What use to be a simple click is now, create a new HTML page with specific code and then format your URL a specific way replacing the variables with your pages’ information. Yea, a little bit more complicated.

So, I created a tool that will do all the hard work for you. All you need to do is provide the application ID and the URL to your servers where you’re hosting the page.

The Add A Facebook App Tab to a Facebook Page generator will create that specific URL and do all the heavy lifting for you. Simple, as it should be.

Tool for adding Facebook app tabs to your page. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

And who has cataloged the contents of their house for insurances purposes? Probably not many.

Turns out, that you can do both right now.

DropBox is beta testing a new version of their Android app that auto syncs photos and videos you take to DropBox. For every 500MB of photos and videos automatically uploaded, you’ll receive another 500MB space, up to 5GB total. So all you need to do is install the beta app and start uploading.

After uploading all the images and videos on my phone, I got an additional 500MB. That left me wanting more. So I was thinking about what takes up the most space and I realized that was videos. Then I decided it was time for a home tour!

God forbid my home burnt down tonight, they’d ask me what was in it. I can list off some stuff, but I’ll never remember everything. Chances are I won’t remember most of it. So I recorded it instead.

I took my phone, fired up the video app and started a tour. I walked through each room, opened drawers, cupboards, closets and looked inside things. I pointed out a lot of what we own but even what I didn’t point out is at least on video.

This took me about 40 minutes. 40 minutes of video on my phone is a pretty large file size. Now it’s automatically uploading to DropBox and I’ll get more free space!

Really though, the free space is nice, but it won’t help in a disaster. If a tornado, fire or something else takes out my house, that video is going to be invaluable. Putting our lives back together on just our memories is hard, video and photo proof should help a ton.

So take some time, record all the belongings in your home and get some free DropBox space as a nice benefit.

Get more DropBox space AND be better prepared for a disaster. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

There are a lot of things I like about Waze but the biggest two are that it’s free and that it’s social.

The social integration part is what makes Waze stand out amongst others. This means that other Waze users can report traffic levels, accidents or even cops so that the rest of us know what’s going on in our area.

All the other good GPS features are there too like driving directions based on traffic levels, road conditions, day/night mode and turn by turn voice commands.

Another nice thing about Waze is that you can turn off the features you don’t want. Don’t like seeing other Wazers on the map? Turn them off. Don’t like the idea of goodies or road candy? Turn them off. Waze doesn’t force their stuff upon you.

Waze is a great app and the best GPS app I’ve found on Android. And for the price of $0, there is no reason not to try it out.

Oh, and if you’re on the iPhone, Waze is available for you too.

Waze, social GPS, turns 3 on Android and grows up beautifully. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

While listing open jobs, I noticed that they are even hiring a unicorn slayer. Now I think that may be illegal, with them being endangered and all, but you don’t find that job to many places.

I think I’m going to stay at my current nerdy job for now, but if I ever want to fly with the blue birds, Twitter sounds like fun.

Twitter has a job opening for a unicorn slayer. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Lists are a way of organizing your friends into groups; or circles if anyone uses Google+. You can then select that list and see only updates from those friends.

You can also post updates only to a list. That way you can say “Man I totally got wasted last night” and not share it with your boss or mom.

To create a list, look in the left sidebar of Facebook for lists. Chances are that Facebook has already created some, so click the ‘more’ link that appears when you hover over lists. From there you can create new lists.

Once a new list is created, look at the top of the right column for the box to add friends to this list.

So how do you post to a list? That’s easy. If you’re on the list page, just write in the status update box. If you’re on any other Facebook page, there is a drop down menu to the left of the post button. Here you can choose the list you want to post to.

The upside is you now have a list that allows you to send updates only to certain people. The downside is that you need to remember to only post to this list and you need to maintain the list.

No one knows they are on a list either. The only way they’d know something is up is if you told them, or if someone showed your mom the update from their Facebook account.

There you have it. Re-claim your Facebook by writing the updates you want while still keeping some secrets from those that don’t really need to know.

How to update your Facebook status so only some of your friends see it. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

When I started I was a little nervous. It was my first time starting a new job in 6 years. I was excited though as it brought me back to web development. Did I know SVN? Nope. jQuery? Nope. But I knew how to code HTML and CSS along with some PHP & JavaScript.

Over the past year I’ve learned a lot about jQuery and that has been one of the best things for me. jQuery is powerful and really makes a web developers job easier; if done right. I also now know how to use SVN. I use a GUI for some of it, but I can do most of it via command line too, like a real Nerd.

Facebook application development is another area that I’ve moved into. I really didn’t know a lot about it a year ago, but, as of this posting, I’ve launched two Facebook apps and worked on many others. I’m quickly becoming a Facebook Nerd.

I’ve dipped my fingers into a lot of other projects as well. HTML5, mobile, Grails, Zend, and Expression Engine just to name a few. I love all the things I’m begin exposed too and the people who help me learn along the way.

Not only am I learning code, but I’m also learning how to lead projects. That includes managing the work and the developers. This is something that I’ve wanted to do for years, but haven’t been given the chance. So far it’s going good. I worry about every little piece of the project, but I’m sure I’ll become a little more comfortable as I go.

The Nerdery has been a great place for me over the past year and I’m still excited to come to work every day. It’s the people, the projects and the company that make The Nerdery a great place to work.

I’ve been an official Nerd for a year now. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Peepin Tom

Man I had so many Garbage Pail Kids cards. A little disgusting? Yes. But not as bad as the gum that came with them. I wonder if my Mom still has my collection of cards?

And did you know they re-released some recently? All new cards, old cards, and even some holographic cards! I may have to buy a few on Amazon for nostalgia’s sake.

Blast from the past: Garbage Pail Kids originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

I believe that most web developers don’t think too much about the visually impaired. We focus more on the design and functionality and what we see.

There are things though that we can do to make our sites better for screen readers and those with disabilities, however I don’t know them all and can say that I’ve never surfed the web without my sight.

If you’ve ever wondered about web accessibility or how screen readers work then you should come to The Nerdery’s Front-End Developer Talk on January 10th. Aaron Cannon, a blind PHP developer at The Nerdery, will be talking about web accessibility and showing you how he interacts with the web.

Aaron Cannon is an accessibility consultant and software engineer at The Nerdery. He is blind from birth and uses the screen reader JAWS on a daily basis. Aaron will be talking about accessibility concerns to consider when developing your website, which will be followed by a JAWS demonstration and Q&A period.

For more information, and to RSVP, visit http://nerdery.com/events.

This is open to the public so feel free to come and learn.

Also check out the The League of Front-End Developers website for more talks and meet-ups.

Image Source: Creative Star Art

How does one see the internet when they can’t see it? originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

The downside is that it doesn’t shrink. If your first page is 2000 pixels tall, and your second is only 800, the iFrame remains at 2000 pixels and you get a bunch of empty white space at the bottom.

This isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. FB.Canvas.setAutoGrow grows. And when you grow, you don’t get smaller; ever.

If you want to make the iFrame smaller, and eliminate all that white space, you’ll need to set the iFrame size manually with FB.Canvas.setSize.

If you don’t want to mess with sizes, and you don’t want to have a bunch of empty white space either, I’ve found a solution.

Grow and shrink the Facebook App Tab iFrame with JavaScript:

FB.Canvas.setSize({height:600});
setTimeout("FB.Canvas.setAutoGrow()",500);

First you use FB.Canvas.setSize to set the height of your iFrame. I picked 600px because that’s about as small as a Facebook page goes with ads on the side.

Second, wait about a half a second and then call FB.Canvas.setAutoGrow. If the iFrame needs to be taller than 600px, it will now expand and show the content. Don’t worry about the delay, this will go fast enough that no one will notice.

This is the best, and only, solution I’ve come up with. Plus it works.

At this time, Facebook doesn’t have a way to make the iFrame smaller without using two functions. It now makes sense to me why the company thought it was important to rename FB.Canvas.setAutoResize to FB.Canvas.setAutoGrow. Resize makes it sound like it could make the iFrame smaller when it never does.

I’m not sure why Facebook feels that automatically growing AND shrinking the iFrame is a bad idea, but I’m sure they’ve got their reasons. For now, use the method above and keep coding.

How to shrink your Facebook tabs iFrame when AutoGrow fails you. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Go to your themes app, edit theme, select ringtone and save.

Seems a bit backwards to me, but it works!

How to customize your MIUI ringtone. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Sadly, Google+ doesn’t fix the main problem with social networks; noise. I actually follow fewer people on Google+ than I do on Twitter or Facebook and it just seems more noisy. There are so many links, images and videos that it’s information overload.

Maybe it’s the way Google+ pushes everything back to the top when new comments get added, or the fact that it shows large YouTube videos even if I’m not interested in them.  Maybe it’s the UI or maybe it’s just that my friends post a lot of links. I don’t exactly know why, but it just feels like to much even though it shouldn’t.

Google+ really only has one big thing going for it and that’s the Hangouts. They are well done and do more than just video chat. You can also share your screen, Google Docs or watch YouTube videos with others. This is where it really excels; that is if you need to do that sort of thing. Which I don’t.

I want to love Google+ but I don’t. Kind of like how I want to love my Android phone, but I don’t. It’s rough around the edges and is trying to compete with other mature systems with lots of users. Do I have friends on Facebook? Yep. Twitter? Lots. Google+? A few.

Until Google can find a way of making Google+ something that I need, but don’t already have, it’s always going to take a backseat to the other social networks.

Google+. The social network that wants to be cool but isn’t. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Thankfully I have all my Christmas shopping done. I did most of it online again this year, but I tried to buy stuff in stores. It just seems like so much work. Plus I went to Wal-Mart this year. It just amazes me how such a big and popular retailer can have the worst stores. Even the new ones are dirty and I feel like I’m going to catch something just walking down the aisles. The downside to online however is that my packages haven’t all arrived yet. Soon though.

I am excited for Christmas though. It’s Lily’s third Christmas and this year she’s two and has a good idea of who Santa is and what’s going on. She’ll be so excited, if not overwhelmed, by all the gifts. We’ll do one weekend at home and then another at the grandparents. So she’ll have two overly exciting weekends. Plus I’m sure she’ll get tons of stuff. Hopefully things Dad like to play with too.

Lily with Santa & Mrs Claus

One thing that I would like, but isn’t happening this year, is a white Christmas. Call me old fashion, but I like snow in December. They keep saying there’s going to be a lot of snow this year, but would have liked a little before Christmas. Heck, I’d be fine if it snowed November, December and January and then all melted in February. I just think it makes Christmas a little bit more festive. Plus we’d like to go sledding.

If I don’t get another post in before Christmas, I hope everyone has a great holiday and enjoys spending time with those they love.

Here comes the holidays, ready or not. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

It was fun seeing how much Lily likes daycare. She was running all around, wasn’t the least bit shy and just enjoyed herself the whole evening. Plus she gets to sing and dance so that’s always a win in her book.

FYI: Lily is the one in the lower right corner with the black dress with pink arms and legs.

Lily’s Christmas Performance originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

The greatest thing a family can hear from their soldier is “I’m coming home” and lots of families are getting that gift this year.

Welcome back and thank you for all you’ve done.

Welcome Home Troops originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

I think the real issue with Android is the fact that carriers modify it. Once Google releases an update it first has to go through HTC and then Verizon. They modify functionality, add apps you can’t remove, and cause problems.

So I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands and I flashed on a new ROM; aka installed a different version of the Android operating system.

It sounds a bit scary, and it’s definitely nerdy, but it’s pretty easy to do. I found this great tutorial on how to flash a custom ROM. The tutorial walks you through everything and it can be completed in about a 1/2 an hour.

MIUI Screenshots

I decided to install MIUI on my phone and I’m really liking it. It’s got kind of an iOS feel to it and is very polished with a great UI. It was between that and CyanogenMod and I chose MIUI because it was a bit different. Maybe someday I’ll try out CyanogenMod.

There are a few downsides to installing a custom ROM however.

1. You have to root your phone which voids the warranty. Mine is out of warranty however.
2. You run the risk of screwing up your phone. Really, if you follow the tutorial step by step, you should be fine. But there is always an outside chance something could happen.
3. You have to re-setup everything. Apps, settings, ringtones, everything. Since contacts are synced to your Google account, you don’t lose them though and everything on your SD card is safe.

Of course there are positives too.

1. No third-party hands messing up your operating system.
2. No apps forced upon you doing who knows what in the background.
3. Better battery life since those bloatware apps aren’t running.
4. You can install/enable tethering and become a mobile hotspot.
5. Depending on the ROM, new features, better usability and more control.
6. If done right, you can always go back to what you had, no harm done.

It’s been only a few days since I flashed a ROM and installed MIUI, but it’s been great. My phone feels like it’s new, responds faster and seems a bit closer to the Android I was hoping for.

Flashed Miui onto my Droid Incredible originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Happy Thanksgiving from Lily! originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Turns out that when I opened Google Music’s uploader system preference the other day it now appears that it supports playlists; regular not smart playlists. This should make it easier to upload only the music I want and exclude the rest.

The downside here is that I now have to find a way to clean up Google Music. I’m pretty sure the upload app won’t just remove what I don’t have selected. But that shouldn’t be too hard.

At least it’s a step in the right direction. Google Music is pretty darn cool and being able to upload some, but not all, music is a big step in the right direction. It’ll be even better once they can get some sort of smart playlists added in too.

Google Music’s uploader app finally adds playlist support. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

As I was testing them out I was finding it a bit difficult at first. However when Lily took ahold of the iPad, she had no problems; and that was a problem.

She’s be playing her piano app and use her whole hand to hit all the keys; which then registered as a five-finger gesture. Before we knew it, her piano app was gone and she was now in Facebook, or Mail, or whatever else I had open.

Turns out, the new multitasking gestures are cool, but I still don’t get to take advantage of them unless I remember to turn them off when Lily uses the iPad.

New iPad multitasking gestures are not so hot with a toddler. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Being in both industries I can tell you that web developers don’t think about SEO and SEO’s don’t understand why developers can’t be better SEOs. Truth is, they’re two different industries and two different ways of looking at the web.

Web development is all about taking a design and turning into a website. The clients/agencies are looking for pixel perfect adaptations of their designs. They are looking for specific functionally, have a specific timeframe and budget as well. We are developing what the client wants exactly as they want it.

That could include jQuery animations, dynamic content loaded via Ajax, Flash and many other web technologies. Client’s don’t often want just text and content. They want something interactive and creative. Something that makes their brand stand out.

SEO usually comes in after the web development is done. Most clients think of it after the site is developed and launched. SEO’s then talk about how search engines can’t get past some of those interactive features. How the amount of content on the page is lacking and all sorts of things that should have been thought about way back during the design process.

Unfortunately clients go one step at a time. Design, develop, launch, SEO/marketing. When the SEO company comes into the picture they look at the site and find lots of things that should be done different for search engines. They then want to make changes and ask developers to put in additional time to fix what they feel could be done better.

What really needs to happen is everyone should be involved with each step of the process. It’s really on the client here. The client should not design a website without the developers and SEO’s insight. The developers shouldn’t build it without the SEO’s help. Everyone should be working together so the finished product can be perfect. Sadly, that hardly ever happens.

Web developers don’t do SEO because that’s not their job. SEO’s don’t do web development because that’s not what they do. Everyone has a job to do and they do it well. However, they all happen at different steps in the process and there isn’t much that can be done about that unless the client brings everyone onto the project at the same time.

Next time you think negatively about web developers or SEO, realize that it’s not their fault that no one thought to involve them sooner. They’re just doing what the client wants and they both play an important part of creating a successful website.

SEO vs Web Design originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

To use it, you just drag a document onto the application icon in the menu bar and it gets uploaded to the internet. It then copies the link to the file so you can just paste it into an email or use it wherever.

To make it even more handy, it can automatically uploads screenshots you take and return a URL to the file to your clipboard. This is very handy when I’m writing an email or a form post where I want to include a screenshot.

It’s such a simple app that works extremely well and one worth checking out.

To the CloudApp with that screenshot and return me a link. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com