Archive for July, 2005
July 25, 2005 at 9:39 am · Filed under Resources, Misc
I started writing this really long blog entry about MSN Virtual Earth, but then Firefox crashed on me when I tried to use the "Locate Me by IP" feature. I had all these nice things to say about MSNVE, but then it crashed on me and I lost my post. I'm very upset now. But it's ok, I'll just summarize what I wrote and allow you to experiment with the site yourselves. (sigh..)
Ok, basically I was comparing the two services. I mentioned how they were very similar in their feature set. MSNVE copied all the cool features of Google maps. They have smooth, draggable maps. They have nice crisp and clear images. They even have a satellite view (although theirs is not in color for some reason.)
However, MSNVE decided to add some additional cool features. Some things that I've wanted from Google Maps for a while now. For one thing, MSNVE allows you to plot multiple addresses on the same map. I know you can do this using Google Map's API, but MSNVE allows you to do as part of the site. You don't need to mess with any API or create your own hacked version of it.
Another cool feature of MSNVE is the ability to search for any business and it will show up right on the map along with the rest of your previous searches. By default, when you search for an address (like your home), MSNVE will show you nearby pharmacies and bookstores. You can then search for other businesses or busines types, like Blockbuster.
The whole interface is pretty nice and intuitive. I haven't tried it in IE yet, but I'm sure it looks even better on IE. I'm pretty impressed by MSNVE and I hope that Google wakes up and starts improving their Google Maps (which I'm sure they are already doing.)
Note to Google: You made a big mistake in not hiring me to help out in the UI efforts! We could've had Google Maps 2.0 out by now! But NO... you decided not to hire me. Well, its too late now. I'm with someone else.
July 20, 2005 at 9:30 am · Filed under Misc
Warning: This post has nothing to do with Internet related technologies or development of any kind, but it's a rather funny thing that happened to a close friend of mine. I just thought I'd share it with everyone.
To make a long story short, a friend of mine received a $50 ticket in a public park in Manhattan around 10:30 pm (park closes at 1 am), apparently for standing in a "No Standing or Stopping" zone, which is clearly meant for cars and NOT pedestrians. The reasoning? The park official (not a real cop) asked them what they were doing there, at which point they decided to just keep walking, ignoring the official. This act of defiance didn't sit so well with the park official and he decided that he should flex his authoritative muscle a bit and issue them a ridiculous $50 fine.
Well, my friend was so amused by this that he decided to tell the NY Daily News about his experience. Read the full article here: Fire zone tix for 2 on foot
UPDATE: I just saw my friend on the 10 'O clock news on both channels 9 and 11! I can't believe he made it all the way to the news. Heck, even Mayor Bloomberg was notified about this incident (he just chuckled at it and said it was ridiculous.) Good job J, I'm glad you faught the system and won (the tickets were nullified.)
July 18, 2005 at 12:27 pm · Filed under Resources, Javascript
The WaSP group announced today their DOM Scripting Task Force. What does this mean and how will it affect you? First it means that we will finally have good, clean and unobstrusive javascript code to replace all the crappy javascript code thats littering the web right now. Secondly, it provides a good set of standards for everyone to follow, meaning more consistancy in the code and adherence to proper design patterns. This is a good thing, since Javascript is becoming increasingly more popular.
Web standards like CSS and XHTML are being widely adopted, thanks to the efforts of the WaSP and the legions of talented designers and developers who have embraced the technologies. Every day, standards are driving the structure and presentation of more and more websites... read more
July 15, 2005 at 10:28 am · Filed under Misc
I'm a huge advocate of entrepreneurship and running your own business. I've never been satisfied with any of the jobs I've had (even though they pay very well and are extremely comfortable.) I always had this feeling that I should have my own business and be my own boss.
Well, one of the biggest obstacles in starting your own business is the fear; the fear of failure, the fear of the unknown. My brain is constantly trying to come up with business ideas. I've come with a few good ones too, but it seems almost impossible to get started on one.
Well, it dawned on me today that I have been approaching things the wrong way. Being a person of high standards, most of my ideas involved big businesses, high capital and lots of man power. I think you can (and should) only tackle such tasks when you have had more experience. I believe the first step in becoming comfortable with starting your own business is to start out small. I mean really small. Meaning low cost, low risk and perhaps little or no return. This first few times you do it, you will most likely fail or get very little in return. But the lack of monetary return is balanced out by the great amount of experience gained.
So where do I go from here? I've been reading a lot of interesting blogs about starting your own business and what to do and what not to do. They have all been very helpful and I know a lot more now than I did before. But the one blog that really caught my attention was Neville's Financial Blog. The reason I really liked his blog is because Neville is actually doing "something". He is acting upon what he has learned and experimenting with it. He is putting together little businesses and scenarios to see how well his ideas do in the real world. Not all of them are successful, but most of them are very inexpensive and require little or no prior knowledge in business or finance.
Since he started his blog back in January of 2005, he has made a total of $9,108 and his total liquid assets are nearly $23,000. That's not bad for a hobby. I believe starting out small like Nev did is a great idea. So if you see me on the side of the highway selling bottled water, please don't laugh at me, I'm actually working on building my empire 
July 14, 2005 at 10:47 pm · Filed under Resources, Javascript
Ever download a huge javascript library that did a million things, yet you only needed a very small portion of it? Sure, you may be able to extract what you need, but most of the JS code written out there isn't as modular as we would like. There are tons of global vars. Functions referencing one another, etc.
Well, the folks working on the DojoToolkit have come up with a nice way to "Lazy Load" and package Javasctript functions. A snippet from the site:
The packaging system allows you to list a single script include file, which will then find and fetch packages as they are needed for your application, from the Dojo source tree. This means in the simplest case, no build process is required, and yet there is no need to include a script tag for every script file that is to be loaded.
Additionally, the packaging system allows for the creation of a compressed package file that contains all of the script code needed for your app, no more, and no less, through an Ant build step.
Read more ...
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