Blog
Joost Internet TV
Everyone seems to like Skype. (Although, no one that I know ever feels free to call me.) Apparently Skype was started by the same people that started Kazaa. And apparently they're about to do it again.
Their newest project is called Joost. I'm not sure why, but apparently they're trying to recreate network TV over the Internet. I'm not sure why I'd want to choose from a number of channels because there's usually nothing on. I mean, I like podcasts on demand better.
The funnest stuff, in my opinion, is the stuff you can do while watching their full-screen TV video. Apparently you can get little semi-transparent widgets to chat with other people watching the program, get your IM application up on the screen, etc. It seems like a new way to watch TV where you are doing other interactive things right on top of the screen.
To build buzz and build up their network infrastructure, they are using that old, "You can only invite a friend or two" method. And no, I don't have any invites.
CakePHP, Open-Source and Documentation
One of my least favorite parts about CakePHP (and many open-source projects that are not yet fully mainstream) is that there's very sparse documentation, if any at all.
Such was the case this morning. I knew I could use the finderQuery variable for a model to modify the behavior of the HABTM relationship. The problem is that the finderQuery needs the value of that model's user ID. I tried various queries on the CakePHP site and Google to find the answer, but could not find it hardly anywhere.
In the end, I found it via Google in the Cake Wiki. But CakePHP people are saying, "But the Wiki has been closed." Yes, the Wiki pages now say, "Maintaining the wiki became a bit too much to handle, so we created the Bakery to become the central location of all information related to CakePHP." Thankfully, Google still has a cache of these items so that I could find the data I was looking for.
I found that the variables {$__cakeID__$} and {$__cakeForeignKey__$} are the magic formula for making your own queries. Worked like a charm.
The Internet, in my opinion, is supposed to be a wealth of data. I only very hesitantly remove any data in the hope that it will be someday useful to someone. In this case, just because someone does not maintain the site should not mean it has to be closed and inaccessible. If the site is not updated or maintained well, just put a blurb saying so at the top or bottom of the page and leave the resources for people to find if they need them. Mentioning the functionality in an out-of-date document is better than in no document at all.
The Pixar Story
I've always been a fan of animated movies, but everyone knows my favorites are from Pixar. Found via digg, here's a detailed look into the history of the company and the rise to a film studio. It's pretty amazing that John Lasseter started creating Toy Story with no feature film experience at all. Also, I had no idea that animation from The Wrath of Khan was so amazing for it's day.
The Planets on Google Maps
So it came to 11pm and I still didn't have anything for this morning... so why not go with something Google but something a bit obscure?
You may know that they updated Google Earth recently. But did you know that Google has also mapped out the Moon and Mars already too? They're fun for at least a couple minutes.
Cake ...PHP, That Is
At work, this week is going to be all about CakePHP. What's CakePHP? For those programmers, it's similar to Ruby on Rails or Django for Python, but it's in PHP. For the less technical, it's also called a web framework for PHP.
So what does it really do for those who don't understand all that mumbo-jumbo? Well, once you get the hang of it, it's an easy way to create websites. All of the form and templating functions are entirely built into the system. I was just following the CakePHP tutorial for making a simple blog. You only need to add a aouple lines of code in the right spot to make a simple create, edit, and delete section. Plus, it uses mod_rewrite to make the page system work very easily and easily editable. It's a lot easier to get a quick handle on than content management frameworks like Drupal or Joomla.
I'll tell y'all how well it went at the end of the week. I think the week after that will be Drupal week, so hopefully I'll give you some tech tips over the next weeks. And I don't want to hear abut how I should be using Django or something - I'll get there one of these days after Emmaus Project is in pre-pre-alpha.
R2-D2 Does Everything!
Last week at CES 2007 there were many amazing products announced. But how a fully functional R2-D2? Yes, there are two R2-D2 products from NIkko Electronics.
One is the R2-D2 Communications System that has a Skype-enabled handset shaped like a lightsaber as well as a video camera and more. The other is the R2-D2 Mobile Entertainment System, which boasts a high-quality projector, an iPod dock, USB and video ports, built-in speakers, and more. Oh yeah, and both of these geeky toys also roll around on the floor like the real R2-D2 does.
Cingular and AT&T Explained
Corporate buyouts can be so darn confusing. This week's example is Cingular, which bought out AT&T Wireless a couple years ago to become the largest provider. Apparently the big news of this week is that Cingular is now going to be merged back into the AT&T brand. To tell us how this works, here is the ever-humorous Stephen Colbert:
Apparently TV is Back
Yikes. Last night was just a regular night for me, but apparently it was the first TV event of the year, if everyone at my office is any indicator. Half the office spent the first 20 minutes of the day talking about that show American Idol. Maybe one of these years I'll be able to report on why anyone actually watches shows like that, but I doubt it'll ever make sense. I mean, seriously, the only things that are good on TV these days are reruns of Seinfeld and The Simpsons.
No iPhone Apps?
Hopefully it's not true. Of course, last week Steve Jobs announced the Apple iPhone. But, even though he claims it runs OS X, it seems that the early official word is that there will be no third-party apps.
What are third-party apps? They're the programs that anyone can make, sell, and install on their iPhones. For example, if I get an iPhone, I'm going to want an SSH application for it so that I can login and do server admin anywhere. I mean, my current Samsung i500 even has a free, open-source SSH client running on it.
If Apple's smart, they will release the iPhone in early to June to coincide with Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC). There, they'd tell us about the rest of the phone's features and give the developers all the information they need to make killer apps for it. If they don't allow third-party apps, sure, the Apple fanboys will buy it, but I probably won't.
Drupal 5.0 Released
Yesterday was the announcement of Drupal 5.0, the latest and greatest version of the open-source CMS, Drupal. So what's so cool about it? Well, there's the cool new default theme, an improved administration interface, and plenty more. Check out some of these features at a Drupal site I have set up, EmmausProject.com.