Wed, 30 May 2007

2:48 PM - AAPL soars

Apple stock seems to be going up, up, up.  I never expected the iPhone to entice investors so much.  It isn't even out yet.  There must be some over-hype about potential sales figures.  I don't see it selling as well as some people expect because of the carrier lock-in.  Unless you like Cingular (AKA AT&T) wireless, the iPhone is not obtainable by a large percentage of the population.  On the flip side, going up nearly $3 a share today helped my bottom line. 

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2:10 PM - Last Login on Just Journal

One thing that has always bothered me about Just Journal is the lack of a last login date stamp.  It is impossible to know if someone has broken into your account without some record of logins.  I can look at some logs and determine roughly where people login from but there is absolutely no login accounting.   I also don't know how many users are actually logging into the site after their accounts were created. 

Today I'm working on a new feature to display the last login information to the client.  The first iteration had a function called setLastLogin in the WebLogin class used to do all authentications.  The problem with this approach is that if I call setLastLogin in a login function then the last login was right then.  It serves my auditing purposes, but is useless for end users to detect stolen login sessions.  My second approach called the method inside of the LoginAccount class.  This class handles all current login activity except logins from the update or comment pages.  I still need to handle them separately.  I had to call the method in two different locations as to support the web client (this site) and the Windows .NET and Java clients.  A better solution would be to store the lastlogin in some sort of authenticated user class that I can serialize in the session.  Rewriting the entire login system isn't something I want to do right now. 

The feature isn't live yet, but I have a good share of the code and the database schema changes done.  There are much more interesting features, but many of them require a lot of time which I don't have while taking two spring classes.   I'm totally confused about implementing tagging.  At first I was certain I wanted global tags that everyone could see.  The advantage would be easy searches and a list of popular tags.  (i forget what they call that..)  Tagging is the most obvious Web 2.0 feature I'm missing.  Also due to design defects, I can't easily add search so tags would at least help sort entries.  I've got 4 years worth on here.  As far as searching is concerned, I do have one idea how to implement it.  It won't be good, but it will be something.

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11:44 AM - (no subject)

I'm just adding a technorati claim to my blog. LOL. Technorati Profile

I really wish I had slept better. I've got 12 hours of sleep over the last two days and very little of that is continuous.

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Tue, 29 May 2007

5:47 PM - (no subject)

I just bought a new monitor for $130 on bestbuy.com.  Its a 19 inch westinghouse widescreen with 700:1 contrast and only consumes 36 watts!  Its got a 5ms access time. 

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12:31 AM - Nice

I turned in my rough draft today online for English 328.  I'm so happy that's already up.  I'm a bit burned out from all the homework this weekend so I think I'll take the day off and plan on a busy day tomorrow. 

I only got 2 hours of sleep last night.  Going to class was rough.  It was challenging to stay awake and attentive.  There was another accident on 94 but luckily on the other side of the road.  Oddly I think I was five minutes late today and I left 10 minutes earlier than usual.  Ugh. 

I'm not sure if I should make coffee or not.  Part of me is totally for it and the other part wants to take a nap. 

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1:09 AM - Websites of the past

This will be my last blog entry.  I have class in the morning.  I just couldn't get to sleep after writing that rough draft. 

I looked at the wayback machine for foolishgames.com tonight.  Its interesting what my old sites looked like so many years ago. 

http://web.archive.org/web/19990508064343/www.foolishgames.com/jewel.htm

Its rather funny that I was making professional sites like usol.com (sadly still looks the same) at the same time as this.  I don't think any of my work is online anymore other than archives or usol.com.  Considering I made my first site in 1996, I've come a long way.  Still I'm not in my prime anymore.  I don't have the patience that I had in my youth.  Like 28 is so old.  (WARNING THAT SITE CRASHES FIREFOX on my pc)  Even though there was a color clash, I just loved that site design.  The splash images are not there, but the index still is.  It was one of my last frames based sites.  I designed that in 1998.. i think february or so.  I was pretty depressed and you can tell by the use of blues.  That was the first time I went really into blue for a site.  It was also one of the first I did with 99% of my own graphics work.  I even made the background in photoshop.  It was just a few pixels. 

I looked at this after reading Laura's blog, a student in my eng 444 class.  She was a bit down on her progress with site design.  I remember spending hours trying to FTP up pages on AOL back in the day.  That was dumbed down a bit and i still struggled.  Using a modern FTP client like cuteftp pro or wsftp would have been a nightmare for me.  As much as it became a chore later, I miss working on my Jewel website.  The legal ramifications of running a site like that are just too much these days.  The RIAA breathing down everyone's necks and now I'm married.  Litigation would also hurt my wife.  I don't think people consider the legal ramifications of running a website.  All of the sites I run or host could be targeted potentially.  The law has been shifting toward business and away from free speech for a long time on the web.  Perhaps it only caught up with the web. 

I liked the customweb.net design I did and I think the worst site was the Whaley Children's center site.  I did one for an auction they held and a coworker later took credit for it.  It wasn't bad for 2 hours notice.  Probably my best professional work ever was kards.com.  usol.com's gaming site that i once did was the most artistic, but kards.com had the most functionality.  I had that asp.net shopping cart tied in with UPS and some of the designs were good.  I particularly liked the last one.  I wish I could code like that these days.  I remember that hack job I did fixing golfrac's site.  Then there was the title companies site and that terrible insurance company.  award-1.com isn't my best design work but the customer loved it.  Its what he wanted. 

I find it amusing that I couldn't design the cs.emich.edu site because of the unions.  I still made it look better than all black text. 

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12:16 AM - Cindy Sheehan gives up

Anti-war crusader Cindy Sheehan, best known for her stake out in Texas has called it quits.  It is quite sad that she lost her child and her husband over this oil grabbing exercise some think is liberating another country. I don't care about Iraqis as much as I do American lives lost for no apparent reason.  There were no WMDs found regardless if you believe Iraq had them.  I'm convinced the only WMDs they ever had were chemical weapons our country gave them years before.

Some have called her un-american.  Those people also praise people who stand up for their beliefs (only if they agree).  Isn't speaking out about something you believe freedom?  The first amendment protects our speech, and there is nothing more american that using that right.  I don't agree with everything she's said in the past, but that's her right to say it.

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Mon, 28 May 2007

11:38 PM - For once Vista just worked

I just connected my HP printer to my Windows box.  I used to write all my papers on my iBook.  Since I'm migrating to the PowerMac, I need to use Windows for Office and printing right now.  I avoided hooking up the printer to XP because it had terrible printing support.  Vista auto detected my printer, installed the driver, and I was printing in less than 2 minutes from Word 2007.  I'm rather impressed.  Microsoft did something right. 

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5:28 PM - Is the Wii a fad?

A recent article talks about the appeal of the Nintendo Wii over other game consoles.  Analysts are trying to kill the Wii with rediculous  accusations to help Microsoft and Sony stock.  These same analysts predicted the demise of the iPod to Microsoft's Zune and Creative's mp3 players.  I can walk into a game store and buy a xbox 360 or PS3 right now.  I cannot buy a Wii.  That tells me there is a big demand or a short supply of Wii units. 

The Wii is here to stay. 

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3:07 PM - What type of hardware do gamers buy?

I was reviewing the statistics gathered by Steam for Value.  According to the figures, 51% of gamers buy Intel processors.  Nvidia graphics cards are popular among Valve gamers.  The most interesting aspects are screen resolutions and types of displays.  A high percentage of gamers still run their monitors at 1024 x 768 with 32 bit color depth. Only 10% have widescreen (16:9) displays.  This is interesting for website design as well.  Most people actually have 1024 x 768 at 60hz with 32bit depth on a 4:3 aspect ratio.  1280 x 1024 is the second most popular resolution.

I find it difficult to determine which resolution to target for websites.  With this information, it seems clear that websites should work for 1024 x 768 users without scrolling.  We have 3 monitors all with different specs.  Caryn's old monitor is a 15 in lcd with 1024 x 768 that I use on her old Mac.  Her new display is a 19 in widescreen display.  I'm still using a 19in CRT at 1280 x 1024 on my PC. 

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Sun, 27 May 2007

5:57 PM - (no subject)

Back when I played snes games constantly, I had a friend who purchased a game called Earthbound.  It was one of the best games to play.  I never got a chance to beat it.  I remember the blue cult and other weird elements of the game.

http://www.gamespot.com/snes/rpg/mother2/player_review.html?id=443073

Matt used to sneak the game over since neither of us were supposed to have it.  Our parents overreacted to the "cult".  I see them going on ebay for $60 which is much more than i'm willing to spend on the game right now. 

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Sat, 26 May 2007

Fri, 25 May 2007

7:12 PM - EMU Online is slower than maple syrup

I'm waiting to load the English 328 page right now.  This is very slow.  I realized I need to write a 500 word blog entry for the class on blogger.  It is interesting to compare features on blogger and JJ.  I've always tried to compete with Live Journal which is a community site.  Blogger focuses on individual blogging. 

Its still trying to load.  This is very frustrating.  I know there were questions to use as a basis for the blog post. 

I just noticed I have about 50,000 unread e-mail messages.  Ouch.  I cannot keep up with this mail. 

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Thu, 24 May 2007

4:48 PM - Microsoft BOB

Microsoft Bob was a software application developed prior to the launch of Windows 95.  It is very similar in some regards to Packard Bell's Navigator software from that time period. 

This site has screenshots of BOB in action.
http://www.winhistory.de/index_ENG.html

There is also some information about different Windows releases, although much of the site is in german. 

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2:28 PM - My week in brief

On tuesday, I left at 8:38 which is 8 minutes later than I like to get to class.  With good traffic conditions, I can still make it ontime to EMU.  However,  a bus and a car decided that they wanted to occupy the same space.  It took me 50 minutes to go from exit 175 to exit 181 on I-94.  Obviously, I was late for class.  The best part was that after I got past the accident, traffic sped up for about half a mile and then stopped for no apparent reason.  I was not a happy camper.

Caryn just sent me an IM that says dell is going to sell computers at walmart.  They've sure turned into Gateway. 

Anyway, the air conditioning has been broken for several days.  Its very unpleasant in here.  Its been running about 78 degrees on average in the computer room.  stargazer is staying up OK, but my desktop isn't quite as good with air flow.  My iBook would be unusuable in these temperatures and the PowerMac is a bit touchy.  I'm happy to report that caryn's new box seems to handle it very well.  I'm just glad we don't have two "servers" going anymore.  Midnight and Henry are getting a little mad at me about the air conditioning.  Funny thing is they sit in the sunlight.  They are real smart cats. 

Monday I had my car in for one of the many repairs they recommended.  There is no way I can afford the head gasket repair right now.  The transmission is working better at least.  I hear this weird clicking sound sometimes that concerns me.  I really hate my car. 

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Wed, 23 May 2007

2:02 PM - Sparta, MI sets dangerous example

It is illegal in the state of Michigan to use a wifi network that is public.  A law revised in 2000 was used against a man who was checking his email outside a coffee shop with signs that say "Free WIFI"  This is on CNN's website today.  He faces felony charges with 5 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. 

That means its also illegal to use a neighbors wifi network.  The problem is the police have to catch you in the act. 

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Sun, 20 May 2007

10:08 PM - (no subject)

My dad (finally) sent me an online birthday greeting. Its only 8 days after my birthday. :(

I started the process of migrating from an iBook to Caryn's old PowerMac. Even though this Mac is 5 years old, its still loads faster than my newer ibook. I think the dual 867mhz G4 chips and near 2GB of ram have something to do with it. I decided to initialize the disk. Caryn's upgraded since 10.2 on this thiing and there is a lot of cruft on it. I've been debating wheither to install OS 9 or not. I think I will dual boot OS 9 and OS X just for gaming purposes. Classic can be fun.

I spent most of the weekend cleaning out closets. We've got a lot of crap to put on ebay. I'm looking forward to it.

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