Just because…
Posted on October 27, 2008, under Entertainment.
the blind freehand helico paragliding acro from Ruben Lippuner on Vimeo.
Leaving the flower for the Delicious
Posted on October 6, 2008, under General, Technology.
I’ve decided it’s time to leave Magnolia for my bookmarking goodness and move to Delicious.
Originally, Magnolia had the interest and investment (skills if not money) of some people at the core of the web development community. They were focused on building out a bookmarking site that focused on a pleasant, well thought-out user interface. Things started good, but it appears they got distracted over time. Things I’ve noticed over the years:
- It started for me when search wasn’t fully working, and you could only search on tags, not titles and descriptions. This took a long time for them to figure out.
- They have also struggled with tag management, especially when it comes to groups.
- There is no way to do mass tag management in a group.
- It is impossible to match a group’s taxonomy without opening multiple windows to view the group’s tags.
- They have also seen their share of server downtime, which is a bit unfortunate when you are hunting for a work-related resource.
- Now they seem to be focused more on login API’s and an activity stream – which still hasn’t populated for me, my home page has been blank since they launched it – rather than finishing up what I would call phase 1.5 or phase 2 tagging functionality and group management.
I’m sure there are a lot of behind-the-scenes reasons for the above, but my perspective is from an end-user (client). I kept waiting for them to polish up what was missing, but they kept adding stuff that didn’t really matter for the purpose at hand. I think they started developing more for themselves, and began to forget the point of Magnolia.
I liked the concept they were building, with a nicer (ie, more pleasant to the eyes, and easier to user) interface. I really like some of the minor social aspects, like being able to thank users for bookmarks. I also like the concept of groups, although they need a bit more work to see the full value in both user and tag management.
However, the most recent network/server outtage gave me enough time to check out Delicious, and I found my new home. Working through tagging my imported bookmarks has been a pleasure. Very easy and quick. I do miss screenshots of the web sites, but it’s not a huge loss, and would definitely trade for easier tag management. I like the Firefox extension, although in full mode it needs a little work to be able to move icons to different areas of the status bar. Tag bundles are awesome, and I’m just starting to think through how I want to use that. Near-inline editing of an existing bookmark is fantastic. Overall it’s been a great experience so far. I’m also experimenting with the feature to post bookmarked links to my blog. We’ll see how that goes, but I think I like it so far.
Microsoft apps on VMware ESX will now be supported
Posted on September 11, 2008, under SharePoint, Technology.
Microsoft will now support their applications running on the VMWare ESX platform running version 3.5 update 2. For anyone using both VMWare and Microsoft technologies (like Exchange, SharePoint, etc), this is great news!
Convert PHP Eclipse projects into PDT projects
Posted on May 20, 2008, under Technology.
Found a great quick tip on converting existing Eclipse projects into PDT projects from the globalways Developer Blog.
Essentially you just add a few elements to the .project XML file, and then you have a PDT project! I’d recommend running the “Clean Project” task afterwards just to make sure your project is refreshed.
Compound conditions and regex in SharePoint Designer workflows
Posted on May 19, 2008, under SharePoint.
The Microsoft SharePoint Designer Team Blog has some good tips on incorporating compact and powerful conditions in your workflows. I’ve loved using Regular Expressions in the past – they are so powerful for string matching – and I’m really glad to see it can be used in SharePoint Designer workflows.
If you need a little help putting together some of your own regex magic, try out the Regex Coach.
New HTML and DOM Standards Compliance in IE8 Beta 1
Posted on April 11, 2008, under Technology.
The IEBlog lists new HTML and DOM standards compliance ehancements in IE8 Beta 1. If you mess with JavaScript or the DOM at all, this is good stuff to keep aware of. I’m a little removed from this level of web development as compared to my old role, but I know I would have been pretty excited overall with the enhancements that IE8 brings to the development arena. Hopefully it doesn’t take years to get adopted by IE users once released. 
Apple pushes insecure web browser on computers
Posted on March 31, 2008, under Current Events, Security, Technology.
Apple pushes Safari on Windows via iTunes updater (posted 3/21)
Apple has started offering Windows users its Safari 3.1 Web browser through the same online updater it utilizes for iTunes and the QuickTime video player.
Not just offering, but pushing. As in you must manually un-check the install or ignore it, or Safari will be installed the next time you run the updater to bring your iTunes up to the next release.
MacBook Air hacked in security contest (posted 3/27)
A team of security researchers has won $10,000 for hacking a MacBook Air in two minutes using an undisclosed Safari vulnerability.
Bad decision, Apple. I don’t want that accidentally pushed out on my machines, or any of the family members I help support.
If you want to prevent this from happening on your machine when you run the Apple updater, make sure the Safari option is checked, and then in the top menu, select “Tools > Ignore selected updates”.
Energy Efficient Bulbs??
Check your bulbs if you use ‘em. I found brown tinting on two others. Don’t know what to make of that yet, but I will be calling the customer service number on them. Holy cow.
Hiding Wireless SSIDs
Myth vs Reality. Hi Jeff!
Outlook 2007 Gadgets for Windows Sidebar
Posted on November 30, 2007, under Technology.
Always visible tasks and appointments. Sweet.
