SDS

vlogbrothers John Green explains how viacom has broken it’s own rules!  Eff linked to it, and they make some amazing points.

http://tiny.eff.org/1kQ

EDIT: thanks anne for the correction.

lets see how well this works!

php is amazingly easy to get things done in.  i’ve started so many projects i’ve had to make a toybox to put them in.  i think i’ll try my hand at a wordpress plugin.  that should be fun.  but i have one  unbelievably useful tool that i think i might be able to bang out first.  useful to me anyhow.  i’ll talk more about it when it’s actually useful.

20 minutes to make php work.  3 hours to make the javascript work.

check it out:  http://be3n.com/figlet/

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here is a link (i hope):  be3n.com/1

after working with and loving WP to Twitter for weeks, it abruptly stopped working for an entire day.

Post generated server error, but posted to wordpress not twitter.

Update: now it appears to be resolved. i am now guessing some resource on my shared host was busy. (Dreamhost i’m looking at you) if it returns i’ll get another change to figure it out. thanks again for your help joe.

After watching their superbowl ad, i started searching for something i was very interested in.  Me.  I’ve had an internet presence since before altavista.digital.com.  I’m not hard to find, so i don’t imagine many people googling for me, but i was curious to what i would find.

it made me wonder, what does google really know?  They’ve been indexing the internet all day every day for who know’s how long. . . just this week, you’ve visited my website 2400 times (that’s right, more robots then people read this).  When i googled myself, i found my twitter profile on top (not entirely surprised), followed by my be3n.com site “under construction” for years.  standard.  after that, what did i find?  Number three on google?  Any of my countless profiles on countless websites?  Any of my blog posts from here?  nah?  that’s too easy.  google hands you a 3 year old comment i left on a photograph from panoramio.

That comment is listed before any of my more active profiles.  It eventually lists my wikipedia user page and my last.fm profile, but that’s later.  somethingdotsomething.com barely makes the 2nd page.  Only after posts of leetspeak, Even though it is the most frequently updated site i’m involved with.  does google prefer consistency to freshness?  let me know what you think.

After hours of trying to make my zen cart work again with google checkout.  I finally threw it away for a simple wordpress plugin.  Now i take credit cards again!  Super easy solution for anyone thinking of building a simple web store.

plugin site:  http://www.jasoncapshaw.com/blog/simple-google-checkout-cart-wordpress-plugin/

This article describes an upbringing with computers that in addition to being quite similar to my own almost certainly will ring true with many readers.  It talks of apple’s beginnings.  In those days in order to make anything your own you had to tinker.  Many computers at the start shipped not only with a basic interpreter in place of an operating system, but with schematics as well.  Unfortunately for some, times have changed.  If modern apple continues on the path they have clearly laid it means an end to the tinkerers lifestyle.

When DVD Jon was arrested after breaking the CSS encryption algorithm, he was charged with “unauthorized computer trespassing.” That led his lawyers to ask the obvious question, “On whose computer did he trespass?” The prosecutor’s answer: “his own.”

Apple is trying to do the same with their touch devices.  iPhone, iPod Touch, and the new iPad require serious hacking before any tinkering can be done.  If apple has their way, they will have jailbreaking void more then just your warranty and your service contract.  You’ve come a long way from your hacker roots Apple.  Your design is amazing, but PLEASE remember your pledge with OS X to be “Open for Business.”  From what i have seen, apple is no more open then they are required to be by all the licences they themselves are using.

Read the entire article here:  http://diveintomark.org/archives/2010/01/29/tinkerers-sunset

I have finally sorted out the majority of my website issues! Somethingdotsomething.com is ready for general consumption. now all I need is content. That is the easy part, I just need to go off on a rant or two. enjoy.