AlanBarber.Org
Thursday, September 30, 2004
New York City Or Bust!
Start spreading the news, I’m leaving today
I want to be a part of it - New York, New York
These vagabond shoes, are longing to stray
Right through the very heart of it - New York, New York
I’m about to head out the door as I post this. I’m flying out to see my girlfriend in New York City. I haven’t seen her since that night on Aug 9th when we said goodbye. She left early morning on the 10th and has been gone since. She moved to NYC for a fall internship at Harper’s Bazaar. She’s having a great time and loves the city and the internship.
It’s been over a month and a half since we’ve been together though. We talk plenty be it writing letters, sending email, chatting on AIM every day or the Sunday night phone call we have every week. Still, it’s not enough! You can’t have a relationship just with words. Kissing her, holding her hand while we walk, curling up on the couch to watch a movie or just giving her a hug goodnight; there has to be the physical connection there too.
Anyhoo, Saturday is my birthday so I’m lucky enough to get to fly out to be with her. I’m heading out this afternoon so we get all Friday and Saturday together. I’ll be flying back Sunday afternoon so there really won’t be time to anything.
So far we’re planning to see all the usual junk; Empire State, Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Metropolitan Museum, visit ground zero and try to get tickets to see David Letterman.
That’s the plan anyways. We’ll just have to see how much time there really is and how much walking my ol’ body can handle!
See you later folks! I’ll be back Sunday!
Saturday, September 25, 2004
Two documentaries worth watching
After yesterdays entry I though I would point out something for those people interested more in the creation of Excite and computers in general.
Robert X. Cringely did a series of documentaries on computers. The first was on the history of the PC and called Triumph of the Nerds. Later he did a series called Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet about the history and present day Internet. In Nerds 2.0.1, Cringely followed the guys, including Joe Kraus, who founded Excite. It went from their early days in a garage all the way through the public release of Excite. It’s cool to be able to see the stages of the business growing during the dot-com days. I only wish Cringely would do a new series on the current post dot-com bubble burst computer industry. Wouldn’t that be a depressing series!
Anyways, both series are a must have! Anyone claiming to be a computer geek should own and watch them. If you think you know the history of the PC industry because you watched that piece of trash movie that TNT made called Pirates of Silicon Valley you’ll be surprised how much you don’t! Do both yourself and rest of the world a favor. Take a baseball bat and beat yourself in the head till you can’t even remember the name of the movie. Then go get Triumph of the Nerds and Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet. Watch them and actually learn something!
I swear if I see one more message board post where someone uses quotes and/or references from that movie as historical facts about the computer industry I’m going to loose it. Sure the basic story theme and characters are close but many of the historical facts are not right. For the joe movie watcher who wants to know who these Bill Gates or Steve Jobs computer people are it’s an ok movie to introduce them.
I’m just going to stop right here and not go into a rant about the movie since Robert Cringely and even Steve Wozniak can point out the problems better than me.
Now get off your bum and go buy the documentaries!
Friday, September 24, 2004
A new weblog worth reading for any techie
You might notice I’ve done a bit of organizing on the Weblog links on the right side of the main page. Just thought I’d help people out by separating them into their general themes. The weblogs listed are ones that i do visit regularly and it’s an evolving list. I add and remove based on what I’m reading. Since I’m a rather selective reader you can be assured these are worth visiting so please take a moment and check them out.
And now onto the reason for today’s post. I added a new weblog to the technology sub-list. Technically, the blog is called Bnoopy but the man behind the blog is Joe Kraus. Joe Kraus was one of the founders of Excite. Excite back in the day was a major player in the web. They started first as a search engine but during the dot-com boom became a large portal site. It’s had a rather rocky history and has been bought and sold a few times I believe and is currently property of Ask Jeeves.
Kraus is working on a new project and has started his blog to share the experiences of starting a new company. This is a blog worth keeping on your must read lists folks. Hopefully, Kraus will update the blog often with lots of really great info on his new startup. It’ll be very neat to be able to follow the progress he makes and get a few insider stories about what it was like to startup Excite back in the day. So please check out Bnoopy.
on 09/24/2004 at 07:15 AM
Blogging • Computers & Technology • (0) Comments • Permalink
Thursday, September 23, 2004
Nintendo DS Launch Details
Planet GameCube is reporting on the Nintendo DS Launch Details. For those not in the know, the DS is Nintendo’s new handheld gaming device. It contains two screens, one which is touch screen, built in microphone, wireless networking, and suppose to have the same power as the Nintendo 64!
The DS is not a replacement of the GameBoy though. They claim it’s a third pillar. There will still be a next generation console and a new GameBoy in the works.
The big news is the release date of November 21st and the price of $149.99!
Well here just read the press release…
quote:
REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 20, 2004 - From the very start, Nintendo DS™ broke the existing rules of video game play. Two screens, not one. Wireless connection for game play and personal communication for the sheer entertainment of it. Flexible game control by voice and touch, not just with buttons. Nintendo’s newest innovation, Nintendo DS, will make its worldwide debut in North American stores on Nov. 21, and then in Japan on Dec. 2. It will sell at an MSRP of $149.99, making it an immediate mass-market attraction. Nintendo DS will become the company’s first system ever to make its sales debut outside of Japan.“Nintendo’s mission remains unchanged: expand the game experience,” says Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo Co., Ltd. “Nintendo DS is the road map to the future of video games, and most clearly demonstrates the type of innovation that players demand.”
Nintendo DS is the dual-screened, hand-held video game system redefining the idea of interactive entertainment. One screen allows for touch input using a stylus, while the unit includes both voice recognition and multiplayer wireless features. The sleek silver-and-black system sports a sharp, angular design.
Consumers immediately will be able to pick up and play the new system, as it comes with a free software feature, PictoChat, embedded in the system hardware. PictoChat allows DS owners to write messages with an on-screen keyboard or the stylus and send them wirelessly to other DS users nearby. Users can text chat, draw artistic messages or share secrets, all without saying a word. And a Nintendo DS in sleep mode will spring to life if it senses another DS in transmitting range, alerting users to each other’s presence and setting the stage for an impromptu conversation or game session.
More than 100 companies have signed on to create games for Nintendo DS, while Nintendo itself is already developing its first 20 titles. Electronic Arts, the world’s largest independent software developer and publisher, already has announced that its powerhouse franchises of Madden NFL, The URBZ: Sims in the City, Need for Speed Underground, Tiger Woods and GoldenEye will support Nintendo DS.
“Each time Nintendo creates a hand-held, it introduces new elements of play and sets a new standard for mobile gaming,” says Larry Probst, EA’s chairman and CEO. “The DS is no exception - Nintendo has another big winner with the DS.”
The complete lineup of games planned for the launch of Nintendo DS will be announced in the near future. In effect, Nintendo DS already boasts a library of more than 550 games because it is compatible with single-player modes of games made for the world’s best-selling video game system, Game Boy® Advance SP.
Nintendo chose the United States to lead the worldwide launch of Nintendo DS because of overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic reaction from consumers and to take advantage of the holiday sales season. After the subsequent launch in Japan, the system will be available in Europe and Australia in the first quarter of 2005.
Nintendo DS has a flip-top cover that protects both screens. Two speakers on the unit’s face let users hear virtual surround sound, while its dual screens open games to a multitude of possibilities. Nintendo DS sits 148.7 millimeters (5.85 inches) wide, 84.7 millimeters (3.33 inches) long and 28.9 millimeters (1.13 inches) tall with the cover closed. The new media format for games means that Nintendo DS has no moving parts that could be misaligned if the unit is dropped or jarred.
Man I hope I find a job soon because I want one of these. Heck I want a GameBoy, PS2, XBox and a new computer too. I hate being poor!
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Why I don't recomment Firefox
This is another one of those old news but I still want to post about it.
I found this interesting entry called “Why I don’t recommend Firefox” posted at the Kalsey Consulting Group blog.
The blog entry is in response to a grassroots campaign the mozilla people are doing in which that email website owners asking them place FireFox buttons on their website.
This is the great quote that I love…
quote:
Most Web users don’t know what a browser is. That blue E they click on the desktop isn’t a browser, it’s “The Internet.” Or maybe it’s “Yahoo” if that’s what their home page is set to. Tell them to download a new browser and they don’t understand what you mean. I put Firefox on my wife’s computer and removed the IE link. She asked why she didn’t have My Yahoo on the computer anymore. My wife’s not stupid — to her the IE logo is how she got to the Web. Without that, she didn’t know how to get to My Yahoo.
I have to agree with what he has to say. Many developers, open source in particular, I believe get too caught up in the fun of the development process and forget who they’re suppose to be developing for. Too many products are full of wonderful features but are so unusable to the mass public that they end up failing in the end. It doesn’t matter that your application is smaller, faster or has some cool widget that the other guy’s software doesn’t. If joe user can’t understand how to use your product they’ll stick with that bloated, slow software that they at least know how to use.
Go check out the entry. It’s a pretty good read and the comment discussions aren’t bad either.
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
How to make an ExpressionEngine test site
How to make an ExpressionEngine test site for module and plugin testing
If you currently are or planning to do module and/or plugin development work for ExpressionEngine you really should have a dedicated private test installation of EE that you can work with. While you could use your public installation it’s not a good idea. Do you really want to have your public blog throwing out errors or completely being wiped out because of a bug in the module or plugin you were working on?
This tutorial will walk you through step by step on how to setup a test installation. The ultimate goal being that once you follow these steps you’ll have a clean install of EE that you can test your modules or plugins with. The benefit of following this guide is that at any time you can do a complete rollback to the fresh installation in just seconds. Should you accidentally blow up your database or mangle the configuration all you’ll have to do is run a simple command line script and bingo it’s just like new again!
A few things to point out before we begin. First off, this should work fine for any *nix OS but I am using FreeBSD for my server. Second, you will need command line access to your server. IE you’ll need to use telnet, ssh, or be working locally. Third, this does need to be a clean, private install. The install you do should be completely separate from anything else including the use of MySQL databases and server directories. Fourth, I’m using my real world setup as the example in the tutorial just to help make it clearer. You should change the names and directories where appropriate to match your setup.
Step 1: Installing EE
There really is no need to explain this. Just do a normal fresh install of EE. Create a new database and use a new directory structure separate from anything else. I created a new MySQL database and user account called “ee_test_site”. I installed EE in a separate folder “/home/abarber/public_html/ee_test_site” too. Just copy the EE image, system and user_guide folders into this new folder. IE “home/abarber/public_html/ee_test_site/images”.
Step 2: Configure and Setup the EE test site
Just go through and setup the test site. Set all the admin configurations, build the templates, create a few sample members, create a few sample entries, etc. Basically, you want to have the site setup just how you want it to look and act every time you do a rollback.
This is the most crucial step! You need to have everything exactly as you want it. We’ll be making a backup of the entire installation and the rollback will totally wipe out everything and reset it to how it is from the backup.
If for example you forget to set template cacheing on but really do want it on. Every time you do a rollback you’ll have to go in and turn on template cacheing because the backup had it off!
So take a few extra minutes to thoroughly check every single thing. Yes even the directory contents. If there are files you do or do not want in the backup manage them now. It’ll make life much easier later.
Step 3: Create backup directory
Someplace you should make a directory to hold and run the rollback from. I prefer to make a folder called “rollback” in my home directory. “/home/abarber/rollback”
Step 4: Make the MySQL backup
We’re going to use mysqldump program to create the backup.
At the command prompt type:
mysqldump -u ee_test_site -p[enter password] --add-drop-table --databases ee_test_site > /home/abarber/rollback/ee_test_site.sql
Step 5: Make the EE installation backup
We’re just going to make a simple tar gziped file with the contents of the website folder. That means the actual EE files, images, etc. Remember what I said above? This is your last chance to make any changes to the files in the backup!
At the command prompt type:
tar cvzf /home/abarber/ rollback/ee_test_site.tar.gz /home/abarber/ public_html/ee_test_site
Step 6: Create the rollback script
I call it rollback.sh and place it in the “/home/abarber/backups/rollback” directory.
-- copy below --
#/usr/bin/sh
echo Rolling back EE Test Site blog…
echo Reloading database defaults into MySQL…
mysqladmin -u ee_test_site -p[enter password] -f drop ee_test_site
mysql -u ee_test_site -p[enter password] < /home/abarber/rollback_data/ee_test_site.sql
echo Reloading EE installation…
rm -rf /usr/home/abarber/public_html/ee_test_site
cd /
tar xfz /home/abarber/rollback/ee_test_site.tar.gz
echo Resetting file and folder permissions…
chmod 777 /home/abarber/public_html/ee_test_site/images/captchas
chmod 777 /home/abarber/public_html/ee_test_site/images/uploads
chmod 777 /home/abarber/public_html/ee_test_site/system/cache
chmod 666 /home/abarber/public_html/ee_test_site/system/config.php
chmod 666 /home/abarber/public_html/ee_test_site/system/config_bak.php
chmod 666 /home/abarber/public_html/ee_test_site/path.php
echo Rollback finished!
echo
-- copy above --
Note - Remember to chmod the "rollback.sh" script to give it execution permission.
Step 7: Test the rollback script
Make a few changes in the control panel such as delete a few entries or delete a template or change a category name.
Now go to the rollback directory and type “./rollback.sh” at the prompt. Check the control panel again. The missing entries and changed categories should be back. If not we have a problem and need to figure out what we did wrong.
Now lets try something a bit more crazy. Just go in and start randomly deleting files until the website no longer works. Oh no! The site is ruined. Wait lets use the mighty rollback again! Sit back and watch in amazement as the backups are reloaded and your site is saved.
So what’s the point of all this you might ask? Software development is a science. When you’re working on a module or plugin it’s nice to always have a fresh clean install to do your tests. That way whenever you make changes to your software you can rollback the system and have identical test parameters. This helps to keep bugs from cropping up that are not a result of your software but the test environment being changed from a previous test.
This you may realize comes in very handy for module development since modules make changes to several database tables and probably create their own. That way you don’t get errors or bugs showing up because you have already installed 3-4 different versions of the module before. When you’re working on that module you know you have a fresh clean install every time you start testing it. It’ll make it just that much easier to debug!
I hope people find this useful. I’ll admit it’s probably not the clearest written tutorial but you should get the idea of how to set this up. I’m using it and it works great. I can screw around with the test site to my hearts content then just run the rollback script and it’s back to normal in 30 seconds.
Monday, September 20, 2004
Automatic Gmail Invite Giver-Awayer
This is for all you folks looking for G-Mail invites!
I found this thread today over at WebHostingTalk.
I give you the Automatic Gmail Invite Giver-Awayer.
This nice guy snakez has setup an automated gmail invite share system. Basically, you send invites to a special email address and his system automatically puts the invite into a queue. When a person visits the site and enters their own email address it sends the person a random invite. Pretty cool isn’t it. No begging on forums or using silly gmail matchup sites. Just head on over and grab a free invite.
So, If you would like an invite and don’t have one yet visit the site: http://gmail.snakez.org/.
Just do them a favor by sending an invite or two back when you can.