Opera

Introduction

This page contains information and resources about the Opera web browser.

Tips and Tricks

TextMate

Introduction

This page is dedicated to information, tips, and tricks related to TextMate on the MacOS.

Bundles

  • Ack in Project - Uses the Ack library to provide much faster searching over the default grep capabilities.

Business

Introduction

The following is a collection of resources related to managing a business.

Check List

The following is a check list of sorts for building a business around a web application. While the list below focuses primarily on software, there are a basic items mixed in the list that any business should have regardless of the industry that you are in. Keep in mind that while the items are numbered, they don’t necessarily represent order:

  1. Web Hosting - You need a good web hosting service that is reliable and can scale. Amazon’s EC2 computing might be worth considering.
  2. Web Presence - Not only do you need a hosting service for the web application you are developing but you also need a personal blog where you can talk about the things you are passionate about (preferably a professional one using your real name), a micro-blog like Twitter, a blog as part of your web application so you can talk about news specific to the app, and a corporate blog to represent your the many aspects of your business.
  3. Marketing - Establishing a web presence definitely helps but you also need to be involved with the community by posting comments on various web sites, helping out with open source projects, producing easy to understand podcasts and screencast demos, and displaying testimonials.
  4. Documentation - Along with the marketing speak, it also helps to have well written documentation, context sensitive help, and F.A.Q. pages. Putting the effort into writing good doc should help reduce the number of repeat questions which allows you to get back to doing what you want to do most: write more code.
  5. Statistics - It is a good idea to study the kind of traffic flowing in and out of your site. One way is to add Google Analytics or similar services.
  6. Payment Processing - You’ll need to handle the processing of credit card payments and other financial transactions so make sure you understand the APIs and how to integrate them in your web application.
  7. Source Control - You need to be able to version your software, patch it, etc and setting up a Subversion repository or using Git is a good idea.
  8. Backups - A good rule of thumb is to have your data backed up in triplicate. A couple of hard drive solutions, like Drobo, would work best with the third being a secure store in the cloud (again Amazon S3 comes to mind).
  9. Bug Tracking - You need to be able to track your bugs. Many people like Fog Bugz and even Trac. You can also use OmniFocus as a single-user, quick and dirty solution.
  10. Accountant - Your going to need one to pay all those new taxes. You might have to hop around a couple of times until you find one that you really like.
  11. Lawyer - You will need a lawyer for those tricky contracts, terms of service, licenses, etc but these guys are serious money drains. So know of one and keep him/her in the ready but only use when necessary.
  12. Software Licenses - The software you buy had better be legit.
  13. Security - Any information stored about the user of your software needs to be safe and secure. Knowing what the latest security issues are and how to prevent them is important.

Tips & Tricks

News

  • Mac Software Business Podcast - A good podcast to subscribe to learning how to run a business on a MacOS. Despite the fact that the podcasts focuses primarily on MacOS software, it is also good for any startup.
  • MacBreak Tech - A good site to check out in general. I am linking to this site because the “Making Mac Your Business” podcast episode is definitely worth checking out.

Resources

  • All-In-One Business Packs - A collection of templates, images, etc. that can help add polish to your Keynotes and Pages and help give you that professional look to what you do.

Email

Introduction

Email, while we might have a love/hate relationship with, it is still a major means of communication. The following page is dedicated to developing better email messages that you might use for personal or business purposes.

Services

  • MailChimp - Not free but might be worth paying for if you need to compose email messages that look professional. Even if you don’t use the service, browse around the site. There are a lot of resources and helpful tips for designing better email messages. They even have some email templates you can download.

Resources

  • Email Standards Project - Helps developers and designers improve the standards and accessibility of their email messages. You will also find information on the various email clients and how well they deal with HTML messages.

Genuine Buddy 125

Buddy 125cc

Introduction

The following page is dedicated to news, repair, and maintenance information about the Genuine Buddy 125cc scooter made by the Genuine Scooter Company.

Maintenance

A fairly comprehensive service guide can be found on pages 29-30 in manual provided with the scooter.

Supplies

You will want to keep the following on hand for servicing your scooter:

  • Engine Oil: SAE 10W30
  • Brake Oil: FMVSS DOT3(4) or SAE J1703
  • Gear Oil: SAE 140
  • Spark Plug: C7HSA (for NGK) or CR7HSA (for EEC)

Resources

  • Modern Buddy - A forum with plenty of news and discussion about the scooter.
  • Scooter Net - Dedicated to scooter enthusiasts.

Design

Introduction

The following is a collection of design tips, tricks, resources, etc.

Tools

  • Kuler - A handy tool to have for those that need a little help when it comes to picking color schemes in web design.

Testing

  • DebugBar (a.k.a. IE Tester) - An IE plug-in that allows you to debug JavaScript, view the DOM, etc. It also allows you to test various versions of IE from one instance of IE.

Resources

  • Wikipedia Commons - A general source of freely available media. Make sure to read the disclaimer though.
  • Yahoo! Stenci Kit - As the name implies, a collection of stencils to help get you jump started in your design.
  • FlashDen - A resource for buying and selling flash components as well as audio tracks, fonts, and much more.
  • Flipping Book - A nice flash-based page flip widget that can be tied into any web app.
  • Icon Finder - Find well designed icons.
  • Crystal Clear - A collection of symbolic graphics.
  • 100 Free Circular Icons
  • Simplicio - Another set of free icons.
  • Practika - A free set of 11 fairly useful icons in various sizes.
  • Calendar Icons - 12 icons that can easily be used to represent months of the year.
  • iStockphoto - A treasure trove of media that can be bought and sold. When buying the media for use in other uses, it comes royalty free.
  • Soundsnap - A collection of sound effects.

Netbeans

Introduction

This page is dedicated to using and learning about the Netbeans IDE.

Tutorials

Aeonscope Categories Widget

Aeonscope Categories Widget Icon

Overview

This widget adds a graphical user interface to many of the options found in wp_list_categories function. Here is a screenshot of what the widget has to offer:

Aeonscope Categories Widget Screenshot

Example

The following is an example of the widget being used within a theme as displayed to the public:

Aeonscope Categories Example Screenshot

License

This software is licensed under the GNU License.

Support

As with all software, there is likely to be some undiscovered bugs. Let me know if you find anything and I’ll work on getting it fixed when I have time (hey, its not like I’m getting paid or anything).

Installation

To install, follow these steps:

  1. Make sure you meet the requirements listed below.
  2. Download the latest release of the widget from the downloads section listed below.
  3. Extract the “aeonscope-categories-widget.php” file from the downloaded JAR file (or rename the JAR to ZIP if that is easier).
  4. Upload the “aeonscope-categories-widget.php” file to the wp-content/plugins directory of your WordPress install.
  5. Activate the plugin via the Wordpress “Plugins” menu.
  6. Browse to the WordPress “Design” menu, add the “Aeonscope Categories” widget to your theme, and customize the widget as you see fit.

Requirements

Release Notes

Downloads

Photography

Introduction

The following is a capture of camera and camcorder electronics as well as related accessories.

Tips & Tricks

Cameras

  • Canon PowerShot G9 - A 12MP semi-pro, compact camera with image stabilization and video support.
  • Canon EOS 5D Mark II - A 21.1 megapixel SLR camera that doubles as a camcorder that can capture full HD resolution movies (1080p at 30fps)!

Camcorders

  • Sony HDR-SR12 - Captures 1920×1080 video at 60fps which can be increased to 240fps for high speed filming. Sports a 120GB hard drive with HDMI connections. Records 5.1 Dolby Digital sound with built-in microphone. Has a 12x optical zoom with a 150x digital zoom. Video is recorded at 5MP while still images can be captured at 10MP. Face-recognition and image stability is included.
  • Canon HG10 - Captures 15 hours (roughly) of high-definition video on a 40 GB hard drive in AVCHD format. Sports a top-notch image stabilizer. The video format is hard to use with many image/video applications though.
  • Canon Vixia HF10 - A smaller, cheeper version of the HG10 above. Captures HD video but can only hold 2 hours worth of data.
  • Flip Video - Captures 640×480 video resolution at 30fps with storage up to 1GB. Comes with a built-in USB arm that can connect to Windows and Mac computers. The camcorder is available as a standard and ultra portable device that can be accessorized for underwater and other physical activites. Follow the link and check out some of the interesting features for quickly capturing and sharing video.

Accessories

  • Gitzo - Makers of high quality ball-heads and other tripod mounts.
  • Acratech - Another manufacturer of professional ball-head and other tripod mounts.

Maintenance

  • Formula MC - A good cleaner to have around for cleaning your lenses.

Berserk Technologies

Berserk Technologies Logo

History

Berserk Technologies is a Limited Liability Company (LLC) that was founded on April 1st, 2008. The company was formed out of a desire to use few resources, a network of friends, and low overhead to get the job done in a fast, reliable, and consistent manner.

Services

Berserk Technologies provides software consulting services as well as custom software development using Java, Ruby, JavaScript, and CSS languages.

The Team

Berserk Technologies is owned and operated by Brooke Kuhlmann who wears many hats (president, accountant, developer, system administrator, tech support, quality assurance, janitor, etc.)

Contact

While there is no official company web page as of yet, feel free to contact me (Brooke) via e-mail (use the page header icon) or via Skype (ID: aeonscope).

VMWare Fusion

VMWare Fusion Logo
© VMWare

Introduction

VMWare Fusion is a Mac OS application that enables one to run virtual machines (VMs) of other operating systems like Windows, Ubuntu, etc.

News

  • Team Fusion - A blog dedicated to Fusion news on the Mac OS platform.

Tips and Tricks

Aeonscope Tools Library

Aeonscope Tools Java Library Icon

Overview

This Java library is a collection tools I have written in the evenings and weekends to solve interesting problems that I have come across. Maybe you will find these tools useful as well.

License

All software is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.

Javadoc

The latest Javadoc can be found here.

Support

As with all software, there is likely to be some undiscovered bugs. Let me know if you find anything and I’ll work on getting it fixed when I have time (hey, its not like I’m getting paid or anything).

Requirements

Downloads

Resources

Video Resolutions

  • DVD: 720×480 pixels
  • HD-DVD: 1920×1080 pixels
  • HD VMD: 1920×1080 pixels. More info found here.
  • UHDV: Ultra high-definition video. The next generation of video beyond HDTV. Suppose to have 4,000 horizontal lines of resolution and will have 16 times more pixel count than HDTV.

Video Formats

  • CD: Infrared laser.
  • DVD: Red laser.
  • HD-DVD & BD-ROM: Blue laser.

Audio Formats

SACD vs. DVD Audio. SACD has a stronger hold over DVD Audio only because it much easier to use, cheeper, and requires less equipment. However, DVD Audio is superior to SACD when properly set up. The reasons for the DVD Audio lack of momentum is:

  1. DVD Audio came out way after DVD Video was in full force. It should have came out around the same time.
  2. You usually need a TV/monitor to manipulate and use the menu.
  3. Not many DVD Audio disks exist in the market.
  4. No standard for bass management.
  5. No standard for equipment hookup (connecting a DVD Audio player requires a ton of RCA cables).
  6. DVD Audio disks don’t alway utilize the speaker layout properly. In some cases the sound shows up behind you when it really doesn’t need to be there.

HDMI

When buying displays, receivers, DVD players, etc. Make sure they support HDMI 1.3. You will want to buy devices that support xvYCC and Deep Color as they are part of the HDMI 1.3 spec. More info in Home Theater Magazine (Page 32).

In addition to HDMI 1.3, the following audio formats should be included in your shopping considerations:

  • Dolby TrueHD - The latest and greatest in sound quality from Dolby Labs.
  • DTS-HD - The DTS equivalent of Dolby TrueHD.

Sound Proofing

References

  • SA-CD - News and reviews dedicated to the SA-CD audio disk format.
  • DVD Demystified - Learn about the DVD technology. Complete with a FAQ and other useful info.
  • DVD Help - Learn how to make DVD, SVCDs, and Video CDs.
  • DVD Tests - Learn about the compatibilty problems amongst DVDs.
  • CELF - Consumer Electronics Linux Forum. Using open source architecture to promote technical advancements on the Linux platform.
  • 100,000 Watts - U.S. Radio and TV directory. Get the full breakdown, state-by-state, of what broadcast signals your city might emitting. Great for checking on HDTV capabilities. The only downside is that it requires a membership.
  • Digital Film Forum - Forum devoted to video calibration.

Cables

My Picks

  • VisionWare Noise-Resistant HDMI Cables - Thse non-powered cables support a chip that helps suppress noise and jitter over long distances. Not cheap but do a great job of preserving the signal.
  • Kimber Kable Hero Interconnect and 8TC Speaker Cable - Received The Absolute Sound’s 2006 Product of the Year Award (The Absolute Sound, Issue 168, Page 67).

Remotes

My Picks

  • Logitech Harmony One - The new flagship model.
  • Logitech Harmony 890 - Received the 2006 Editor’s Choice Award (The Perfect Vision, Issue 72, Page 60). The 880 version of this remote received The Perfect Vision Product of the Year award (Issue 66, Page 38 and Issue 67, Page 86). DenGuru has a review worth checking out.
  • Harmon Kardon TC 30 - Competitor to the Logitech remotes. Reviewed by CNet.
  • Universal Remote Control MX-850 Aeros - Originally reviewed by The Perfect Vision (Issue 66, Page 86) and received The Perfect Vision’s 2006 Product of the Year award (Issue 74, Page 52).

Multimedia Servers

My Picks

Power Conditioners

My Picks

  • Audience Adept Response Power Conditioner - Expensive but highly recommended by various trade magazines for providing proper power conditioning.
  • APC S15BLK - A power conditioner with battery backup (6 minutes at full load, 19 minutes at half-load).
  • APC C2 - Reviewed by The Perfect Vision (Issue 76, Page 13). Great for flat panel displays where you might need a thin power conditioner to hide it from sight better.
  • PS Audio Noise Harvester - Works with or without an existing power conditioner. A quick solution to cleaning noise in the power supply.

Speakers

My Picks

  • Paradigm Studio Reference - My personal favorite (The Perfect Vision, Issue 57, Page 70 and Absolute Sound (Issue 164). Received the 2006 Editor’s Choice Award (The Perfect Vision, Issue 72, Page 72). When shopping around, make sure the speakers are v4 (i.e. Version 4.0) as this is the latest upgrade in the line.
  • B&W 700 Series - Excellent dynamic range as well as being soft and fluid while at the same time still able to pack a punch. The design of these speakers is top-notch (The Perfect Vision, Issue 54, Page 79). Received the 2006 Editor’s Choice Award (The Perfect Vision, Issue 72, Page 73).
  • Definitive Technology Mythos ST - Rated as one of the best speakers of 2007 by The Perfect Vision (Issue 82).
  • Monitor Audio Bronze Reference Speakers - Interesting set of speakers. Have not listened to these in person but I am fond of the design.

Notes

Most home theater setups use a D’ Appolito configuration for the center channel. The D’ Appolito configuration is a loudspeaker set on it’s side and has a midbass-tweeter-midbase configuration. The center channel is the most critical speaker in a home theater setup as it produces 80% of all signal info. The center channel is also responsible for producing clear, intelligible voices.

All high definition loud speakers should be able to reproduce the 20Hz to 20kHz range (optimal). This includes the center and surround speakers. If not able to reach 20Hz, then 30 to 60Hz would be the bare minimum.

Surround speakers should be placed at a ratio of 1.5:1 of distance between the front speakers. Meaning that if the left and right front speakers are 10 feet apart from each other, the surround speakers should be at least 15 feet apart from the front speakers. If nothing else, all speakers should be at least equidistant from each other.

Subwoofers appear usually crossover at 50, 60, or 80Hz. Ideally 30 to 40Hz would be better providing that your loudspeakers are up to snuff.

Receivers

My Picks

  • Onkyo TX-SR674 - Originally reviewed by The Perfect Vision (Issue 74, Page 36).
  • Pioneer VSX-816 - Originally reviewed by The Perfect Vision (Issue 70, Page 86).
  • Denon AVR-3806 - 120Wpc that supports HDMI and HDCD (The Perfect Vision, Issue 68). Received the 2006 Editor’s Choice Award (The Perfect Vision, Issue 72, Page 63).
  • Yamaha RX-V657 - Received the Product of the Year Award (The Perfect Vision, Issue 66, Page 31).
  • Pioneer VSX-816-K/S - The earlier version of this model, VSX-816, got favorable reviews. (The Perfect Vision, Issue 70, Page 86).
  • Integra DTR-8.8 - Impressive stats. Supports HDMI 1.3. (The Perfect Vision Issue, 84, Page 90)
  • Onkyo TX-SR705 - Rated as the best receiver for 2007. (The Perfect Vision Issue, 83, Page 66).
  • Sony STR-DA5400ES - A rather feature-rich receiver with plenty of power. Check out reviews of the previous version to get extra feedback.

Disk Players

Blu-Ray Players

Buy a PS3. To be honest, I am not interested in this format and am looking into digital solutions rather than get sucked into buying more disks.

DVD Players

  • Oppo DV-983HD - Rated as one of the best DVD players out there winning many industry awards. Definitely give this player a look if you are in the market. A related review that might be of interest is Roo’s Oppo DV-980HD review.
  • Denon DVD-5910 - The Perfect Vision gave the following rank to this DVD player (where 10 is the highest rank possible): Video 10.2, Audio 9.2, Price/Performance 9.2.

If shopping for a DVD player, look for a player that supports progressive scan technology. This will improve your picture quality by changing the normal interlaced signal to a progressive scan signal (double check that your TV or monitor support progressive scan input as well). Players that support Sage/Faroudja DCDi technology are a good bet. A progressive-scan DVD player should be able to handle the 3-2 pulldown cadence of film to NTSC transfer.

NOTE: Films are shot at 24fps while NTSC TV displays at 30fps.

Displays

My Picks

  • JVC DLA-HD1 - Supports a multitude of video formats with very high ratings for video reproduction.
  • Sony VPL-VW200 - The grand daddy of the Sony projector line. I wrote about the VPL-VW100 model a while back here. The VPL-VW100, which is no longer available, received the 2006 Editor’s Choice Award (The Perfect Vision, Issue 72, Page 56).
  • Sony VPL-VW60 - Supports 1080p resolutions at 24 and 60fps. Screen suggestions: Stewart Filmscreen’s Firehawk SST screen (as both Sony and Stewart collaborated to make this possible). The Perfect Vision provides a much more comprehensive review of the VPL-VW50 model (Issue 73, Page 56) which received The Perfect Vision’s 2006 Top Product of the Year Award (Issue 74, Page 60).
  • Sony VPL-VW40 - A top contender in the low prices range for front projection. No longer available for purchase in some areas. Check out these reviews for more details: Projector Reviews and Projector Central.
  • Pioneer Elite PRO-1140HD (plasma) - Possibly one of the best plasmas out there (The Perfect Vision, Issue 67, Page 82). Received the 2006 Editor’s Choice Award (The Perfect Vision, Issue 72, Page 53).
  • Sharp LC37D90U - (LCD) Supports multiple HDMI hookups and full 1080p resolution. This is part of the AQUOS line (The Perfect Vision, Issue 71). Received the 2006 Editor’s Choice Award (The Perfect Vision, Issue 72, Page 52).

Flat Panel Display Mounts

For those wishing to securely mount their flat panel displays on the wall, check out Peerless Industries as an option.

Screens

When using front projection, you need a good screen to supplement it. Shooting on the wall will work but is less than optimal and destroys the true nature of a good front projector. Here are a few choices:

  • Stewart Filmscreen Grayhawk RS, Firehawk, and Studiotek 130 - Received 2006 Editor’s Choice Award (The Perfect Vision, Issue 72, Page 57).
  • Screen Research ClearPix2 - Received 2006 Editor’s Choice Award (The Perfect Vision, Issue 72, Page 57).

As a screen alternative, check out the Vogel screen paint.

Plasma Considerations

  • They are very delicate. The screens can crack if not packaged carefully and can even break under their own weight if tipped or placed face-down.
  • They suffer screen burn (where an image stays in one place for too long, never moving so that it etches itself into the screen). Examples are screen burn occur when playing video games or watching 4:3 images.
  • Have the best viewing able for large audiences.

LCD Considerations

  • Do not support wide viewing angles for large audiences.
  • Can suffer from dead pixels (where one pixels stops working causing a blank or off-color spot in your image.
  • Make sure you buy a display that has a response time of 8 milliseconds or less so that you do not suffer from motion lag which is what happens when fast moving objects on the screen create ghosting effects because of slow response times.
  • Do not suffer screen burn like plasma displays do and are ideal for 4:3 images and video games.

Facts

  • Going from 1080p at 24fps (fps = frames per second) to 1080i at 60fps that equates to a 30% loss in vertical detail.
  • Most TVs can’t fully display 1080p/24 even though companies claim this.
  • The ATSC Table 3 includes 1080p/24.
  • SXRD Display Technology has a resolution of 1920×1080.

JavaScript

Introduction

JavaScript, as you will know if you have done any web development, is a client-side scripting language that enables some of the clever desktop-like behavior you can experience on various web sites today. Of course, AJAX plays an important part in this as well.

Getting Started

Tips and Tricks

jQuery

This popular library deserves its own section.

Libraries

  • Google AJAX Libraries API - Serves up many of the popular libraries listed below. It is worth mentioning here because you can potentially speed up the loading of various JavaScript libraries from the Google server instead of hosting them on your own. More details here.
  • Prototype - Adds AJAX support for dynamic communication between browser and application. Here are some handy libraries built on top of Prototype: Starbox, Lightbox, Prototip, Proto.Menu, and ProtoChart.
  • script.aculo.us - Provides a cross-browser, user-interface for your web applications. Sits nicely on top of Prototype.
  • jQuery - A fast library that enables easy traversal of the HTML elements, animation support, AJAX, error handling, and has lots of useful plugins. Check out Visual jQuery to get, yes, a more visual experience of jQuery API or you can start learning jQuery now. Here are some additional libraries built on top of jQuery worth checking out: moreSelectors, Anti-aliased Rounded Corners, Lightbox, Chain, tablesorter, Form, Validation, timeago, Flexigrid, Table Drag and Drop, ScrollTo, LocalScroll, SerialScroll, Flot, Image Preloader, jTPS, JX, jsTree, timepickr, and jParallax.
  • Yahoo! User Interface Library (YUI) - Another JavaScript library that is a collection of utilities and controls for building robust web interfaces.
  • Ext JS - Originating from the Yahoo! User Interface (YUI) library, Ext JS is a library that can be used to bring a lot of interesting UI behavior to your web application.
  • Dojo - A library that has I/O, widget, GUI, testing, and animated transitions amongst other things.
  • MooTools - A cross-browser and compact JavaScript framework with plug-in support. Check out the following plug-ins: JxLib.
  • Jester - A JavaScript client that supports REST API and also uses Ruby on Rails coding conventions.
  • LiveValidation - A library for client-side validation of text as it is typed.
  • Date JS - A library for dealing with date and time.
  • Timeframe - Built on top of Date JS, it allows you to select date ranges.
  • SoundManager 2 - Wraps and extends the sound capabilities of Flash.
  • PersistJS - A client-side, cross-browser persistent storage solution that does not use cookies.
  • Coverflow - A library for presenting coverflow-like effects.
  • Sphere - Turn images into three dimensional images.
  • Bluff - Create beautiful graphs. Ported for use by Ruby developers.
  • Typeface - Allows you to load custom fonts without having to render to image like sIFR. It is in its infancy and has issues still.
  • WSIHat - A what-you-see-is-what-you-get JavaScript editor. More specifically it is the foundation from which you can apply your own UI to.
  • JS.IO - A I/O library for network communication.
  • Pi - Designed for JavaScript programmers develop applications with reduction in browser differences.
  • jslibs - “A standalone JavaScript development runtime environment for using JavaScript as a general-purpose scripting language.”
  • Blackbird - Makes logging message to the console easy. Comes with a slick looking console as well.
  • Busy.js - Easily add/remove status indicators on a page.

Oh, and here is a list of some great JavaScript and CSS menu libraries.

Tools

  • Line-Height - A tool that helps you determine line-height for various fonts (since each font has it’s own calculation).

Testing

Performance

  • SunSpider - A JavaScript performance test engine developed by the WebKit team.
  • V8 Benchmark - A performance test engine developed by the Google team.
  • Dromaeo - A performance test engine developed by the Mozilla team.

Aeonscope Core Library

Aeonscope Core Java Library Icon

Overview

This Java library was created out of a desire to capture and reduce developing the same functionality more than once. This library builds mostly upon Apache Commons functionality but other well-known libraries are referenced as well.

License

All software is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.

Javadoc

The latest Javadoc can be found here.

Support

As with all software, there is likely to be some undiscovered bugs. Let me know if you find anything and I’ll work on getting it fixed when I have time (hey, its not like I’m getting paid or anything).

Requirements

The following software is required to compile and run (might work with older versions):

Release Notes

Downloads

OmniFocus

OmniFocus Icon
© The OmniGroup

Introduction

OmniFocus is personal task management software based on David Allen’s book Getting Things Done. If you have used notepads, daily planners, PDAs (i.e. Palm Pilot), etc. in the past then this is the next evolution of personal task management for you.

Getting Started

  1. Read the book “Getting Things Done” by David Allen.
  2. Watch the OmniFocus Basics and QuickStart videos to get started.
  3. Download a copy of OmniFocus to test and then buy it.

Settings

I always find sharing settings helps others think about how they might like to adjust their own settings. Here is what I have been using:

OmniFocus General PreferencesOmniFocus Data PreferencesOmniFocus Clippings PreferencesOmniFocus Mail PreferencesOmniFocus Sync PreferencesOmniFocus Update Preferences
(click to view)

Tips and Tricks

Google Web Toolkit (GWT)

Introduction

The Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is a web kit that allows developers to quickly design and develop AJAX applications using the Java language without having to write Javascript code. GWT does this by automatically compiling and optimizing the Java source code into Javascript libraries for the developer.

Getting Started

Coming soon…

Tutorials

Third-Party Libraries

The following are a few third-party libraries to help enhance GWT:

  • gwt-jsonizer - Allows you to convert/revert your JavaBean objects into JSON strings.
  • gwt-ent - Enables enterprise level support such as: UI generator, MVC framework, reflection, Spring integration, and acegi integration.
  • MyGWT - A widget library that also uses the EXT JS library.
  • GWT-Ext A GWT library that wraps the EXT JS library.
  • GWT-SL- A server side library that integrates with the Spring Framework and Hibernate4gwt library.
  • Gwittir - Provides MVC scaffolding.
  • Hibernate4gwt - Easily use POJO between Hibernate and your Java client.

Resources

Coming soon…

Twitter

Introduction

This page, while not containing a lot of information at the moment, is dedicated to information about Twitter.

Tips and Tricks

Applications

  • PocketTweets - A web application built specifically for the iPhone. Allows you to post and get Twitter updates directly on your phone using WiFi or EDGE networks.
  • Twitterific - An ascetically pleasing desktop application for the Mac OS that allows you to post and read tweets. Costs $14.
  • Twidget - A free dashboard widget for the MacOS that allows you to post Twitter updates only.
  • TwitBox - Another desktop application but for the Windows Vista OS. It is free to download and use.
  • TweetDeck - An Adobe Air application that helps break down the volume of tweets into bite-size chunks for easier reading.
  • Twhirl - A platform independent Twitter application that runs on the Adobe AIR platform.
  • Quatably - A web app that creates a threaded view of Twitter conversations.
  • Tweet Scan - Allows one to search tweets by topic and/or by user.

Accessories

The following is a capture of some useful accessories to compliment your electronics.

  • GelaSkins - Buy skins for your phone or laptop using 3M adhesive technology that doesn’t leave a sticky residue when you are done using the skin. Most skins are for Apple products but there is some support for PCs and non-Apple cell phones.
  • SkinIt - Buy from multiple categories of art for your laptop, phone, etc. or submit your own custom design for a skin you can apply to and customize your device with.
  • Decal Girl - Add decals to your electronics with choices for many different styles.
  • 15-Piece Cables-To-Go Kit - Contains USB, firewire, network cables, etc.
  • ColorWare - A company that specializes in transforming existing electronics with new colors.

Networks

Introduction

The following sheds light on setting up networks properly. While information is sparse at the moment, this page will evolve over time.

Tips and Tricks

Google Earth

Google Earth

Introduction

This page, while not containing a lot of information at the moment, is dedicated to information about Google Earth.

Tips and Tricks

iPhone

Apple iPhone Photo
© Apple

Introduction

The following will help enhance your iPhone experience.

Tips & Tricks

Native Applications

A few picks worth checking out:

  • OmniFocus - Costs $20. Gain all the power of OmniFocus on your iPhone. Even better if you use the desktop app as you can synchronize between your desktop and phone.
  • WordPress - Free. Allows one to blog from your phone with the ability to tap into all your data such as posts, categories, tags, etc.
  • AOL Radio - Free. Listen to the radio.
  • Google Mobile App - Free. Easily search your contact list and the web. Enables location based information searching as well.
  • Here I Am - Free. Uses the current location data from your phone to e-mail someone in your contact list of where you are (the e-mail contains a Google Map link of your location). There are a couple apps of the same name so make sure to pick the one made by Matthew Mackey of Arboretum Software.
  • Shazam - Free. Launch this app to listen to a song playing at your friend’s place, a club, etc. It will attempt to detect who the artist and album of the song for you.
  • DataCase - $6.99. Turns your iPhone into a data store for personal documents and files that you might need on the go.
  • Simplify Media - Free. Share your iTunes playlist or connect to your friends playlist through your iPhone.
  • Grocery IQ - A handy app for grocery shopping. Looks like it is only supported on the iPhone with now desktop synchronization. Web support is coming though.

You can read more about native applications here.

Web Applications

The following is a list of interesting web applications that can enhance your iPhone experience (assuming you have a decent WiFi or EDGE network connection):

  • iPhone Apps Manager - Can be used to capture and manage your favorite applications.
  • Skype for iPhone - Allows you to use Skype on your iPhone for text and chat. You can make voice calls but it will eat up your SkypeOut credit. Check out my Skype page for more details on Skype.
  • Newsgator Mobile - Allows you to access your FeedDemon feeds on your iPhone. The best part is that all your feeds are synchronized across all accounts no matter whether you are on the iPhone, at home, work, etc. Check out my Feed Demon page for more details.

Accessories

  • RichardSolo 1800 - A backup power source for charging your iPhone up while on the go. Includes a flashlight and laser pointing capabilities as well.
  • Sennheiser MM 50-IP - A pair of hi-fi ear-buds for the iPhone that also incorporate a mic and button for answering/ending calls and controlling music.
  • Shure SE110 - Earphones that do better at sound reproduction than the default earphones.

Stores

  • XtremeMac - A cool place to shop for iPhone and iPod accessories.

Development

Java Media Framework (JMF)

Introduction

JMF allows Java developers to develop multimedia applications that can be purely Java-based or you can install performance packs for Windows, MacOS, etc. that will give native support and faster performance.

Getting Started

Here are a few quick steps for getting started:

  1. Bookmark the JMF web site as mentioned above.
  2. Spend some time reading the JMF Reference Documentation
  3. Download the Javadoc.
  4. Download the Java-only class libraries or install the performance packs for your operating system. For Windows users, you might want to read my post that details what you get with the Windows Performance Pack.

Articles

The following articles are worth reading before you jump into doing real JMF programming. The first articles by Chris Adamson are especially helpful for painting a good picture of JMF.

Enhancements

The following libraries can enhance JMF or replace it completely:

Ruby

Ruby

Introduction

The following page is information all about the Ruby programming language. This page was assembled with help from Brant.

Getting Started

  1. The Beauty of Ruby - A 54 minute feature presentation of the Ruby language.
  2. Ruby Documentation - Read the documentation but also check out the Ruby in Twenty Minutes tutorial to get a taste of writing and executing Ruby code.
  3. Ruby Learning - Start by studying the tutorials.
  4. Ruby Docs - More documentation and resources on Ruby. Check out the standard library documentation.
  5. Getting Started with Ruby.
  6. Ruby Downloads - Download the Ruby distribution for your operating system.

Tips and Tricks

Documentation

  • Ruby Core API
  • Ruby Standard API
  • API Doc - Provides quick keyword search capabilities as well as community comments for Ruby and Ruby on Rails.
  • Got API - A great place to quickly search Ruby and Rails documentation from one site.
  • Ruby on Rails API
  • Ruby on Rails Guides - A collection of guides to help you understand the various aspects of Rails better.
  • RailsBrain - Provides a faster way of navigating the Ruby on Rails API.
  • Noobit - A central source for Ruby, Ruby on Rails, and Ruby Gems documentation.
  • RESTful Rails - A downloadable PDF for learning how to build RESTful Rails applications.

For those into Rails, more information can be found at the Raaum’s Rails Site and The Ruby on Rails Link Library.

Tutorials

  • Railscasts - Short screen cast tutorials of Ruby on Rails code.
  • PeepCode - Screen cast tutorials like Railscasts but longer in length and not free (roughly $9 per episode).
  • Envy Casts - Produced by the same guys that host the Rails Envy podcasts. Each screen cast tutorial will set you back about $9.

News

Mailing Lists

Communities

  • Act as Community - Nice site design but slow to use. Not sure if it is a Rails problem or a hosting problem. I am member as well.

Books

Tools

  • TextMate - Lightweight, fast, and costs $30 for the MacOS platform.
  • NetBeans - Developed by Sun and free for use. My IDE of choice for Ruby/Rails development. Make sure to download 6.1 if you go this route.
  • Aptana - Adds Ruby on Rails support to the Eclipse IDE. Visit the software update site to install directly into Eclipse.
  • Dynamic Languages Toolkit (DLTK) - Another way in which to enable Ruby on Rails support within the Eclipse IDE. Here are some tips on installing and configuring the DLTK.

Gems

Ruby Gems allow one to discover and install additional packages that do not come standard with the base Ruby distribution. NOTE: If you are having trouble installing RubyGems 1.3.0 on MacOS 10.5.4, this might help. Here are a few worth considering:

  • RSpec - A Behavior Driven Design (BDD) testing framework for Ruby and other languages. Can also be used as a plugin to Rails.
  • ZenTest - An auto-tester that works with RSpec.
  • Roodi - A code cleanup tool that warns and/or questions your code.
  • Flog - Uses ABC metrics to analyze the complexity of your code.
  • rcov - A code coverage tool that can also generate HTML charts.
  • Facets - What you can’t find in the base Ruby library you might find with this gem.
  • Ruby on Rails - A database supported framework for web application development using the Ruby language.
  • Merb - A MVC like Rails but faster, more abstract, and lightweight.
  • Rack - A modular web server interface for Ruby programs (in case you wanted an alternative to Ruby on Rails).
  • Mailfactory - Enables e-mail support. Installation: gem install mailfactory.
  • Feed-Normalizer - Normalizes any RSS feed so that you can access from a generic class. Installation: gem install feed-normalizer.
  • FasterCVS - A much more efficient CVS. Installation: gem install fastercsv.
  • Bishop - A Bayesian classifier library. Installation: gem install bishop.
  • Linguistics - A language framework. Installation: gem install linguistics.
  • Ferret - Inspired by the Apache Lucene project, Ferret is a text search engine for Ruby.
  • Picolena - A Ferret-power document search engine that claims to be lightweight and speedy.
  • Active Merchant - Originally developed for Shopify, it adds financial processing to Ruby and/or Rails applications.
  • Active Shipping - A shipping API extension to Active Merchant.
  • Active Record Extensions - Adds functionality and performance enhancements to Active Record.
  • Ruby OSA - Enables Ruby programs to manipulate MacOS applications in much the same fashion as AppleScript.
  • GPS Receiver Reader - Use this to interpret GPS data.
  • libxml - An XML parsing library that claims to be fast and feature rich. Read about resurrecting libxml-ruby to learn more.
  • Hpricot - An HTML parser for Ruby.
  • Nokogirl - Another HTML/XML parser. Claims to be fast.
  • Hoshi - Makes creating HTML/XHTML/XML views easier.
  • MMS2R - “A library that decodes the parts of an MMS message to disk while stripping out advertising injected by the mobile/cellphone carriers.”
  • Pool Party - “An open source tool that automates deployment, monitoring, and load balancing of [Amazon] EC2 instances.”
  • SOAP4R - The SOAP implementation for Ruby. You can get started here.
  • BackgroundDRb - A Ruby job server and scheduler for running background tasks asynchronously. Warning: This is heavyweight, error prone, and not that easy to use.
  • Daemon Controller - A library for managing daemon threads.
  • Randexp - “Allows you to use regular expression to generate a random string that matches the regular expression”.
  • HTTParty - A convenience library for modeling response objects such as JSON, XML, etc. Read more about it if you like.
  • JSON - A JSON data wrapper that can be parsed as a Ruby object.
  • PDF Writer - A library with some excellent documentation for generating PDF documents. Check out Railscast, Episode 78 to learn more.
  • Prawn - A library for generating PDF documents.
  • Config Toolkit - Makes parsing configuration files easy in Ruby.
  • Configatron - Similar in nature to the System Settings plugin for Rails, this makes configuring/customizing your app easier. Developed by the same guy responsible for the Mack framework.
  • Adhearsion - A VoIP library.
  • NeverBlock - Built upon Ruby 1.9, NeverBlock allows one to write transparent, non-blocking, concurrent code.
  • Mocha - A mocking and stubbing library. Works with many of the other testing frameworks out there. Can be installed as a Rails plugin as well.
  • Doodle - A library that simplifies the definition of Ruby classes by making attributes and their properties more declarative.
  • Markaby (a.k.a. Markup as Ruby) - Allows you to write Ruby code to easily generate HTML without having to mess with the HTML syntax. Can also be installed as a plugin to Rails.
  • RedCloth - A module that adds Textile capabilities to Ruby for writing semi-static pages that need HTML syntax but where you don’t want to actually write in HTML.
  • Rote - “Rote is a simple page-based template system that was written to make it easier to author and maintain non-dynamic websites and offline documentation. Rote provides a simple command line or Rake based build for your pages, with page rendering (optionally supporting RDoc formatting, Textile and Markdown with RedCloth and ruby code with ERB), layout, and general documentation / website build tasks.”
  • Webby - A simple and tiny content management system for your web app (well, sort of). Follow the link to learn more.
  • WeatherMan - Encapsulates the XML API from weather.com so that you can easily manipulate the data.
  • FFMPEG-Ruby - A Ruby wrapper to the C-library for dealing with video files.
  • Chronic - A natural language time parser. The only problem is that it doesn’t support time zones at the moment but is planned as a future enhancement.
  • Briad - A simple tool for tracking SVN and GIT repository branches.
  • Suprails - Meant to replace and be the super version of the rails command you already know.
  • rg - Another take on supercharging the default capabilities of the rails command as suprails does.

Ruby on Rails Plugins

  • ActiveScaffold - Built on top of Rails, it is a scaffolding plugin for quickly generating UI on your models.
  • Streamlined - A scaffolding plug-in for quickly building views.
  • Hobo - A collection of scaffolding plug-ins designed to make generating UI around your models much easier.
  • Auto-Admin - Another scaffolding plug-in for quickly creating administrative UI around your models.
  • Flex Scaffold - Allows you to build Flex scaffolding to your RESTful controllers.
  • Pacecar - Adds class methods to your models that can reduce writing named scopes as well as work in conjunction with named scopes.
  • ar-extensions - Extends and enhances the default functionality of ActiveRecord such as mass data import and exporting to CVS via the “to_csv” method.
  • Act As Versioned - Adds versioning support to an ActiveRecord model. More details here.
  • Act As Paranoid - Stores time of ActiveRecored deletion in a “delete_at” attribute.
  • Act as Taggable On - Adds tagging capabilities to ActiveRecords.
  • Shoulda - Enhances Test::Unit framework for Rails applications.
  • Mephisto - A CMS for Rails but more focused for blogging.
  • Typo - Another CMS for Rails with a focus on blogging.
  • Radiant - A stripped down, bare bones CMS for Rails. Supports a powerful tagging system and includes extension support.
  • Community Engine - Enables many of the features you would need in building a social community web site such as tag clouds, RSS feeds, user profiles, etc. Learn more here.
  • Tog - A collection of tools to make adding social capabilities to your Rails app.
  • Haml - Adds a new and possibly more elegant way of building views for your Rails apps.
  • MemCached - “A high-performance, distributed memory object caching system, generic in nature, but intended for use in speeding up dynamic web applications by alleviating database load.” To learn more, check out these tutorials: Basics for Rails and MemCached in Ruby on Rails.
  • Paperclip - While there is no dedicated web site for this yet, Paperclip offers an easier way of handling file uploads. Read this article for more info.
  • Make Resourceful - Easily add RESTful actions to your controllers for basic operations. A good way to get off the ground and running for common functionality.
  • Resource Controller - A controller/scaffolding that provides the basic 7 REST methods for you, keeping your code DRY.
  • Restful Authentication - Adds user authentication to your web app. To learn more, read restful authentication and stateful authentication.
  • Lockdown - An authentication/authorization system that is a different take on security than Restful Authentication.
  • authlogic - Another take on authentication.
  • Seed Fu - Go beyond basic fixtures and use this to seed your Rails database.
  • TextMate Syntax Highlighting - Allows you to display code using highlighting as found in TextMate.
  • Metrics Fu - Measures performance and other metrics.
  • Rails iUI - Aids in developing your web application for the iPhone.
  • Palmist - Helps find and fix MySQL bottlenecks.
  • Unobtrusive Javascript - Makes using JavaScript a bit more elegant than the default Rails helpers.
  • Javascript Auto-Include - Automatically includes and loads JavaScript on a per controller basis.
  • Passenger - If you use DreamHost as your web host provider and want a faster and easier way of deploying your web application then check out this plugin.
  • Rubber - “Enables relatively complex multi-instance deployments of RubyOnRails applications to Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).”
  • Calendar Date Select - A JavaScript-based date/time picker that has an impressive set of features. Make sure to check out the demos.
  • Bundle Fu - Streamlines the loading of JavaScript files. Helps speed up loading and reduces additional lines of code.
  • Act As State Machine - Add callback code to your models when they change state. Read more.
  • Sentry - A wrapper for OpenSSL encryption classes.
  • Dynamically Tags - Tags words in a sentence, dynamically.
  • Awesome Fields - Allows one to build forms in a much more streamlined fashion using DRY principals.
  • Subdomain Fu - A tool set for adding and dealing with subdomains.
  • Mobile Fu - Adds mobile device support.
  • Open Flash Chart - A rather attractive way of charting data. Learn how to port this to your Rails project.
  • Google Charts on Rails - A simple plugin with very basic support of the Google Chart API. It’ll get you started quickly but you’ll soon hit limitations.
  • Google Gears - Install this plug-in to make use of Google Gears with Rails.
  • ActivePresenter - A clever way in which to wrap and manipulate multiple models into a single form.
  • has_markup - A plugin to ease the display of HTML markup.
  • openStream - Adds e-commerce to your site.
  • Spree - Add e-commerce to your site but still requires a bit of work to get working. Worth checking out.
  • Localized Dates - “The localized_dates plugin takes away some of the pain of localizing dates and times. It leverages the power of the Rails i18n plugin to facilitate localization of dates and times.”
  • will_paginate - Adds pagination to your views.
  • Endless Page - Uses AJAX requests to create an endless page as you scroll down. A nice alternative to using pagination.
  • Query Reviewer - A sort of profiling/debugging tool for your MySQL queries. It generates reports that can be reviewed. It also supports AJAX.
  • GeoKit - Provides the ability to calculate distance, compute lat/long on a model, compute lat/long from a snail address, and much more.
  • System Settings - Adds storing and retrieval of configuration settings for your web application in a convenient manner.
  • New Relic - A Rails plugin that monitors application performance a diagrams where areas could be improved. It is free to use for development but then there is a cost involved to use in production.
  • Augmentations - Adds the ability to define common code for your models in once place and then easily apply this common functionality to the models that need it.
  • Country Select Plugin - Once part of Rails core, it is now a separate plugin due to its offending nature to certain countries.
  • Workling - Provides a simple API for running code in the background (outside of your request).
  • Delayed Job - A scheduler for background tasks/jobs. Is not a daemon thread.
  • BackgroundJob - Another solution for background tasks.
  • Background Fu - Another background scheduler that claims to be easy to use.
  • Query Reviewer - Analayze and study the number of queries you make to the database. How e