Digital Web Magazine - News - Article: The Big Picture on Microformats: You've heard the buzz about microformats, and you've probably been meaning to use them on your sites—perhaps they're sitting somewhere near the bottom of your list of things to do. In his new article, John Allsopp gives us a snapshot of what's happening with microformats today, and he challenges us all to move them closer to the top of the pile.
Bytespring is a content management system built in ColdFusion. Jason Sheedy has posted a FAQ
I haven’t posted for a couple of days, but it’s not because I haven’t been blogging. Several months ago I started to move forward with creating a site where video tutorials could be shared. I had gotten frustrated with the cost of commercial services for what they were offering, while at the same time depressed by the free alternatives. Chris Pultz and I each created one series of videos to get started, and neither of us got further than that. What got in the way? Well, I should say that the new site got in the way of time that we would both rather spend with our families. Who wants to work when you leave work?
So, what about the site? Well, Chris noticed after we began working on the site that screencasting (the new term for narrated screen recordings) was starting to take off and that quite a few folks were beginning to share them on the web. Indeed, in just the few months since I set up the site, tons of these screencasts have been published. Why should we replicate everyone’s effort? Hmmm…
So welcome the new Vuedo.com! I am combing the Internet looking for helpful screencasts so that there is one easy place that people can come to find help with what they are doing. Of course I still plan on creating my own screencasts, but now I’m just filling in the holes I see in what everyone else is already doing.
Visit Vuedo and Subscribe! Let me know what you’d like to see there.
Ben has a new article up on the Adobe developer center regarding using PDF Forms with ColdFusion MX7. While he notes that these abilities pale in comparison to what will be possible with Scorpio (Next major version of ColdFusion) they offer some things that could be useful now.
The two uses that he illustrates is populating a PDF form with database data AND extracting form data from a PDF form. It requires a custom tag, but looks to be very easy once in place.
An article on Vitamin today discussed why the author does not use social sites. The ending argument was that the author didn’t have time for their own work and they certainly didn’t have time to be social on one of these new sites.
I understand where they are coming from and have felt this myself from time to time.
Then I think of all of the times (multiple per day) that I have searched and found the answer to a problem that I had on a person’s blog or buried in a forum somewhere. While it would be nearly impossible to thank each person that you receive help from via the internet, I do feel a very strong responsibility to give back to the system. If I save a day of work that I would have struggled to figure something out because somebody took the time to detail their solution on a site, the least I can do is put my own experiences on the web. I rarely comment on others' sites and just as often participate in forums, but if I get it out there somewhere (such as on my blog) then I know that it will be indexed by the search engines and somebody may find an answer to a problem that they run into. Heck, since I run into the same problems over and over, I find the answer to some of my questions on my own blog.
Social sites like del.icio.us and flickr that encourage everyone to chip in can make that goal easier. If I post my bookmarks to somewhere like del.icio.us, then everyone can benefit from things I find instead of them being locked up on my computer. Flickr allows photos to be shared and aggregated, giving views of places and events from many perspectives. These services, among others, can probably be tied into tools that you are already using and can be used in creative ways. I almost never visit these sites. When I take a picture on my phone or export it from iPhoto, it goes to Flickr, which publishes it in such a way that my blog can display it. My browser, Flock, can publish all bookmarks to del.icio.us, which then appear on my blog also. These sites become middleware agents that allow data to be liberated in exciting ways.
So forget about any feelings that if you use a social site that you need to be commenting and participating in that community. Find a way to contribute to the larger community of the internet. Use these services as a way to save time, to work contribution to the internet into what you are already doing, and to perhaps without even knowing it, help somebody out.
Barely 8 hours after saying that I wouldn’t be doing a link dump anymore, I found something to keep it going. A pre-beta (scary) of NetNewsWire is available and one thing it does is allow you to make on easy post with links to all of the tabs that you have open. Sooo, I can read through all of the news and pick out the few articles that I think are interesting, then with two clicks post links to those tabs to the blog.
I considered that maybe this is a duplication of effort since I still want to get these into my del.icio.us list, but there are a lot of things (such as the PDF newsletter this morning) that are interesting and will be good to read, but are not long-term assets that I want to bookmark. So, we’ll try this out for a bit and see how it works out. Am I crazy? Let me know.
I’m sure I’ve brought it up before, but TextMate is an incredible text editor that hides behind a very simple interface. A new video on their video cast shows some simple features that make great use of Google APIs in creating links in HTML documents.
Went to our county ‘event center’ today and watched my brother-in-law Aaron race in an autocross with his new Nissan. I taped it and threw it up on Google video…
I’m not sure what the meaning of the name “Todos” is, “but this is the application launcher”:dbachrach.com/opensoft/… that I have been waiting for . I have wanted something that would give me quick and visual access to all of my applications quickly and this does it wonderfully.
(screenshot_of_todos)!
I was looking through some of the video blogs that my computer had pulled down lately and found a bit about being able to post to blogs from TextMate. I had to try it out!
(blog_from_textmate)!
It’s been pretty quiet here for a couple of weeks. I spent last week on vacation visiting my brother and his family in Saco, ME. We had a fantastic time up there. Amanda, My sister-in-law Courtney and I went Kayaking at LL Bean (It’s only $12). We saw fourth-of-july fireworks in Kennebunkport. We had lobster, went to the beach and saw Portland Headlight. My brother also took us to a place called the Great Lost Bear that had a great menu and almost 60 beers on tap. The weather was beautiful and we came back feeling like a vacation should make you feel.
This comprehensive guide covers the design of software and hardware systems for web applications. Using scores of examples and leading-edge tips, it details proven methods for scaling web applications to millions of users. Topics include application architecture, development practices, technologies, Unicode, and general infrastructure work. Ideal for anyone ready to realize the cost and performance benefits available to web applications today.
Weblogg-ed » Engaging Teachers
Will Richardson considers a Mark Presky talk discussing how students are either enraged or engaged by teachers. Will asks how we get teachers engaged if we want students to be engaged. A teacher kicks off the comments by saying that they are enraged by the lack of support that they get – setting them up to enrage students.
Karelia announced the immediate availability of Sandovox and Sandovox Pro 1.0, a graphic-based Web site development application, on Wednesday. Sandovox includes support for blog, podcast, and online photo album publication, RSS feed generation, uploading sites via FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, and .Mac, as well as support for add-on modules to enhance the application's functionality. Pro users can also supports the creation of raw HTML code so that advanced users can add their own code and server-side scripting elements.
Karelia Introduces New Web Development Tool || The Mac Observer
O’Reilly Radar > Gentlemen Prefer PDFs
I’ve been very interested lately in the PDF publications that have been available on the web. One of the most recent documents that I have bought is Getting Real by 37 Signals. The book sells for $19 which is a bargain considering what books go for at the book store. I get a good price while the authors get all of the revenue. Everyone wins (except the non-existent publisher). I really look forward to a device like the Sony Reader to come along that will allow the easy reading of PDF eBooks, RSS Feeds and other text-based content without sitting at a computer display.
technorati tags: pdf, publishing, sony, reader, 37signals
EdTechPost: Matrix of some uses of blogs in education
technorati tags: blogging
Scan, copy and fax with your camera phone or digital camera
ScanR can take mobile-phone (or other) photos and turn them into text-searchable PDFs. Have a whiteboard that you want to save? Snap a photo, email it to them and receive back a PDF. I’ll try this out and report back!
Small Biz 101: Digg is Your Marketing Secret Weapon - Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals)
The way to get noticed on the web today is to get listed on Digg. If you can get enough people to “digg” your page, your status on the site will rise to a level that will bring unbelievable traffic to your site.
technorati tags: digg
Labels sue XM over music-storing ‘mothership’ | CNET News.com
I've been looking for one of these for a bit. I didn't realize that they were already out. The fact that XM is being sued over them just makes me want one more. Anything to stick it to the RIAA.
This player adds something to XM that is very necessary. I wish that media companies would find a way to get past the idea of streaming media and start creating more solutions like this that allow the customer to pick and choose the content that they are interested, to then listen to at their convenience. There are so many good programs on XM and I almost never remember to listen to them. If I could set my player up to record the programs and then listen to those at work or when I get home, I would be a much better listener.
Photos: Out of the box: Apple's new Intel-based MacBook | CNET News.com
These pictures show the glossiness of the new MacBook screens. I'm always stunned by the way these glossy screens look in stores, but wonder about the glare. You can see a lot of reflection in the screen in these photos. MacBook Pros can now be ordered with this optional glossy display.