Looble... Looble!

Have you met Larry the Remote Controlled Pigeon?

Deceth — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:38:02 +0000

Meet Larry, the remote controlled pigeon!

His name isn’t really Larry, but what else would you call a pigeon with electrodes glued to the brain? That’s right, Larry is a cyborg pigeon who can be controlled remotely…

The People’s Daily Online reports that scientists in China have successfully found a way to use brain implants in pigeons to control the birds movement. This means Larry will soon be recruited by the military for special ops missions and assassination plots. Not a bad career move for the bird normally seen begging for french fries outside of McDonalds.

Pigeon or weapon of mass destruction?

Next time you see a pigeon it might not be a pigeon, it might be Larry. Is Larry carrying a nuclear bomb today or a spy-cam? Maybe just an AK-47… And what if satellite photos show large gatherings of pigeons in Iraq or Iran? Does this justify an invasion because they could be Larry’s?

Larry not the first – U.S military already training Nemo

Larry is not the first animal turned cyborg. The U.S military has already tried creating remote controlled sharks and currently trains dolphins to search for mines. Bet you didn’t know that was going on under the sea…

How does Larry work? Can he become autonomous and start the war between humans and machines?

The brain implants you see sticking out of Larry’s head actually stimulate different areas of Larry’s brain according to signals sent by scientists. The signals force Larry to comply with commands. When scientists want Larry to fly left, they send a signal, and Larry thinks, “Hey I really want to go left!”. You can read more details on the subject at Hacked Gadgets.

Can Larry become autonomous? Of course. If scientists tell Larry to go left when there is a cookie on the floor to the right, Larry will immediately override the signal. Scientists will need to send the signal continuously. “Hey I really want to go left, no wait, there is a cookie lets go right, no left, no right, no left, no right, no left, omg cookie!”

A casual observer would likely report witnessing a rabid pigeon doing a strange ritualistic break dance around a stale half-eaten biscuit. Eventually Larry would short-circuit his brain implant and release his arsenal of nuclear weapons against any rodent or seagull that threatens his cookie.

Can pigeons bypass the current missile defense system?

The answer is yes. Billions of dollars have been invested in a missile defense system that offers absolutely no protection against Larry’s. This is a serious problem. The heat signatures associated with missiles and Larry’s are very different. Larry’s also travel at much slower velocities than missiles making them much harder to detect. Unless traveling in a large flock, Larry’s even go undetected by radar.

What advantages does Larry bring to the table?

Rejuvenated Carrier Pigeon Business
If Fedex or UPS can get their hands on some Larry’s, we’ll see pigeon post just like owl mail delivery in Harry Potter. It’ll be great, imagine the savings! Thousands of workers could be laid off and replaced with pigeons who work long hours in exchange for a handful of grain.

Also, think of the carbon savings! Switching to pigeons for mail delivery is a great way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and go green! Remote controlled pigeons could save the environment. Forget about Smokey the bear and forest fires, Larry can save us from global warming!

Cleaner streets – Better Disease Control
Most pigeons spend their days downtown panhandling and begging for food. This technology will get the pigeons off the streets and into jobs. There will be a wide array of new employment opportunities for Larry’s, ranging from couriers to assassins.

If you can pre-program a flight sequence, Larry might even be able to take the dog out for a walk. Honestly, if this isn’t a technological revolution, I don’t know what is.

What are the downsides to Larry aside from nuclear apocalypse?

After remote controlled pigeons comes remote controlled humans. If you think that’s impossible, guess again. The technology has already been tested on many politicians who serve oil companies and large corporations rather than those who elect them.

Conclusion

All I’m saying is, be careful. When it comes to pigeons in the 21st century, you can never be too careful.

Looble... Looble!

Git vs SVN – Which is Better?

Deceth — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:25:21 +0000

Git and SVN are version control systems. Both are better than no version control system so you win no matter which you choose. There are some important differences between Git and SVN which might make one more suitable for your type of project than the other. It’s not a question of which is better, but which is best suited for your situation and development process.

SVN is easier to use than Git

SVN has been around longer. There are tons of tools available which make using it easier for non-technical users. SVN error messages make more sense. If the version control system will be used by managers, graphic designers or other non-developers, SVN is a better choice. With TortoiseSVN anybody tech-savvy enough to browse for files can easily use SVN. Git has a much higher learning curve than SVN.

Why is Git so popular if it’s harder to use?

Git is the new kid on the block, SVN is old-school. Don’t get me wrong, Git deserves it’s popularity. Git is fast and excellent for managing large open source projects with many collaborators. While branching is possible with SVN, branching and merging is what Git was built to do. Git may be harder to learn, but once you do learn how to use Git, you’ll find it to be very feature rich and functional. Another huge advantage to Git is the GitHub website which makes programming a social activity. GitHub lets you connect with and follow other developers, sort of like Facebook for software developers. It makes coding more fun, and even makes it possible for less technical people to take part in the development process.

What is the main difference between Git and SVN?

Subversion offers a centralized model whereas Git offers a decentralized model. What does this mean? With git, everyone has their own copy of the entire repository. Basically, everyone is always working on their own branch and functional code can later be merged into the master. With SVN, everyone has a working copy and changes are committed to a central repository. To work on a branch a user must copy the trunk into another directory and then merge it back when complete.

Why are you using Git for Battle City?

Battle City is an open source multiplayer game. It’s a big project which I hope will grow to have many developers from all around the world. So why not create an SVN repository for Battle City? In my experience, Git better manages the chaos involved with an open source project that has many collaborators contributing random bits of code. SVN is better suited for a more structured development process, where tasks are defined and the team knows who is working on what.

Git allows any developer to sit down, get a copy of the Battle City repository, and then just start messing around with whatever they feel like. Eventually, once the developer is ready to share their changes, they can push their code their own branch of Battle City. GitHub makes it possible to easily track and follow other branches, and eventually, good changes in a branch can be merged into the master. In my experience, Git with GitHub will make managing user contributions and maintaining a master version much easier than SVN.

Confused? The GitHub website is full of helpful documentation and resources to help you get started!

So… Should I use Git or Subversion?

It’s really a matter of preference. Anything you can do with one you can do with the other. If your project involves lots of branching and merging, I’d recommend Git. Keep in mind, not all projects involve branching or merging.

Take Battle City for example. Before Battle City was released as open source, back when only one or two people worked on the code at any given time, all commits were done to a central SVN repository. This made sense because there was a project plan and list of features to develop. It was easy to watch the central repository and track progress.

Once Battle City was released as open source, development became a free-for-all. Contributors could work on anything, experiment with new ideas, even create conflicting items. If all commits were still done to a central repository, the project would never again compile and so branches became important.

Branching can still be done with SVN and within a company or organization this might make sense because a manager could check progress of new features by looking at the commits on branches and merges to the trunk. With open source however, you don’t care what others are doing or about tracking their progress, you are simply thankful for any contribution.

Git allows users to download their own copy of the repository, do their own thing, and check back in if ever they have anything useful they want to share.

Git vs SVN Conclusion

So should you use Git or should you use Subversion? Take a look at your situation and your project and make a decision because neither is best, but one is often better for what you are doing.

Related posts from around the web:

http://robwilkerson.org/2008/04/05/subversion-or-git/
http://git.or.cz/gitwiki/GitSvnComparsion

Looble... Looble!

How to Create Animated Favicons

Deceth — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:17:05 +0000

First things first, what is a favicon you ask? A favicon is the small icon you see in the URL field of your browser when visiting a website. If you bookmark a website, you’ll also see the favicon when looking through your bookmarks. If you look up into your URL field right now, you’ll see that the favicon for Looble is Tux the penguin!

Favicons are awesome!

I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of favicons while browsing the internet… Favicons rock, they allow for better site branding and give an appearance of professionalism. However, have you ever seen an animated favicon? That is to say, have you ever seen one that shows a moving image? They are rare, but actually quite easy to make!

How do I add a favicon to my website?

To add a favicon to your website, all you need to do is create an icon named favicon.ico and put it in the root directory of your website. It will then automatically show up for all users visiting your site! Pretty simple.

How do I create a favicon.ico file?

For more advanced users, you can draw it in Photoshop or Gimp. I recommend using Gimp since it is a free open source tool! Make sure you save the image in .ico format (this requires downloading a plugin for Photoshop). Alternatively, you can save the image as favicon.gif, then rename the file to favicon.ico and it will still work in all browsers I have tested (Internet Explorer & Firefox). Please note, for your favicon to work, it must be exactly 16×16 pixels.

For beginners, rather than create an image, you can use an existing image. I’m a beginner, so I decided to use a picture of Tux the penguin. Generating a favicon from an image file is very easy. HTML-kit.com offers a great tool which will let you choose an image file on your computer and have it converted into a favicon. You can also input your Twitter account and it will turn your profile picture in a favicon! That’s what I did. If you go visit my Twitter page, you’ll see Tux the penguin is my profile picture!

Once you have your favicon file, upload it to your server in your root directory.

How do I make my favicon animated?

For advanced users, use Photoshop or Gimp to create an animated GIF image. Once you have a 16×16 GIF animation, you can use it as a favicon. See code snippet below for how-to add it to your website.

Previously I mentioned that you can use HTML-kit.com to create a favicon. HTML-Kit also offers an extra option to turn your image into a scrolling animation. This might be all you need if your only goal is to try and make your favicon a little more noticeable to users browsing their bookmarks.

Another option is to visit GifAnimations.com if you’re looking for some free animations you can use. Any animated GIF image will work as a favicon as long as it is 16×16 pixels.

To use your animated .gif file as your favicon all you need to do is use the following code on your webpage:

Why use an animated favicon?

Since the favicon will be displayed when a user is browsing through their bookmarks, the fact that yours is animated will make it stand out. This will help remind visitors to visit your website more often!

Another good reason for using an animated favicon is for better branding. Having a unique favicon is another way to make your website more memorable. Just make sure it’s not annoying. If it’s animated, it has to be good and fit the theme of your site.

Looble... Looble!

Glitch in the Matrix… Always Upgrade!

Deceth — Sat, 02 May 2009 13:08:08 +0000

Bugs are evil blood sucking villains. Remember Y2K? Nothing happened because the world isn’t supposed to end until 2012, but otherwise it would have been apocalypse now. Still, today could be the day your blog is hacked, destroyed, defaced, you name it. A simple glitch in the matrix and you’re dead.

more funny pictures

WTF?
Whether you listen to the Mayans, believe in Skynet or are actively trying to unplug your brain from the Matrix, all predictions of the future are catastrophic. How does this relate to your blog? I predict you will be hacked, lose all your posts, or lose all your comments. Even in the best case scenario you’ll be spending at least one weekend clearing out spam or trying to figure out why a plugin suddenly stopped working. This is not inevitable, it happens because you’re a lazy oaf.

Who are you calling an oaf!
Wordpress is great software, but it has bugs. Plugins are great extensions to Wordpress, but they have even more bugs! All software has bugs. Some are known bugs, some are not. Hackers like bugs; in particular exploiting them… Also working against you is the fact that it’s quite easy to discover information about the software running on your website. If you’re running old versions of Wordpress, some goons will hack you just because they can… Once an exploit is found, goons like to troll around looking for every opportunity to exploit the one and only bug they know they can exploit.

Where can I get bug spray?
Even with bug repellent, sometimes a mosquito still bites. Does that justify rolling around in the woods nude? Maybe if you’re an oaf… Even if you haven’t had any trouble with Wordpress or your blogging software yet, upgrade anyways! Sometimes a bug can be a small annoyance, other times it can be migraine material. Trust me, it sucks when your database becomes corrupted and you lose forum posts, blog posts, comments, etc… Always upgrade your software and plugins when a new version is released to minimize the risk

What do I do if the mosquito still bites?
Upgrading software is not enough. Upgrading minimizes the risk of catastrophe, it does not eliminate it. Always have a contingency plan ready. Not because it sounds cool, but because it could save you time and money. With Wordpress your contingency plan is simple; MAKE BACKUPS. Schedule it. Don’t forget. Do it often.

Should I bother with backups if my software doesn’t have bugs?
There is always a glitch in the application you are running. If it’s a good program that has been tested properly prior to release, then chances are you won’t run into that glitch right away. Maybe you will never run into it. Maybe nobody will. Maybe we’ll have world peace and maybe everyone will win the lottery. Software is never bug free. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise!

Even with the web, it’s survival of the fittest
If you want to live happily ever after, upgrade quickly and backup often. If you don’t, you’ll end up extinct. A chicken can only run around without its head for so long.

Looble... Looble!

How to Make Lolcats – Step by Step Guide

Deceth — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:45 +0000

An lolcat is an image, most frequently of a cat, with a humorous and idiosyncratic caption written in a dialect know as lolspeak. Lolcat newbies should begin by taking a picture of a cat and adding a grammatically incorrect message expressing desire for a cheezburger. Need inspiration? Visit icanhascheezburger.com.

STEP 1

The first step towards making your own lolcats is learning lolspeak. This process involves forgetting everything you have learned about language, spelling and grammar. IF SPEAKIN NO GUD HARD 4 HILY EVOLVD BEAN LIEK U, GET UR TRANLASHAM AT SPEAK LOLCAT.

STEP 2

The next step towards a successful career in lolcat development is finding a large supply of cat pictures. For unique images I recommend using your household cat as a specimen. Take pictures of him/her doing something funny or ridiculous, it’s what they do. For more, check out KittenWar.com, FunnyCatPix.com, AmazingCatCollection.com and StuffOnMyCat.com.

STEP 3

The next step is adding text to your image! You have learned lolspeak and have found an endless supply of cat pictures, it’s time to use this to make lolcats! It’s important to use the lol-culturally accepted font or you risk banishment and ridicule from society. The easiest and fastest way to add loltext to an image is by using roflbot.

STEP 4

You made an lolcat, the next step is to share it online! Upload your lolcat to a free image sharing service like Flickr or ImageShack. You can also share your lolcat with friends by posting it on Facebook.

STEP 5

Sit back and relax. Enjoy praise and high fives from friends and strangers who laugh at your lolcat!

Looble... Looble!

Firebug for Firefox Rocks Your Firesocks

Deceth — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:04:57 +0000

Firefox is a good boy. Like a dog fetching the newspaper, Firefox is always happy to fetch a website. Even better, Firefox never drools on the pages! So, whens the last time you did something nice for Firefox, something to show your appreciation for all it’s hard work and efforts? Offer your Firefox the perfect gift this Valentines, offer Firefox a Firebug!

What the heck is a Firebug?

Firebug is a plugin for Firefox, a must-have tool for any web-developer. With Firebug you can edit and debug HTML, CSS and JavaScript while visiting any website. If you aren’t a web developer, it doesn’t matter. Firefox needs a friend and who better than Firebug! Consider it an investment for the future. Eventually artificial intelligence will experience feelings and emotions – do you really want two fiery creatures mad at you? I don’t think so!

Say I’m a developer, why is Firebug useful?

If you’re not convinced by the cute Firebug name or the bug-like icon, consider this: live editing. As a developer you likely modify your pages, upload them, visit and test your site, find bugs, modify code, upload, lather, rinse and repeat. But why? Why what? Why upload over and over again! Firebug lets you modify the site live until you are completely satisfied. Then upload once. You don’t even need to test, you’ve already done so!

Maybe I like repetitive uploading…

If you are resistant to change, that’s ok. Firebug gives you some other very powerful functions which you don’t already have. Are elements on your page not lining up? CSS problem perhaps? Firebug will visually show you all offsets, margins, borders, etc, so you can easily identify the source of any problems. Find a bug, burn it!

What if I always write perfect CSS? Do I still need Firebug?

Even if you are a CSS guru, you still need Firebug because Firebug has a network activity monitor. Firebug will not only tell you how long your pages take to load, but will break this down between the elements on the page. Can you say super-cool?! Firebug lets you find bottlenecks slowing down your site so that you can optimize, optimize, optimize! Faster is better, Firebug for Firefox rocks.

Is that all Firebug can do?

Firebug is a master of many skills. For example, Firebug also has a debugger which will let you pause Javascript at any-time in order to check variables and state. Do you know any other bugs that can pause Javascript besides exceptions?

Ok, I concede. Firebug is awesome. Where do I download?

Visit http://www.getfirebug.com/ to download Firebug. Do it before Skynet takes over, or your Firefox will soon be setting your socks on fire.

Looble... Looble!

My Work Blocked Gmail, Now I’m Less Productive. Good Job!

Deceth — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:22:20 +0000

Gmail is one of my most reliable friends, my best co-worker, my savior from Hotmail… Gmail goes where I go. In the early days I made the mistake of trusting my ISP. I had an email with Videotron. It worked fine until I switched over to Rogers and lost my email subscriptions, ability to retrieve passwords, and even receive emails from my friends. What did I expect when I switched ISP, for them to forward my mail once I stopped paying them? Yeah right, I canceled my service! Why would they care I was moving for University and had no choice but to switch? Why would they help make the move easy and help me stay in touch with my friends? I went through the same thing again when I switched to Sympatico.

I looked to Hotmail for help. It couldn’t do what Outlook could do. Finally, along came Gmail and all my problems were solved. Gmail set me free from greedy ISP’s, set me free to check my email anywhere. Now work wants me to abandon that and return to the mistakes of my past. They want me to use my work email, an email that will change every time I change job. That sucks, but fine. I’m reasonable, I’ll use it for work. But why block Gmail? Wasn’t I hired based on my experience? I’ve worked on a lot of projects, I can access a lot of experience through Gmail. A quick search can bring up many messages containing solutions or links to valuable resources or source code. Gmail is more than a mail service, it’s a tool, it’s my personal assistant.

How is Gmail a Tool?

I’m a developer. As a hobby, I develop software and games and then share them on Looble. I’ve also contributed plugins and modules to many open source projects like Wordpress and Joomla. I learn a lot working with free open source software and tools. I subscribe to many forums where I can find answers to problems. I subscribe to mailing lists which keep me up-to-date with new trends, new technology, new tools. I email myself ideas, links, and other information that I could never remember if I relied on my memory. I can find this information in seconds using Gmail’s powerful search. I can organize thoughts and ideas using labels. I can instantly message a contact using Google Talk and they are usually happy to help me or direct me to a solution, for free.

Gmail a powerful tool because it helps me connect with information I have personally identified as being relevant, important and accurate.

Blocking Gmail Kills my Productivity

Now when I get stuck at work, I cannot access all the resources I have collected over the years. If I encounter a problem I’ve already solved, rather than access the solution in seconds by searching my email, I have to solve the problem again or search Google. This is a waste of time.

I’m also registered to many forums. Forums are a great place to find answers to common problems. They are a great place to find help from experienced people, people from around the world. I can’t reply or post on these forums without an account and I have too many accounts on too many sites to remember all the passwords. If I had access to my Gmail account, I could do a password retrieval. I don’t want to make new accounts for all these sites every time I change job (see paragraph one!). Also, using my account I can instantly find my old posts. I can find the answers to the questions I know have a good answer.

With my Gmail account I can quickly access valuable information faster and would be significantly more productive. But, my work won’t allow that because maybe I’ll also send a personal email to my mom.

Embrace Technology, Don’t Fight It.

My work wants me to be productive, so they block Gmail. Guess what myself and others did as soon as Gmail was blocked? We spent the next two hours looking for ways to circumvent the ban. Was it productive for the company? No. Was it time well spent? Yes. A way around the ban was found and we were all back to using Gmail. Of course work filters are always improved and Gmail was eventually blocked again. Then what? Another few hours were wasted trying to circumvent it… How is that productive?

Several hours will be lost over and over again until finally the censor filters win. And once the censor filters do win, the real loser is the company because I can still email my mom from my work email address or download a virus. I just can’t access tons of useful information and resources that could help me do my job faster and better.

So how do I unblock Gmail?

Before you try to access blocked Gmail, keep in mind that doing so could upset your employer. You don’t want to lose your job over Gmail, even if accessing it would make you more productive. If you’re still willing to take the risk, here are the Top 5 tricks to access Gmail when it’s been blocked:

Top 5 Tricks to Access Blocked Gmail

1. Access Blocked Gmail by Using a Different Web Address
Instead of using http://mail.google.com, try https://mail.google.com

If that doesn’t work, try these:

2. Access Blocked Gmail by Using iGoogle
Use iGoogle with the Gmail iGoogle Gadget. You’ll then be able to read and reply to email on your iGoogle homepage. Unfortunately you’ll be missing your most powerful features: search, labels and chat. Basically, work filters have made sure that you’ll only be able to use Gmail for personal reasons rather than work related purposes. Good job!

3. Access Blocked Gmail Using a Smart Phone
It’s not a perfect solution, but if you have an iPhone, Android phone, or any other cell phone with internet access, you can get Gmail for your mobile phone.

4. Access Blocked Gmail Using the Opera Mini Simulator
Don’t have a smart phone? That’s ok. The Opera Mini Simulator lets you run a live demo of the Opera Mini browser. It runs just like it would on a handset, except you access it from your computer. It’s not convenient. It’s not pretty. But it usually always works. For a better browsing experience, you’ll want to use the mobile version of Gmail.

http://www.opera.com/mini/demo/

5. Unblock Gmail… by Translating it!
It might sound crazy, but translating Google will sometimes let you access it when it’s been blocked. Head over to http://translate.google.com/ then enter the web address for Gmail. Translate from any language to english, cross your fingers, and hope for the best!

Conclusion

If you’re blocking Gmail you’re treating your employees like enemies, not co-workers. You’re not ensuring they remain productive, you’re doing the opposite. Make your employees happy, make work fun and enjoyable, encourage creativity and collaboration. Then you’ll see productivity go up and turn-over go down. With lower turn-over, imagine how productive your staff can be when they don’t have to spend as much time training new staff.

Don’t punish your employees for mistakes they haven’t made. Reward them for success they haven’t had. Encourage them to succeed, don’t threaten them with the consequences of failure.

Unblock Gmail.

Looble... Looble!

Make Money Online – Don’t Let Chihuahua’s Hold You Back

Deceth — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 05:32:36 +0000

Have you tried making money online? Have you failed miserably? Have you ever wondered why? Have you convinced yourself there must be a logical explanation, something other than incompetency? If so, you’ve come to the right place!

The problem is simple, chihuahua’s are holding you back. It happens to everybody. Even if you don’t believe it, even if you won’t admit it, the truth is that chihuahua’s are a serious problem when it comes to making money online. Don’t let those little buggers grab you by the tail and hold you back.

Are you sure chihuahua’s are the problem?

Making money online is easy. Anyone can do it. The best part is you can find out exactly how to do it by visiting websites like ProBlogger. So why haven’t you done it? I’ll tell you why… chihuahua’s. Chihuahua’s are holding you back and you need to stop them.

But I don’t own a chihuahua, how can I stop it?

You’re chihuahua can take many forms. For some it’s Facebook, for others it’s Lolcats. For most it’s porn. Whatever shape your chihuahua may take, it’s a distraction and it’s holding you back. It’s time to stop playing with your chihuahua. If I can make money online even after that last sentence, you know there is hope for you…

What if I can’t stop playing with my chihuahua?

You can play with your chihuahua all you want, in fact, I encourage you to do so. But, when you do decide to start working, don’t let the chihuahua in the room. Focus. Don’t lose your focus. Don’t get distracted. Work during work time, play during play time, don’t mix the two. Play time will be more fun and work time will be more productive. It’s a simple idea, but incredibly difficult in practice. Snap out of it. Slap yourself. If you focus 100% of your attention for 5 minutes on one task you’ll be amazed how much you can actually do.

So if I focus, I’ll make money online?

If you focus on writing quality content and continue to do so for a prolonged period of time, then yes, you will start to make money online. How much? I’ve seen my WidgetBucks bring in up to $1.73 in just one month! In fact, within 15 months I should get my first 50$ payment thanks to the 25$ sign up bonus! Don’t quit your day job. Focusing is important, but nothing can guarantee success. Your goal is to improve the odds in your favor. If you don’t let chihuahuas hold you back, maybe you’ll find a way to move forward. Or maybe you’ll still fall flat on your face.

Good luck!

How else can I improve the odds in my favor?

If you clone, you’ll end up alone. When it comes to making money online, if you’re alone, you’re broke. Make sure your website isn’t lonely. Invite folks over. Offer something people want. Offer something that can’t be found elsewhere. Offer a link to Looble.com!

Looble... Looble!

If You Clone You’ll End Up Alone

Deceth — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:16:07 +0000

Want to start you own blog or website? Why? What do you have to offer? If you don’t have a reason and have nothing to offer, don’t do it. I would hate to spend time visiting a useless waste of bandwidth and I would definitely hate to spend time visiting a site that regurgitates the same thing I’ve already read somewhere else. If you don’t want to be a complete and total failure, offer your visitors something unique. Offer your visitors something new. If you clone other websites you’ll end up reading yours alone.

Plz explain, those clones don’t look alone!

Now hold on one minute, the above clones are not alone, they have each other… Yay for them! Their similarities will force them to live a life of tragedy, a life of abandonment, a life half-full, half-empty, half-loved, half-visited, traffic-split.

Enough drama, conclusive evidence plz.

Imagine yourself walking down the street when suddenly out from the bushes jumps the cutest little kitten you have ever seen. What do you do? Some people might run, some might scream, but most would feel their hearts warm, their knees buckle, and their hands overcome with the uncontrollable desire to touch the little critter. After a few purrs and some ear scratching, you remember that important meeting you’re late for! OMG!

As you flee the scene in a hurry suddenly out from the bushes jumps the clone… What do you do? Some people might engage in another mutually gratifying exchange of purrs and rubs, but most would say, “Get lost”, “Outta my way”, “Quit following me”, “You again?”. And so you have conclusive evidence that the clone goes unloved, even though equally cute.

I’m not sure that proves your point…

Oh how you are wrong conversational paragraph title. Imagine that it was not the clone who emerged from the bushes. What if it had been something different, something unique? What if it were a squirrel juggling peanuts? I guarantee you that person would have stopped again to observe the spectacle. You cannot refute this argument. If you clone you’ll end up alone. You don’t have to juggle nuts to succeed, you just have to avoid being a rerun, a repeat, the same show already seen.

Ok fine, so I should be unique… How do I do that?

The best way to be unique is to be yourself. Until human cloning becomes prevalent, that should work. Focus on what you do best, make your site about something you enjoy, something you like.

But, I have no friends, nobody likes me, I’m actually a total ass…

That’s ok! Your failures and inadequacies in real life will be your assets online. You can be boring, arrogant, annoying, you name it! Be yourself and you’ll find your niche. Best of all, you’ll connect with people who share your interests and who might be able to tolerate you despite your shortcomings.

So, what did I learn?

Don’t clone, be yourself, and once your site becomes popular, give all the credit to me.

Looble... Looble!

How to Get Started with PHP Programming

Deceth — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:51:47 +0000

Do you want to start your own website or create your own web application? Doing so successfully will take time, hard work and money. To maximize your chances for success and to minimize your chances for failure you will need to invest in the right technology. The right technology is free open source solutions. When it comes to web development, that means working with the dynamic duo, two old friends, fully capable, PHP and MySQL.

PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML. – www.php.net

But, but, what about ASP.NET (C#/VB.NET) and JSP?

I’m not going to say PHP is a better programming language than VB.NET, C# or JSP. I’m not going to say it’s faster, more robust, or more reliable. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. PHP is however the most affordable and widely supported. But wait… JSP is free too isn’t it? Perhaps it is, but good luck finding affordable web hosting for your JSP website. So why not ASP.NET? Don’t even consider using it. Microsoft might make VB.NET or C# sound nice, but its proprietary and expensive. You should always support open source solutions whenever possible.

Great, I’ve decided to use PHP, now what?

You could open up Notepad and start coding away or you could read some PHP tutorials that you’ll quickly forget and never use. Either way you’ll accomplish nothing and probably quit before you’ve done anything useful. Tutorials are only good if you have a problem. Don’t read them for fun under the false pretext you might learn something. You won’t. When you’re stuck, they can help you, but you won’t learn anything until you go get yourself stuck. That’s also why you shouldn’t just start coding. You don’t know anything yet, you can’t possibly make anything useful, and so you’ll end up reading tutorials for beginners, get discouraged by your own incompetence, and buy Visual Studio because you can drag and drop buttons onto the screen… wow!

Ummm… so what do I do then?

You do something useful right from the get-go. You install some free open source PHP software on your web server like Wordpress, phpBB, Joomla, Drupal, or php-Nuke. These are quality web applications and your key to learning PHP. Pick one you like. I suggest Wordpress because that’s what runs this site and because most people interested in web development all feel the need to have their own blog anyways.

Once you have your PHP powered site up and running, start to modify it. Edit the theme to see how PHP is mixed with HTML. Make new plugins or modules to learn how to code with PHP. If you get stuck, these open source projects have forums where you can get support or find answers to common questions. There are usually experienced users who will be happy to help you and to test your code. Not only are you working on an application that is likely useful to you, but you are working on mods that can be useful to others. You can get feedback, suggestions and comments right away even as a beginner. Being part of a community as a beginner will give you the support you need to succeed. Working on something useful from the beginning will give you the motivation to continue.

But I really need a tutorial, plz plz plz!

If jumping right in and swimming with the sharks seems a little too over-whelming, you may prefer getting started with this introductory tutorial. Personally, I’d prefer to swim with sharks rather than get eaten by them, but it’s your choice…

What about MySQL, PHP’s partner in crime?

MySQL is a free open source database system. All useful web applications require a database in order to store information. MySQL is the one you will want to use. Using MySQL will require learning SQL syntax. Joomla, PHP-Nuke, phpBB and Wordpress all use MySQL. Examine their code, see how they interact with the database and try making modifications. Add new tables or fields to the database and have your website display them. Use new tables to store information for your new PHP plugin, etc… Most web hosting companies will have multiple MySQL databases available for you. That’s why you invested in PHP and MySQL for your projects, because it’s the most widely supported when it comes time to putting your application online.

Plz, plz, just one tutorial for MySQL…!

Here is a good PHP & MySQL Tutorial. In particular, it’s useful if you plan to run PHP and MySQL locally rather than immediately on an already configured web server. Let me again emphasize, your best bet is to just get started playing in the code. When you get stuck, use your good friend Google to look up the answer or post your question on the appropriate forums for the project you are working on. Tutorials are your enemy until you need them. Reading tutorials without having an immediate use for their contents is just another form of procrastination.

So I need a web-host?

If you’re using PHP and MySQL, the only thing that will actually cost you money is your web hosting. Your web hosting will provide you with online storage space as well as a domain name, the internet address used to access your site. I recommend you sign up with Host Gator. Host Gator is not only a hosting company, it is also a community. They have an active forum where you can discuss issues directly with staff members to resolve any problems you might encounter.

Looble... Looble!