Computing e-books for $5

Computing e-books for $5

https://app.packtpub.com/#

Make sure you go through the app store for the discounted books.

Free Programming

 

Codecademy is an easy way to learn how to code. It's interactive, fun, and you can do it with your friends for free

http://www.codecademy.com/

To Flash or not to Flash this is the question...

Looks like a tsunami of change again for Multimedia.

• Flash CS5


• Microsoft Visual studio/Silverlight


• HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript?

With Steve Jobs firing a major salvo across Adobes bows:

• Apple Didn’t Kill Flash, HTML5 Did -http://bit.ly/dzFV3V


• Steve Jobs: Adobe's Flash "has major technical drawbacks"http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=8179

(Thanks Steph)

I'm going to have to think about how we will deliver multimedia in the future.

Darn!!!!

Using JavaScript to increase browser text size

When I display my wiki on an overhead in class it is useful to increase the text size. At present I have to use page>Text Size> Larger. Using my "friend" Dr. Google (he/she?) who knows much more than me, came up with a solution by David Walsh ( a Sun Developer)  http://davidwalsh.name/change-text-size-onclick-with-javascript. There are lots of very tricky solutions out there including those that restyle every individual tag on the page. Note however the resize is only active on the current page (as its JavaScript) so if you go to another page you will have to resize again, unlike the Browser setting which persists.

Am looking to implement this in http://www.virtualmv.com/wiki soon.

Just cause I want to remember this if I find I need it in the future :)

FusionCharts (n.d.)[1] - http://www.fusioncharts.com/free/download/?_doPostback=561369948

	
FusionCharts Free helps you create free flash charts in your web applications.
	
It supports a variety of chart types including bar, column, line, area, pie, doughnut
	
 (donut), combination, funnel, Gantt etc

iCloud - a virtual online machine

Apr 7, iCloud was publically launched. Have included the "marketing email below...

First observations. Tried it on our institutions PC.. Connection too slow, tried in IE/Firefox came up but never got to a stage I could use it. Chrome had JavaScript issues...

Must try it at home :)

In the email it stated...

icloud, the online service that gives you the freedom of your friends, files and digital life on any computer. After 8 years of development icloud is today officially launched worldwide as the online PC for everyone without a PC 

Linkoping, Sweden - April 7th, 2009 - Xcerion today announce the launch of icloud, the world's first free online computer, giving everybody in the world their own online computer packed with free storage, applications, virtual desktop and backup accessible from any computer connected to the Internet. Starting today the icloud service is available in English, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Swedish and Filipino languages.

 The public launch of icloud builds on a closed beta testing program and the incorporation of user feedback from iclouder's worldwide. icloud is proud to announce free icloud accounts for everyone at http://icloud.com. 

Daniel Arthursson, the founder of icloud say, "With icloud, we put a virtual computer together with free storage and free applications in the hands of everybody in the world, it's the PC for everyone without a PC. Everybody can now access and share documents, photos, music and their complete digital life from any computer".

The public version includes:

• Access to your friends, files and digital life on any computer


• 3 GB free storage space to safely store documents, photos and music online


• 30 free applications such as Office, Mail, Music, Video, IM, Sharing, Games, Collaboration and Development tools


• 20 free widgets


• Free backup to provide secure storage, including WedDav


• Zero installation, icloud runs in your Internet Explorer or Firefox browser

Browser tester (HTML/JavaScript)

• Chrome Experiments (Google, 2009)^[2] http://www.chromeexperiments.com/
  
  
  
  • Chrome Experiments showcases the applications that require significant data processing using multiple Web pages simultaneously
  
  
  • Darrin Fisher, one of the engineering leads for Google Chrome, notes that all of the experiments use just HTML and JavaScript, and are designed to demonstrate what is possible with basic Web technology
  
  
  
  

(Naone, 2009, March 18)^[3]

E, Naone (2009, March 18)Browser Coders Make Chrome Shine. Technology Review. Retrieved March 24, 2009 from http://www.technologyreview.com/web/22315/?a=f

Mootools - a compact, modular, Object-Oriented JavaScript framework

From JJ. 

MooTools is a compact, modular, Object-Oriented JavaScript framework designed for the intermediate to advanced JavaScript developer. It allows you to write powerful, flexible, and cross-browser code with its elegant, well documented, and coherent API.

• Home page: http://mootools.net/


• Demos: http://demos.mootools.net/


• Ajax example downloads: http://speckyboy.com/2008/04/09/41-of-the-best-mootools-ajax-example-downloads/

Firefox extensions xpi error

Have been toying with developing an extension for firefox and uploaded the file to my brinkster account.

Trying to create a web based install using the Javascript code http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Installing_Extensions_and_Themes_From_Web_Pages I created a xpi file and the JavaScript. (The xpi file is just a zip file renamed). Trying to install into my firefox gave a -223 error (I think that was it).

so...trying to isolate the error....

When I upload as a .zip I can download via my web page, but when I either upload as a zip or upload as a zip and rename the file it will not download correctly.

Download the xpi file then rename as zip. Then opening gives a file corrupt error.

One possible suggestion  ( http://support.on2.com/flixpublisher/faq/) was
You are using Microsoft IIS as your webserver, but the MIME type (also called "Content-type", or "Internet Media type") for XPI files has not been added to your IIS configuration.

To fix this problem, add the following to your IIS MIME types configuration:

Extension:      .xpi
Mime Type:      application/x-xpinstall

Brinkster added this to their IIS server and all is sweet now.

So, now onto adding some JavaScript to my extension :)

Creating a Firefox add-in

I'm playing around creating a Firefox add-in (as well as looking into an IE plug-in). These pages describe how to do it (it shows how you can use Visual Studio to help). Lots of ads which is a bit annoying but shows how it is done.

Mueller, J. (2006) Creating Your Own Firefox Add-in with Visual Studio. Retrieved June 7, 2008 from  http://www.devsource.com/c/a/Using-VS/Creating-Your-Own-Firefox-Addin-with-Visual-Studio/