Ray Valenti's Codepage

2011-12-28T13:10:00.001-05:00

After installing Spotify app it popped up and starting playing some stupid music. Well that's OK but after trying to shut down the app it refused and continued to annoy me with a promotional song. I will never go near this virus again.

Garmin | Map Updates

2011-12-03T12:26:00.000-05:00

Garmin | Map Updates:

Wow what a deal only $50 for a one time update to a $120 device. This should be no more than $10. I'd rather just buy a new one.

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Cleveland Ignites Job Growth With Rebuilding Project - NYTimes.com

2011-11-30T18:30:00.001-05:00

It's great to read something positive about our region as least once in a while.

Cleveland Ignites Job Growth With Rebuilding Project - NYTimes.com:

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Knight-Ridder tablet computer looks just like iPad but it's 17 YEARS OLD | Mail Online

2011-10-31T00:44:00.000-04:00

Amazing story about some visionary work done at Knight-Ridder news. Just as with the Xerox Park research, Jobs did not invent the technology from scratch but he did bring it to market.

It reminds me of Christopher Columbus 'discovering' America.

While he might not have been the first European here, he did a good marketing job when he got home.

Knight-Ridder tablet computer looks just like iPad but it's 17 YEARS OLD | Mail Online:

They really seemed to have it nailed down in the early 90s!

'via Blog this'Publish Post

Data may actually be safer in the cloud: report | ZDNet

2011-09-28T10:20:00.000-04:00

Data may actually be safer in the cloud: report | ZDNet:

This sounded good but the comments posted on the blog must really give you pause. My thinking is: Use the cloud for low security data were collaboration is the primary concern, keep the rest local.

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Gmail - Chronos Hours - rayvalenti@gmail.com

2011-09-26T11:34:00.000-04:00

Here is something that is really great about Google apps - the ability to send email updates to yourself or others. This sample was generated by embedded code in a spreadsheet but you can also just specify that you would like notification when a document is updated. It's a great way to stay on top of important business data.

A merger between AOL and Yahoo: You’ve got fail? — Tech News and Analysis

2011-09-09T23:39:00.000-04:00

Yahoo is OK by me, don't use if for much, but AOL has earned the public's contempt.

A merger between AOL and Yahoo: You’ve got fail? — Tech News and Analysis:

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Discussions in Google Docs

2011-08-15T13:09:00.000-04:00

If you can't get people to use Google Wave to store Google documents then just let the documents store the Wave. Google does not fool around when something does not catch on, they move on and fast. I always have problems getting anyone to do this sort of thing. Email is about all anyone understands so the best way to introduce a new collaboration system is to just wedge it into email

Open Source vs. Commercial Software

2011-03-14T01:15:00.002-04:00

CamStudio gets a thumbs up!

Free open source software is frequently as good as expensive commercial software. This is the case with CamStudio vs. Camtasia. I've worked with both and while the cursor following was better in Camtasia, CS has an version that is at least up to the task. I'll be posting a YouTube video of the the software I've written to synchronize my Google calendar and contact information with my local Access database that I have used for years. Now I have the best of both worlds - cloud and desktop.

Gotta love online tests

2011-03-09T17:01:00.000-05:00

This is a question was taken from a test about Visual Basic for Applications. Inheritance is not a part of VBA but you could consider encapsulation as an advantage. All the rest are true if you ask me. I have to wonder who wrote the test and now much skill they really have.

CODE Magazine - Article: From Zero to Business Application in 15 Minutes

2011-02-28T22:23:00.000-05:00

CODE Magazine - Article: From Zero to Business Application in 15 Minutes: "For Customer, I will add a computed field for the summary property called FullName by clicking on the “Computed Property” button at the top of the designer. This sets the Is Computed property in the properties window for you and an “Edit Method” link appears. This method is where you return the value of the computed field. Computed fields are not stored in the underlying database; they are computed on the entity and only live in the data model. For FullName, I will return “LastName, FirstName”.

Public Class Customer

Private Sub FullName_Compute(
ByRef result As String)

' Set result to the desired field value
result = Me.LastName + ', ' + Me.FirstName
End Sub
End Class"

----------------------------------------------------

This really bugs me. It's from a article about Microsoft's new LightSwitch tool. The problem is a SUB returning a value. That is the very definition of a FUNCTION.

This supposed to make life easier and allow you to get apps up and running fast. It also appears they have a new data type called string that will be stored in SQL Server. So presumably it will it end up as Varchar or Char data type. They will have to prove that this abstraction will not result in problems in the real world.

Google releases native client sdk- The Inquirer

2011-02-24T01:35:00.000-05:00

The web and the desktop are getting married:

Google releases native client sdk- The Inquirer

RDBMS | Database Service | PAAS | Microsoft SQL Azure Database

2011-02-23T01:22:00.000-05:00

Strange, I've been using SQL server over the web for years. Why has this been such a secret?

RDBMS | Database Service | PAAS | Microsoft SQL Azure Database

Google Wave – Ahead of its Time or Just Another Failure? - Web Land

2011-02-20T16:42:00.001-05:00

Google Wave – Ahead of its Time or Just Another Failure? - Web Land

While I found Wave to be very exciting and useful, a couple of my developer friends were less impressed which surprised me. Wave solved the problem of "email threads" whereby people carry on long ongoing conversations that can be very complex to follow especially when they include several of the previous comments in their reply.

Facebook is fun, but Google is providing a new platform for business productivity embedded in a social meeting space. Apps are slowly working their way into more and more of what I do online. While they are not as powerful as Microsoft Office, for a great many situations they are all that people really need to get the job done. Google Apps provide basic functionality combined with online storage and easy collaboration. It's a combination that is hard to beat especially for free.

Akron/Canton web meetup

2011-02-08T23:47:00.000-05:00

Tonight I attended a meetup of the Akron/Canton web meetup group. We covered current trends and voted on setting up some labs to learn new tools. Mobil devices are hot but development is a challenge to say the least. It seem unlikely that any standards will win acceptance with the hyper-competitive state of the mobile market. But that makes a group like this all the more useful, you can exchange horror (and success) stories and hopefully gain some perspective. I'm looking forward to attending more meetings.

High Bridge Glens.avi

2011-02-05T22:22:00.000-05:00

Here is a video of the ice at the High Bridge Glens in Cuyahoga Falls:

Web Components with Google Gadgets

2011-02-01T23:01:00.000-05:00

The web is build for the distribution information and code. Web components and specifically Google Gadgets allow anyone to invent a nifty widget and then share it with the world.

Well anyone who is willing to write some HTML and Javascript at least. Google even supplies a simple small Gadget to allow you to develop tools called Google Gadget Editor. It is essentially just a text box that allows you to post and preview your applet right inside your iGoogle page. The key to success is to go slow and test frequently.

Recently I designed a Google web form to track the time spent on my current projects and it was very fast and easy to set up. But when it was done it had something missing that my Access desktop application has had for years, and that something is a stopwatch utility that counts minutes and hours. The best part of this is the the pause button that lets me stop the counter during phone calls or any other distraction and then pick up right where I left off. There were several of these gadgets already posted but none of them did exactly what I wanted. The result is my own offering which is currently functional if not very polished as far as the UI.
With a little more work I hope to have something that is more attractive and ready to offer to the online community.

JQuery Tutorial - Simple Ajax

2011-01-16T14:55:00.000-05:00

While scanning some videos about Javascript and Ajax this video by a British kid by the name of Tom Rogers came up. His willingness to be himself and share the computer programming skills he has gained with the world really impressed me. It shows the power of the Internet to allow anyone with determination to overcome limitations and then project the skills they have gained to anyone who shares an interest. The more important part is not the technology however, but the force of will required to stare down critics and push ahead with whatever you have to offer. I think he will end up with a career in web application development.

In the Woods – “jQuery for Absolute Beginners” Video Series

2011-01-05T00:33:00.000-05:00

In the Woods – “jQuery for Absolute Beginners” Video Series

So now that the Net is whittling away at brick and mortar video and bookstores, you might think that it is a great time to offer something online like training videos. You might think that, but then you just might be wrong. In the process of teaching myself more about JavaScript and the JQuery library I considered re-opening my Lynda.com account and checking out the online tutorials. But a quick Google search located this site which as it turns out has very good video tutorials - for free. So sure it seems inevitable that intellectual property such as music and books will more and more be delivered via the tubes, but now how do sites that sell training videos compete with free when the free version appears to be of at least equal quality? The Net has a lot in common with the wild west during the gold rush days.

Fractals - The Colors Of Infinity (By Arthur Clarke)

2010-11-27T17:30:00.000-05:00

M.C. Escher would have been all over Mandelbrot sets.

Google's DocVerse links Office with Google Docs | Relevant Results - CNET News

2010-11-23T21:59:00.000-05:00

This will be very a very interesting development. The web wars rage on.

Google's DocVerse links Office with Google Docs | Relevant Results - CNET News

Gmail Import Feature Mysteriously Disappears From Facebook

2010-11-21T12:04:00.000-05:00

Gmail Import Feature Mysteriously Disappears From Facebook

Bad move Facebook! Data wants to live free!

Novell Vibe Launches, Shrugging Off Google Wave Ghost - Messaging and Collaboration - News & Reviews

2010-11-09T23:55:00.002-05:00

If Google Wave is dead then why is it still listed on the Google Apps page and presented as a part of the overall Apps strategy?

It seems that other software companies see the value in Wave:

Novell Vibe Launches, Shrugging Off Google Wave Ghost - Messaging and Collaboration - News & Reviews

Wave had one major flaw: it was too far ahead of it's time for most people. But then again time moves on and people finally are ready to move forward.

Q u i x o r * L a b s

2010-11-08T00:12:00.000-05:00

Recently a the addition of simple meta tag to help track usage of my web site with Google analytics triggered a recompile of the the code behind the web site and while this should not have been a problem when posted to my hosting service I got a nasty message that my application did not have the correct the full trust credentials required to execute on the server. And for unknown reasons my host tells me I will have to move the site to a new Windows 2008 server to correct this. OK but they also tell me that the FrontPage server extensions needed to upload by Visual Studio 2008 is not available on this system. So as far as I can tell they have provided no solution.

The Chinese tell us that every crisis also presents a new opportunity. Since I am being forced to move my site and/or upgrade my tool set all bets are off and I might as well look into other hosting options as well. The leader in the contest so far is my registrar Go Daddy.With so many options to consider it might take a few days to make up my mind on which way to go. For the time being my Google based test site {Quixor Labs} will be open for business.

Google Sites & JavaScript Problem - Google Sites Help

2010-10-30T13:00:00.000-04:00

Well this answers a lot about the limits of Google Sites:

"It won't work as I don't think Google Sites will ever offer JavaScript.

What you have to remember is that your Google Site is always at a google.com address and, therefore, many people, firewalls and virus checkers automatically trust everything at a google.com address: Javacript can deliver malicious code, so it's never going to happen."

So it appears while Google sites can provide huge functionality right out of the box using all the power of Google Apps, you can't really script the pages with JavaScript. As long as you are using the site for fairly standard functions this should not be a problem. However if you need to custom code something, you will have to find an alternative platform. So it appears for now it is best to straddle the .Net and Google worlds when it comes to web sites.