2006

There has been a lot of hype recently about Mashups using publicly available APIs. Recently at the Web Directions conference in Sydney Cameron Adams and Kevin Yank did a talk about this exact topic.

While I believe this is a fantastic way to re-invent public data and use it in helpful and creative ways. Why can’t we bring the concept of a Mashup into the web design process?

A designer could seamlessly combine different stages and data sources into the design process. Why not combine parts of research and development into the design or programming phase? Why not incorporate the web community in the design phase? The design process does not have to be a linear designer vs the website process. It should be a collaborative and evolving procedure where you can go from stage one to stage two with a little bit of stage 5 mixed in as well and then back to stage one.

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Computer age

Sunday, October 1st, 2006

I recently attended the Web Directions Conference in Sydney and it was amazing to see the amount of reflective glow from the Apple icons throughout the conference hall. What amazed me about this was not that Apple is reclaiming the laptop market. But that so many people were publishing content to the internet right there and then. Now I know I am a nerd and that I see a unique cross section of society, but the times are changing.

Here is a prime example. This is a girl from Iraq who talks about war, politics and occupation. No loner do we have to have to be told what to here from the big publishing companies! This begs the question, are we seeing the beginning of the demise of major newspapers and television stations? I don’t know. But what I do know is that I am not a good looking as Sandra Sully.

People are blogging on the train, in lecture theatres and in wars and more interestingly with the launch of Testra’s new G3 network people will be able to view this content anywhere, any time.

The world is changing. Power to the people!

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Technorati. What?!

Sunday, September 10th, 2006

I have just become a member of Technorati.

What is Technorati I here you ask, with a quizzical look on your face. Well… Technorati is seen as the authority on blogs. It is a search engine designed to specifically search weblogs and as of August 2006, Technorati indexed over 50.6 million weblogs. Welll 50.6 milliion + 1 now that mine is on there.

The name Technorati is a portmanteau, pointing to the technological version of literati or intellectuals.

Well now that you know all this why not take a peak at my profile: Technorati Profile

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Think outside the box. Or is it inside your letterbox?

Friday, September 8th, 2006

On Thursday I went to a Web Standards Group meeting held by Jonathan Oxer entitled ‘Making Things Move: Finding Inappropriate Uses For Scripting Languages’.

It was a strange experience, one that I am sure I will never forget.

Jonathan Oxer is the head of Linux Australia and when he pulled out his solder iron to hook up his computer parallel port to control the fan in the back of the room, I know I would be in for an interesting night.

He went on to demonstrate how scripting languages such as PHP can be used to control and collect data from any household item such as a letterbox, light or sprinkler system. Who wants to check the mail like a sucker, when you can get your computer to inform you that ‘You got mail’?

He has also surgically implanted with an RFID chip into his arm, what? He uses this to experiment with technical issues such as authentication as well as philosophical issues such as privacy and identity.

Wow, what an interesting presentation!

Made me think. Maybe I should get my computer to make me a cup of tea and some toast in the morning. Or should I just get a butler or some helper monkeys?