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Folder HUD: Quick Access To Important Folders

2008-11-03T23:43:52+00:00

Previewing Your Blog Posts in ExpressionEngine

2008-09-30T10:18:53+00:00

Xbox 360 and MKV Files: Get Them To Play Nice Using Mac OS X

2008-09-21T23:56:24+00:00

So, you’ve just downloaded your first 1080p movie (hypothetically) and can’t wait to view it in full glory on you gorgeous big-screen TV. However, here is the catch. Your loyal Xbox 360 refuses to play the file. Panic erupts, bottles fly across the room in anger. It’s the end of days. You did not notice that the majority of HD movies that you “acquire” from the inter-webs are encoded in MKV. So unless you have a PC or Mac hooked to your TV, it seems all is lost. However, there is a solution, albeit it is not free. To play MKV Files you will need two applications, neither of which is free, and a lot of time. Before you shy away due to the price of these applications, I will tell you that this is by far the easiest, most convenient and sure-fire way to get your movies onto your Xbox, so before you start hunting for open-source software to do this, you may consider that the endless hours spent trying to get it to work may be worth a couple of bucks.

Sonetifier - Quick Picture Conversion for Facebook

2008-08-25T12:05:27+00:00

Got a Facebook/Myspace/MyFaceSpace profile? This little application may be for you. It takes any images you selected and converts them to a more profile-friendly size (longest side gets scaled to 480px) and saves them as a JPG so you can upload those embarrassing New Years Photos. Start up the application, and a dialog box will appear prompting you to select any images you wish to convert. Select your moments of shame and hit the “Choose” button. When you hit continue, a few things will go on behind the scenes. Sonetifier will duplicate said photo, convert it to JPG and scale the largest size down to 480px. Also, for organizational purposes, your converted image will carry the “FB” suffix, so you can easily pick out which one is meant for the web. When the application is done, a Growl message will notify you of this, and you can launch your favorite social networking poison and get to the fun part: shaming people with embarrassing, alcohol-fueled photos. Note that you can see what is going on at any time in the menu bar, so if you don’t see anything on screen, you can be sure the application did not crash. Should you wish to stop the process at any time, hit the red button in the menu bar shaped like a stop sign and all gears will grind to a halt. Sonetifier can convert any image files of type RAW (.nef tested, Canon Raw not yet tested), BMP (.bmp), GIF (.gif), JPEG (.jpg or .jpeg), JPEG 2000 (.jp2), PDF (single page .pdf), PICT (.pct or .pict), PNG (.png), or TIFF (.tif or .tiff).

BBC Goes To Eleven

2008-08-23T16:51:18+00:00

The video player at the BBC website goes to eleven. A nice little nod to pop-culture.

Remote Trigger an SB800 using the D300 Built-In Commander

2008-07-20T20:40:03+00:00

Off-Camera flash has become all the rage these days, and nobody wants to be left behind. However, remote triggers can be expensive, with the pro-level PocketWizards retailing at hundreds of dollars for a transmitter and receiver. Granted, there are cheaper options, such as the AlienBees Cypersync, which have received some good reviews, and the infamous eBay and Cactus triggers, which you should keep away from no matter how strapped for cash you are, since the only thing they will trigger is your rage. Thankfully, Nikon has though about the amateur photographer who wants to get into creative lighting, and has shipped the D300 (D70/s and D200 also come with this feature, let me know if there are others) with a built-in commander so you can trigger flashes wirelessly without purchasing any additional equipment.

The Alternative Use of CSS Text Shadow

2008-07-18T13:12:31+00:00

And now for another entry into the CSS Hall Of Fame For Properties You Wish Were More Supported: the CSS text-shadow property. While the potential for misuse is great (remember the pop-up kids? Imagine them getting their hands on text-shadow), it is a great tool to have in your box if you use it wisely. And while you may be thinking “Drop shadows on text? So over it mate”, it has a use that may not be apparent at first sight. It makes text slimmer, leaner and a whole lot meaner. Read on to see how.

Clearing Form Fields on Focus using JavaScript

2008-07-17T00:59:12+00:00

JavaScript gets a bad rap. If you need somebody to blame, find yourself a web developer active in the early to mid-nineties and give him a couple of good jabs. However slowly we are waking up to JavaScript’s virtues. In this example, I will show you how to use it to clear the content of an input field when a user selects it, as shown in my sidebar. This is not just JavaScript for the sake of it, but a real usability enhancement. Giving your input fields a standard value is a good idea, especially if you sacrifice a <label> element for the sake of aesthetics. However using the field then becomes a pain, because the user has to delete your standard text before he can enter his query. So how do we solve this? In 95% of the cases with the help of JavaScript. Before we get into code, we have to make some decisions about usability. As you probably know, inline Javascript (think <a onclick="someJavaScript()" href="#">) is a big no-no. Using it would mean that for the 5% of the people trawling the web without JavaScript enabled, your form would become useless. So how do we get around this? Enter the DOM.

Leopard In Space iPhone Theme

2008-05-14T14:50:02+00:00

I know that the unofficial iPhone/iTouch development scene is on life support at the moment, but that is no excuse not to indulge in some self promotion. I recently updated my theme, Leopard in Space. It is a theme that you can install using Summerboard, and aims to recreate Leopard OSX on the mobile realm.

How to Upload and Install Custom Themes on iPhone and iPod Touch

2008-03-21T10:21:05+00:00

So, incase you have not visited my iPod Touch theme website, you will not know about a screencast I put together on how to upload a custom theme to your iPhone/iPod touch. I have reposted it to the main site just in case any of you were wondering how you can get FTP access to your device. Even though this method mainly concerns uploading Themes, it works for uploading any file of your choice.