The Chicken or the Egg
April 28, 2004
I am not sure what precipitated this, my wanting to post some pictures of our recent trip to the Canadian Rockies or the need to find a custom way to create an online photo album. Either way, both can be seen here. Hopefully I will post more galleries soon as the process is pretty easy now that it is set up. Anywho, if you want to see a few snaps, click here. Geeks might want to read on...
For the development of this, I used a single php file for display (index.php) and a single php file for data (data.php, I am so creative...). I also used a super nifty plug-in for iPhoto by the name of betterHTMLExport. BHE builds upon the web exporting features of iPhoto and probably would have done about the whole album, but what fun would that have been?! I utilized the "Export Images Only" option to resize and compress my album of pictures from the Rockies. BHE exports them (fairly quick I might add) in a numbered sequence which makes it much easier later on. One small caveat: BHE starts with zero, which can be very confusing later on. I ended up putting a dummy image as the first pic in the iPhoto album then discarding it so that my photos started with one.
As for the php, it is pretty straightforward. The index page reads a variable to see where you are in the sequence (or puts you at the beginning if you just got there) and fills in the image url with the corresponding number (remember that numbered sequence?). It then calls upon the data file to get the caption for each picture along with the title of the album. The links just post an addition or subtraction to the variable and refresh the page. Quick, easy and light and it can be used over and over again. Just change the captions and the title, and drop a new set of pictures in.
The layout is controlled by a master css file in the root "photo" directory so that it can be used for all future albums. And of course XHTML on the ground level...
The Wedding Site...Finally..
April 16, 2004
I know I said it would be up oh....three months ago or so, but like fine wine....oh nevermind. It's done. Head on over to learn a little more about us and the wedding, as well as some travel tips (hotel info coming very soon It is up now, check out the travel page).
bradleyboy 4.0
April 16, 2004
Two web sites in one day! Actually this one has been a long time comin'...
I finally had some time recently to wrap up a major re-design of bradleyboy productions' online home. It is now up and ready for your scrutiny at bradleyboy.com. Let me know what you think...
usa.tv
April 9, 2004
I was planning on knocking off a little early today (hey it is good friday) to catch some of the second round coverage of The Masters. I knew usa networks were doing the honors thursday and friday so I figured I would check from my desk what time coverage started. Logically, you would think that USA would take advantage of the new .tv domain, and therefore usa.tv would take me straight there.
Instead I found this, a page letting me know that usa.tv was available for only 100,000 bucks...per year! And that is only if you opt for the two year package...yikes...(For those of you wondering, a .com domain is about 15 dollars a year) No wonder USA networks chose usanetworks.com instead...
By the way, coverage starts at 4pm EST...
UPDATE: Upon closer inspection, some .tv domains are prorated depending on someone's ranking of how desirable they are. For instance, business.tv, news.tv or sports.tv would cost you 1,000,000 per year a piece. It doesn't seem to be working though, as they are all still available...
Not Quite Wireless
April 6, 2004
Recently when speaking with friends in the US, I have realized that the wireless craze hasn't quite hit the States as much as it has here in Canada. Upon moving to the apartment and setting up my office, none of my three computers connect to the internet using cables. I have my cable modem connected two rooms away, feeding a wireless router that spreads an encrypted network through the house. The three computers all have cards in them to connect to the internet and local network, and it is all very cool. Why? Well, let's say I need a change of venue or want to do some surfing at night before sleeping. No problem, I can grab my laptop and roam around the house without fear of losing my connection to the internet or being tethered by long ethernet cables. Ok, you really are a geek aren't you? Perhaps...
Wireless (or WiFi) is also a hit among coffee houses and other public hangouts. Hotspots are appearing everywhere, and many are free. Every major airport in Canada has free wireless internet floating through it, a nice touch when you travel once a month. Hey, I know most of this, why are you opining so much about it? I'm getting there...
The joy of wireless always seems to be cut short by the run back to an outlet to plug in before the battery runs dry. Take the airport for instance. Many people take advantage of the free wireless, but wouldn't you know it we are all hovered around a power outlet. Wireless my ankle... Can I get some cheese with that wine? Yea, but I will have to charge you extra.
I ran across a story this morning about Samsung's current development of portable fuel cells that could be utilized in cell phones, PDAs and laptops. The article speculates that such batteries could push laptop battery life to 10 hours. My reaction? Big flippin' deal. I don't need a battery that I would imagine costs a college fund and a half and lets me run for 10 hours, I need a battery to run a laptop for 10 weeks...10 months, something like that...not 10 hours. My cell phone will go for 10 hours, but I still have to remember to plug it in every night or I am up a creek the next day. Everything is becoming wireless...mice, keyboards, printers.. and yet we still are bound to the holes (obscure Seinfeld reference, aka the outlet).
It is not that we want to use our laptops for hours and hours on end. I was thrilled when my new laptop had a working battery life of around 4 hours without need of a recharge. I remember the first Calgary to Montreal flight I took and being excited because the battery would last almost as long as the flight. Well, I used it for a good hour before sleeping the rest of the flight away. So it is not the marathon use we want, it is the freedom to use it whenever, wherever we want and not have to be thinking about tucking it in at night next to an outlet. How cool would it be if our chargers sat in a drawer most of the year, only to be brought out once every six months for to juice our gadgets back up? We can dream....
If April Showers Bring May Flowers...
April 5, 2004
Then what the heck does this mean? After a brief warm spell with temps pushing the mercury all the way to the high forties, mother nature threw a nice April's Fools joke on us and dropped a few inches of snow last night. Above is the view from the balcony this morning.
Been a busy time with moving to a new apartment, work, watching the Jayhawks lose, etc etc....will write more soon...