Blair's Blog

Showing Hyperlink Cues with CSS

2007-04-16T14:45:00.000-04:00

ever notice those little icons next to text hyperlinks that indicate weather a link will take you off site (external link), or if it will open in a new window and what not? well below is a link to an article that describes how to use CSS to add the icons to your links:

http://www.askthecssguy.com/2006/12/showing_hyperlink_cues_with_cs_1.html

Make any Set of Speakers Wireless

2007-04-06T09:20:00.000-04:00

with this wireless 20 watt amp from thinkgeek.com you can make any standard set of speakers wireless (up to 150 feet)
Check it out

Web 2.0 Design Article

2007-03-15T09:35:00.000-04:00

here is an interesting article from webdesignfromscratch.com about the do's and don'ts of web 2.0 design:
Click Here to view Article

10 Cool Cell Phone Tricks

2007-03-12T19:22:00.000-04:00

Here's some interesting things you can do with your cell phone, like checking your RSS feeds from Google Reader, see where your friends are, check your ebay auctions or leave your self a voice note that's automatically sent to your email. check it out:
http://lifehacker.com/software/cell-phone/alpha-geek-10-cool-cell-phone-tricks-243276.php

DRM Free Music Via an Interesting New Business Model

2007-03-06T10:00:00.000-05:00

a new music site called amiestreet allows you to get DRM-Free music at sometimes discounted prices. Here's How it works. Bands/Labels post their music at the site. Initially, the music is FREE for users to download. As users download the music more, the price increases until it reaches a cap of .98 per song. Throughout the process though, the music is DRM-FREE. So even at full price, its a good deal.

The info for this post came from TechCrunch

Tips for Getting the Best Deal with Verizon Wireless

2007-03-05T19:13:00.000-05:00

A former Verizon sales rep, let's call him Steve, wrote to us recently offering insider advice to all Consumerist readers. We were excited because by knowing how the sales force at Verizon are compensated, consumers can get an edge when haggling over a new phone. What? Haggling!? Over a phone!? Yes, even you can do it. Verizon Steve confesses all he knows, from the simple to the sublime...:

• Never get a 2-year contract. "The only benefit to a 2 yr contract is a $50 savings on your phone. Its not worth it. Take the $50 and get a 1 year then you can upgrade to a new phone every 10 months."

• Verizon reps get tons of money from new lines and certain accessories and text packages, take advantage of this. They won't let a new customer walk out the door. "Play hardball, they will do anything to get the new lines. VZW makes $ off the service, not the phones. Tell them you don't want to mail in the rebate. There does come a point of diminishing returns. For example, if you walked in and wanted a $39 plan and a free Treo 700, not gonna happen. But I have given away almost every non-PDA phone in the store for the right deal. Also tell them you will buy the accessories, and text package. Trust me here, these are 2 of the biggest metrics for the reps. Return the accessories the next day and call customer care to cancel your text package."

• Mention the lost or stolen program to get 25% off a new phone, even if you're under contract. Who's to say you didn't lose it?

• If you're on a rate plan of $59.99 or higher, you can get "a new phone (and new contract) for the discounted price after 12 months."

• Insurance is a rip-off. It costs too much and has a $50 deductible.

• Tell them you'll sign up for the Unlimited Data Plan with your Treo. "Speaking of Treos, often they offer an extra $100 off if you get the Unlimited data plan. Get it.. Save $100 and cancel it the next day if you don't want it. The leverage here is amazing also because that high end data package counts as a new activation in a roundabout way for the rep. None of the data packages are contractual. I use to tell the customers this just to save them $."

• Reps don't get as much money if you're still in a contract. If you upgrade on the phone with Verizon, the store reps won't be as motivated to help you.

• Ask for a loyalty credit on the phone before going to the store. "One way to work the system if you have New Every 2 and are out of contract is to call customer care, have then put you back into contract, but ask for a loyalty credit (up to $60 off your next months bill), then go into the retail store and use your New Every 2. The two credits can't be combined and that is the only way to get both. I've never seen this not work, although they could technically say that you already got a credit, but the system are not that informative and I have never seen that happen. Just make sure you know the contract rules for VZW in your state, and make sure you go to the store in time to cancel the new contract in case you cant use the NE2."

This info came from The Consumerist

My New Tattoo

2007-03-05T11:05:00.000-05:00

Cool Javascript to Display Website Thumbnails

2007-02-21T20:42:00.000-05:00

I came across a website thumbnail service from iWEBTOOL on digg today. It's a small javascript code which you place in your pages which then displays a thumbnail preview (of a link) when you hover over an external link.

check it out:
http://thumbnails.iwebtool.com/

How to Make a Can of Coke Cold in 2 Minutes

2006-12-15T10:52:00.000-05:00

Adam Savage (MythBuster) who did an awesome mold making article in MAKE 08 chimed in on an Ask Mefi coke cooling question, here's how to cool down that soda, fast - he writes -

"That would be about 20-25 minutes in a freezer. If you put it in a bucket of ice, that would halve that time. If you put water in that ice, it'd be cold (+- 5c) enough to drink in about 4-6 minutes, if you put salt in that water, you'd reduce the chill time to just over 2 minutes. Agitating the can in the water, rolling it around, reduces the chill time even more.

The fastest possible way is to grab a CO2 fire extinguisher and unload that sucker on the can.

Whatever you do, do NOT bury the can in sand, pour gasoline on the sand and set the sand on fire. That won't do anything.

information came from makezine.com (http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/12/how_long_in_the.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890)

Free Services to Inspire Your Cellphone - New York Times

2006-11-29T11:24:00.000-05:00

Free Services to Inspire Your Cellphone - New York Times

This link is an interesting story with info about several FREE services for your cell phone that you probably didn't know existed. For instance, did you know that you can text "borat 12303" to 46645 (google without the e) and google will send you a text message containing the showtimes for Borat at the theaters closest to the 12303 zipcode? it will also get you driving directions, currency conversion, word definitions and more. pretty cool huh?

You can also do things like get FREE directory assistance, make FREE international phone calls and so on. All the info is in the article link above. enjoy!

How much should a web design cost?

2006-10-24T12:39:00.000-04:00

"How can you charge THAT? My nephew will make my web page for fifty dollars!" Chris Pearson writes about this sticky, frustrating issue that every web designer faces. "Everybody wants a killer design, especially after seeing one that they lust over. Problem is, nobody wants to pay for it."

read more | digg story

300 APIs

2006-10-24T11:30:00.000-04:00

A thorough list of 300 available APIs ranging from mapping to video.

read more | digg story

Bartelme Design | Creating Badges: Part 2

2006-10-16T11:36:00.000-04:00

Due to popular demand I
’ve decided to write some kind of follow up tutorial to the “Creating Badges” tutorial. In the second part you will learn how to turn your basic shape into a glossy, three dimensional badge.

Fonts, Logos, and Templates to Spruce up your Film or DVD

2006-10-06T10:45:00.000-04:00

A collection of resources for your films and DVDs including fonts that look like the credits on a movie poster.

read more | digg story

15 CSS layout templates

2006-09-08T12:12:00.000-04:00

here is a site with 15 free CSS layout templates including 2, 3 and 4 column layouts and floating boxes.

http://www.intensivstation.ch/en/templates/

Digg's Eli White Releases PHP Book

2006-08-30T16:06:00.000-04:00

A digg developer publishes a PHP how-to reference. Called PHP In Practice, the description reads: PHP 5 in Practice is a reference guide that provides developers with easy-to-use and easily extensible code to solve common PHP problems.

read more | digg story

The IIS equivalent of mod rewrite.

2006-08-29T16:31:00.000-04:00

Most websites out there today contain at least some dynamic content. This great but unfortunately search engines do not always like indexing dynamic content. Some search engines will not index a page that contains ? or = or & in the URL. Well thats where LinkFreeze comes in. Linkfreeze from Helicon Tech, is a nice little utility that can be installed on IIS. It adds another tab to the properties dialog for each website in IIS, that allows you to specify how to replace characters and file extensions in a URL. for instance lets say the URL to a page on your site looks like this:

http://www.yoursite.com/mypage.cfm?articleid=3&category=7

well because of the ?, = and & characters in the URL, search engines may not index the page properly. so after applying linkfreeze to the URL, you could make the URL look something like this:

http://www.yoursite.com/mypace-articleid-3-category-7.htm

the user could go to either the old style URL or the new modified URL and still arrive at the correct page, and search engines will see it as static content.

it works because IIS gets the actual URL, and sends that to your application server (coldfusion, php, asp...) for processing, and after receiving the results from the application server but before displaying the results to the page, LinkFreeze will translate the URL into the new format so it appears as though its static.

At least thats how i understand it. Thats pretty slick if you ask me.

How to add a Google Map to any web page or blog in 30 seconds.

2006-08-07T11:48:00.000-04:00

Adding map to your page is so simple now: few clicks, copy and paste using wikimapia.org

read more | digg story

In-Page Modal Windows (grays out the background)

2006-08-04T15:33:00.000-04:00

Have you ever one of those fancy popup messages that grays out the rest of the web page? You can find them on netflix (when adding a movie to your queue) or on myheritage.com when logging in.

well heres an interestign blog post about how to create them:
http://gabrito.com/post/modal-dialog-box-solutions-with-javascript-and-css

3 Ways to Immediately Increase Search Engine Traffic

2006-07-27T10:23:00.000-04:00

Amongst the commercial blogosphere there is huge interest in the dark, and mysterious art of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. There shouldn't be. Not because paying attention to Search traffic is bad, or that wanting to rank higher in Google is evil, simply because it's not rocket science, and anyone can do it. Even you.

read more | digg story

Custom Ringtones on VX9800 miniSD Card

2006-07-11T13:58:00.000-04:00

So normally, you can only make mp3's act as ringtones if they are stored on the phone's internal memory and you are limited to 3 MB, but using the following procedure you can store your mp3 ringtones on a miniSD card up to 1GB.

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?p=7418805#post7418805

more vx9800 info

2006-07-09T10:18:00.000-04:00

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=806831

More VX9800 Info

2006-07-06T15:15:00.000-04:00

Found another link with lots of comments and info abotu the VX9800:
http://www.mobiletracker.net/archives/2005/09/20/lg-vx9800-verizon

LG VX9800 Cell Phone FAQ

2006-07-06T00:20:00.000-04:00

vx9800 Guide * I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY HARM THAT ANY OF THIS INFORMATION MAY CAUSE YOUR PHONE

First of all I would like to thank: amcq1010, jmxp, Tracker557, bombboyer, M5Rahul, Coroner, and many others for helping me make this information possible.

What You Will Need:

- an LG data cable (check ebay or google), or bluetooth equipped computer .

- LG modem drivers ( google “LG usb drivers futuredial”)

- bitpim version .8.0.8 or newer(check http://www.bitpim.orgfor the latest version for your os)

- mini sd card (optional but highly recommended) not a transflash or micro sd or macro sd or any other name just "mini sd". don't bother with anything bigger than a 1GB because it is not supported by the phone.

What Version Software Do I Have?

1. Go to SETTINGS AND TOOLS

2. Go to #5 SYSTEM SETTINGS

3. Go to #3 DEVICE INFO

4. Go to #2 SW Version

5. Look under SW Version and you will see it ends in V## (## = your software version)

WHAT DOES V2 (version 2 software) FIX?

FIXES THE FOLLOWING PROBLEMS:

1. 9800 would sometimes powercycle when trying to access the camera or picture gallery with a mini sd card in the phone

2. 9800 would sometimes powercycle upon insertion of the mini sd while using the camera

3. 9800 would sometimes powercycle when playing or accessing mp3's with any mini sd card 512mb or larger

4. 9800 would sometimes have a complete power failure straight out of the box

5. 9800 would sometimes powercycle when accessing mp3's with a 1gb mini sd and then would have no audio once it powercycled

6. added MOD (Music On Demand)

7. it has been known to fix other things as well but these are the main points

How Can I Upgrade My Software?

Go to your local corporate verizon store and they will upgrade it for you

How Can I Remove The Verizon Banner And Startup And Shutdown Sounds?

-to remove the verizon banner go to menu>settings and tools>display>banner>ERI banner> set it to off

-to remove the startup/shutdown sound go to menu>settings and tool>sounds>power on/off sound>set it to off

How Do I Choose Where To Save My Media?

by default, it's stored in the Phone Memory. However, you can change the " Save Options" and have it saved to the card.

Here's How:

[ok] Menu

Goto - Settings & Tools

Scroll to option 6 - System [ok]

Scroll to Option 4 - Manage Memory [ok]

Option 1 - Save Options [ok]

Choose each [ Pix, Flix, Sounds ] and [ok]

Change to *Card Memory* [ok]

How Do I Change My WAP Proxy? some people have decided to not pay verizon the $4.99/month + minutes to surf the web and have decided to use services that charge $12 /year + minutes like http://www.hopke.net

1) Open the phone

2) Press Menu

3) Press 0 seven times

4) Press 8 (WAP Settings)

5) Press 1 (Proxy Address Settings)

6) Press 1 (Primary Address)

7) Enter the name of the proxy server you want to use and SAVE

8) Press Clear

9) Press 2 (Proxy Port Setting)

10) Enter the port of the proxy server you want to use and SAVE

11) Press Clear

12) Press 3 (User Password)

13) Enter the password for the proxy server you want to use and SAVE

Phone will reboot.

What Video Formats Will My Phone Play?

3gp, 3g2 and mp4(mpeg-4)

What Are My Screen Resolutions?

outside = 320x198 inside=320x230

How Do I Use Announce Alert And Text Message Or Note Reader?

Incoming Call Announce:

Menu -> Settings & Tools -> 2. Tools -> 1. Voice Command -> 3. Announce Alert.

When turned on, this will announce all incoming traffic. "Call From Joe Smith", "Message from Rita", etc.

Reading Text Messages: When viewing an incoming Text Message, use the [spacebar] key to have the phone read you the text sent by the other person if the phone is open and the face button below the contacts button if the phone is closed

Reading Notes: When viewing a saved Note within the Notepad tool, use the [spacebar] key to have the phone read you the text within the note.

How Do I Play My Recorded Videos From My Phone On My Computer?

They will play in quicktime

WHAT IS MY GPS LOCATION?

1. menu

2. hit 0000000 (be very careful in here and do not mess around with what you don't know about or you could damage your phone)

3. go to field test

4. go to gpsOne

5. turn gpsOne test screen on

6. exit and dial 922 send with your phone open

7. wait a moment and you will receive your gps location

8. you can test this by going to http://www.mapquest.com/maps/latlong.adp

How Do I Install The LG Drivers/Set Up Bitpim/Add Ringtones/Sounds/Flix/Etc..? - I am going to assume for this guide that you have version 2 or v2 software on your phone or newer

****PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT IF YOU HAVE V1 OR VERSION 1 SOFTWARE THAT YOU CAN NOT ADD MORE THAN 3MB OF RINGTONES WITH THIS METHOD OR YOU COULD FRY YOUR PHONE AND I RECOMMEND YOU UPGRADE****

USB CABLE CONNECTION

1. Install Drivers for cable

2. Plug in cable

3. Plug in phone

4. Done..

BLUETOOTH CONNECTION

1. Click Menu->Settings and Tools->8. PC Connection

2. Select 3. Bluetooth to use Bluetooth

3. If it asks you if you want to turn bluetooth on, select Yes.

4. Go to Menu -> Settings and Tools -> 9. Bluetooth

5. Select 3. My Visibility

6. Select "Shown to All"

7. On your PC, go to "My Bluetooth Places" (you can type that in windows explorer and you will go there)

8. Click "View Devices in Range" in the left hand side

9. Double click on your phone

10. Double Click on "Bluetooth Serial Port".

11. It will tell you what Com Port it is assigning to the phone, this is important, as you will need this when configuring BITPIM.

BITPIM

Now, download BitPim. Install, then run.

1. Click Edit -> Settings

2. Change Phone Type to LG-VX9800

3. Browse the Com Ports to find the one that works for you

4. To see FileSystem Tab, you have to click View -> View Filesystem

5. Click the FileSystem Tab

GENERAL INFO for Filesystem In Bitpim

Here are the locations for important files:

\Brew\16452\ ---

mf --- My Flix

mp --- My Pix

ms --- My Sounds

lk\mr --- My Ringtones

\dload\ --- Information Files

PUTTING PICTURES ON YOUR PHONE WITHOUT HAVING A MINI SD

1. Take picture

2. Resize it to one of the following sizes:

320x230 - For displaying on Internal (Main) Screen.

320x198 - For displaying on External (Mini) Screen.

3. Open BitPim

4. go to: \Brew\16452\mp
5. right click on "mp", click "New File..." select your file.

6. go to: \dload
7. right click "image.dat", select delete

8. right click "imagesize.dat", select delete

9. Reboot phone, images show up!

IF YOU HAVE A MINI SD SIMPLY PLACE THE RESIZED PICTURES IN YOUR “MY_PIX” FOLDER ON YOUR CARD

PUTTING RINGTONES ON YOUR PHONE – again i warn you to NOT use this method if you still have v1 or version 1 software on your phone

1. Open BitPim

2. go to: \Brew\16452\lk\mr
3. right click on "mr", click "New File..." select your file(s)

4. go to \dload
5. right click "my_ringtone.dat", select delete.

6. right click "my_ringtonesize.dat", select delete.

7. Reboot phone, ringtones show up!

PUTTING SOUNDS ON PHONE

Same as with Ringtones, but put the file in \Brew\16452\ms\, and delete the mysound.dat and mysoundsize.dat files.

PUTTING VIDEOS ON PHONE IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A MINI SD

1. Open BitPim

2. go to: \Brew\16452\mf
3. right click on "mf", click "New File..." select your file.

4. go to \dload
5. right click "video.dat", select delete.

6. right click "videosize.dat", select delete.

7. Reboot phone, videos show up!

IF YOU HAVE A MINI SD SIMPLY PUT THE VIDEOS IN THE “MY_FLIX” FOLDER

heres the link

Free web access from your LG VX9800

2006-07-05T20:44:00.000-04:00

press menu, then 0, then 000000 (six times) as the service code
option 9 for wap setting
set link 2 ip one 012.025.203.011 (or choose some of the ones previously posted)
link 2 port one 9201
now you have to activate the browser. [menu-> 6 -> Yes ]
then press and HOLD 0 (zero) for a few seconds and u should access the browser menu
from there choose "advanced" and then choose "homepage" then changed it to:
http://tagtag.com/flexia (or choose from the ones previously posted)

from this link