However, as with a handful of other RFP's I've had in the past, this one had a bullet point stating "Change to PHP scripting language (currently ASP)", and it got me thinking: When did we developers begin letting clients dictate what programming language to use on a project? Aren't we solution providers? Shouldn't we choose the best option for our clients? An uneducated client stating the technology to use on a project is like me telling a mechanic working on my car that he should be using Matco wrenches, not Snap-On -- a bit ridiculous, no?

Don't get it twisted, this isn't a quarrel I have due to lack of means; PHP, ASP, .NET, Python, whatever it is -- my team and I are ready, willing, and experienced. This is about purpose and principal. Never do I feel that a client should tell the expert they've hired what tools must be used to solve the problem. Not only could this hinder the project timeline, development efficiency and budget, but it also puts a level of discredit on the developer/agency in how they may effectively be able to provide their expertise to the project.

When it comes down to it, I feel PHP is no better than ASP or ASP.NET or Python or any other language, if it's not written properly. Procedural PHP is just as bad as procedural ASP, or even improperly written Django/Python or a RoR application. The server-side programming language is used [primarily] to retrieve data from a database or to promote code modularity & reuse, etc. The language used should have no bearing on visitors experience, ever. Honestly, with the many classic ASP years behind me, I'm positive I could write an ASP app that does everything a client would want and they'd never know the difference.

Now, I agree that there is good reason for a client to suggest a specific technology be used. Building a classic ASP application at this point in time isn't exactly wise; there are far better choices that ease and expedite development. Also, having an application written in RoR might not be the best choice for some clients as it may be harder to find a developer or agency who is adept enough to pick up the project later down the road. But that doesn't mean that because PHP developers are a dime a dozen [no offense, please] that technology decisions should be based upon this! Next up would be a client requesting a language because they already have an internal team familiar with maintaining said application in said language -- a very good reason, I do agree. Finally there is the infamous open source argument. Now, this honestly could turn into a whole new topic at hand when debating open source vis-à-vis proprietary languages, so lets not go that way. My thoughts are this: open source or proprietary, what matters is that you can utilize what you are using to it's fullest potential to develop the best application possible. Using PHP because a client threw it out as a buzzword isn't a good enough reason -- what if the client threw out classic ASP as the requirement, what then?

I'm not really sure how to wrap up this entry except to say this: Do what is best for everyone. I think I have a good rant, but in the end it's all about commerce. If it's an unjustified buzzword the client threw out there but you can deal with it, keep your mouth shut, do your best work, get paid and add another piece to your showcase. If it makes you feel better to try and educate the client about their decision, and you feel they will listen, by all means, go for it! On the flip side, if you don't really need the headache of the job or a client who knows best, bow out gracefully. A disaffected mood will usually radiate, and if you're not good at handling it you may ruin any relationship with the client and your quality of work will suffer -- it's not worth it.

I thought at first that the problem was with the Linksys WRT54GS router (this is my third Linksys router in about two years, so this wasn't an unfounded idea). So, instead of logically eliminating potential causes (ie: other Windows, Linux and OS X Tiger machines weren't having issues), I ran down to Circuit City and dropped around $190.00 on the Apple AirPort Extreme (always wanted one anyway). Unbox > plug-in > configure > experiment -- issue still persists. So, what do I do? Begin eliminating other potential causes, right? Noooooo... Unplug > re-box > drive to Circuit City > exchange for $220 Linksys WRT350N > drive back > unbox > plug-in > configure > experiment. Of coarse, the issue still persists. So, what do I do? Begin eliminating other potential causes, right? Hahaha, no. You see, at that point I became that idiot who reads forum posts from around the globe and believes every word; it has to be a compatibility issue with the router. Unplug > re-box > drive to Circuit City > exchange for $190 Buffalo WZR2-G300N > drive back > unbox > plug-in > configure > experiment. To no surprise, the issue still persists.

A note to those who have had (or are having) the same issue: Don't be an idiot like me. Troubleshoot the issue properly before jumping the gun and unnecessarily spending hundreds of dollars.

My solution

Although not ideal, my only solution has been to disable Mixed-mode wireless via the router. Currently, running in strictly G mode (B & N both caused dropouts), I haven't had an issue in about 3 weeks. It's ashame that I have an N-ready network, with all other computers able to utilize N, but I have to keep the network in G for one computer, and the newest of the bunch at that!

Sure would be nice if there was a real fix from Apple... I'd love to have the new 1GB Time Capsule, but I'm afraid spending that much money will leave me making live & archive backups across a G network! I'd rather plug in my MyBook for Time Machine until I see some new posts on the Apple discussion forums confirming this issue has been solved.

My adventures in troubleshooting

Here's some of the things I tried before coming to my solution; they didn't work, not even in the slightest:

• Disabled OS X firewall.
• Turned off WEP and/or WPA security.
• Deleted com.apple.internet*.plist preference files.
• Reset PRAM.
• Turned off IPv6 in OS X.
• Change the MTU size using Cocktail.
• Confirmed router firmware to be up to date.

I think I've figured it out though. I put to much thought into every aspect of blogging which ends up suffocating myself. Being the wordy, meticulous, purposive individual I am, writing a blog entry takes me hours, sometimes days -- even if it isn't a very long or detailed post. I am overparticular in preparing verbiage, the formatting must be perfect, images all proportionate, and so on. By the time I'm ready to hit Publish, I've lost the majority of my enthusiasm for the entry or I've burnt myself out and feel it will be only too soon before I write another entry.

So, if this is to be a comeback of any sort, I'm going to start out with short excerpts. And for now, to make up for any "shortcomings" in my entries, keep checking the Noteworthy block on the main page for a pulse; I keep it pretty fresh since it's only a section for one liners. Also, I've been trying to keep up with Twitter tweets recently, and there's always a fresh feed of my del.icio.us links to peruse.

Cheers.

The web address to follow below is for the local 15th Annual Beautiful Babies contest in my area; you will be taken directly to the photo of my son, Junior who is now 11 months old. Voting for this contest started at 12:00 noon (CST) today and the polls are running for some of these babies (in 45 minutes, one baby took almost 200 votes!).

Click the link and you'll find [near the bottom of the page] a box with 12 small photos of animals where you will need to click on only pictures of kittens out of all the animals (this is to verify you are a person, so voting can't be faked by a computer); then press the Vote button!

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/bestbaby/gallery/profile.php?baby_id=528&vf=lbE1KKymvRh6&page=1

PS. If you know an email address of someone who might want to vote, SEND THIS LINK TO THEM!

So, when I have a minute, I'll post a follow-up that details more about what's been going on with me lately, but first things first:

I'm going to be a Dad again!

...or would that be I'm going to remain a Dad, only twice over now?

Yep, I found out around noon today that my first son Junior (who is now 7 months old) is going to be a big brother — it was planned (just came a little sooner than we expected), and she is (ahem, I mean we are) hoping for a girl!

As for names, regardless of the gender, Alanna and I have our brains stuck on using the same initials as Junior (and myself), so JMH is our target — honestly, choosing a girls name isn't as difficult as trying to pick another boys name with the same initials (without using the same middle name over again). We'll just have to wait and see...

Anyway, the first trimester is the most critical, so please keep us in your prayers and check back here frequently for new announcements!

09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

Thanks to arnezami on the Doom9 forums,

This is the Processing Key which should work on all HD DVD discs (and maybe even Blu-Ray discs) released so far.

Unfortunately for us, AACS (Advanced Access Content System) doesn't really digg (loving the pun) people messing around with their money maker because they're fighting like hell to keep the community from spreading the word.

Read the AACS press

Google Cease & Desist

Recipient Information:
[Private]
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy.
Mountain View, CA, 94043, USA

Sender Information:
Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator, LLC (AACS LA)
Sent by: [Private]
Proskauer Rose LLP
New York, NY, 10038, USA

Sent via: express mail
Re: Illegal Offering of Processing Key to Circumvent AACS Copyright Protection

http://uscpwned.blogspot.com/2007/02/holy-grail-located-hd-dvd-and-blu-ray.html
[http://linuxnotes.blogspot.com/2007/02/09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63.html
http://simonsta.blogspot.com/2007/02/lost-meets-aacs.html
http://cronicasredux.blogspot.com/2007/02/crypto.html]

Dear Google Inc.

We represent Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator, LLC (AACS LA), developer, proprietor and licensor of the Advanced Access Content System (AACS). AACS is an integrated set of technological protection measures that controls access to and prevents unauthorized copying of copyrighted motion pictures embodied on high definition DVDs.

It is our understanding that you are providing to the public the above-identified tools and services at the above referenced URL, and are thereby providing and offering to the public a technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof that is primarily designed, produced, or marketed for the purpose of circumventing the technological protection measures afforded by AACS (hereafter, the "circumvention offering"). Doing so constitutes a violation of the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the "DMCA"), 17 U.S.C. §§ 1201(a)(2) and 1201(b)(1). Providing or offering the circumvention offering identified above, and any other such offering that is primarily designed or produced to circumvent protection measures, or which has only limited commercial significant purpose other than to circumvent, or which are offered to the public with knowledge that it is for use in circumventing, violates the rights of AACS and any others harmed as well. See §§ 1201(a)(2), 1201(b)(1), and 1203.

In view of the foregoing apparent anti-circumvention violations, we demand that you immediately:

1) remove or cause to be removed the above-specified AACS circumvention offering and any other circumvention offering which is designed, produced or provided to circumvent AACS or to assist others in doing so, and/or any links directly thereto, from the URL identified above and from any other forum or website on which you have provided any circumvention offering; and

2) refrain from posting or causing to be provided any AACS circumvention offering or from assisting others in doing so, including by direct links thereto, on any website now or at any time in the future.

Failure to do so will subject you to legal liability.

Please confirm to the undersigned in writing no later than noon a week from the above-indicated date that you have complied with these demands. You may reach the undersigned by telephone at [private] or by email at [private]@proskauer.com. AACS LA reserves all further rights and remedies with respect to this matter.

Very truly yours,

[private]
Counsel for AACS LA

Link | Image (PDF)

Can't stop the signal

You can't stop the signal. It can't be done. This Digg commenter says it best (although is a bit on the vulgar side for you youths),

Ha Ha. And Fuck You AACS LA. Didn't you learn anything with DVDs?

I have the keys, The decryption algorithm is public domain, the forums are free speech.

You have lost, and will continue to lose in a poor way.

God I love that...

For those who are uninformed, or have never used prototyping as a method of planning, a prototype is a draft version of a website and is often the best way to gather feedback while planning and designing a website.

Low-fidelity prototypes

Low-fidelity prototypes are the fastest way to brainstorm and see your ideas, make your mistakes [and build off of them] and to see your progression.

Using low-fidelity prototypes (such as paper-based prototypes) is also the quickest way to get feedback on preliminary site architecture, design, and content. Use simple tools like paper, pen or pencil, scissors, Sharpie markers and sticky notes to create these low-fidelity prototypes.

High-fidelity prototypes

Traditionally you would transition from a low-fidelity prototype to a high-fidelity prototype to present a more visual illustration of the website. However, each high-fidelity option can be used on its own, or in conjunction with additional options.

White Site

Using a white site is often the best way to gather feedback from users while you are still planning and designing a website. Creating a white site involves building a text-only version of the site, with working links, but without graphic detail.

Part of building a white site is developing a site map. The goal is to provide a single-page overview of your site that will act as a guide to constructing the rest of the wireframe phases. Remember, while a site map may list all of the features and links that should be contained with a website, it doesn’t tell you which features are the most important and where they should be located on each page.

Grey Box Method

Using the grey box method will help prevent becoming lost in font and color selection during the design planning of a website. By getting rid of the look & feel details, this helps to ensure the structure makes sense first. Think of a grey box prototype as a graphical representation of the layout and navigation using only conventional shapes and (usually) solid grey, black and white for color variations.

Here are three examples that display the grey box method used for this site. The first is self explanitory, the second uses colors additional to the standard grey box method but still fits the mold of a grey box rather than a comp (see next item below), and the third is an even more fleshed out version of the grey box method.

Obviously this is an extremely simple example as I had the concept in my head already and this was my own site. Normally there is more to the grey box prototype that would be displayed and depicted, especially if there are shapes, rounded corners, ad space requirements, or more modular content placed in a more graphically intense layout.

Comprehensive

A comprehensive, usually shortened to comp, is the layout of a proposed design showing the relative positions of text and illustrations before the specific content of those elements has been decided on.

Closing statements

I hope this information helps clarify some of the prototyping options available to designers, or perhaps it will inspire the use of prototyping as part of every project undertaking for those who stumble upon this entry blindly. Only recently have I began using prototypes to the extents described in this entry; for years I completely skipped over most prototyping methods (occasionally doing only a site plan) and began each project with comprehensive illustrations. This negligence cost me an abundance of time and profits over the years, however it has made me a proficient comp artist — so I guess it's not all bad...

I would also like to add that prototyping isn't just for website design, it can be applied just the same in other types of design or development projects; from print design to UI design.

References

Develop a Prototype – Design | Usability.gov
Jason Santa Maria | Grey Box Methodology
Comprehensive layout – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

With nearly a dozen projects on my table right now that have back-to-back deployment deadlines, things get a little overwhelming.

That said, I'm sending out a major distress signal; Hackers of the World, Unite!

Alright, seriously though, this isn't the amusing movie from the mid-90's — but it is a distress signal! I'm keeping the doors open to many types of freelance agents at the moment. From design to code to Linux system administration, if you think you've got what it takes to play a hand at the table, get me a resume, portfolio, and whatever else you have.

Furthermore, I'm not opposed to help on a per-project basis or even the possibility of full-time employment, so regardless of what level of work commitment you're seeking, I may have something that humps your camel.

You can use the comment form, contact form or shoot an email to me directly (digitaljhelms [at] gmail [dot] com), it's your choice.

Looking for an uber-ninja that does _____ or has _____

• Expert hands-on knowledge of HTML, XHTML, and CSS
• Experience translating comps and prototypes (aka wireframes) into flexible, standards-compliant code templates
• Strong working knowledge developing cross platform/browser compatibility (IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc.)
• Familiarity with and adherence to web standards
• Strong working knowledge of Flash 8+ (including ActionScript 2.0, not just tweening you guys)
• Experience with relational databases
• Experience with Apache and PHP is a plus
• Experience with Django is a major plus

So, since I haven't the time this week to complete one of the six entries I've been writing, I'll just give you a short excerpt or description from each to peak your interest and hopefully draw you back fore more to come.

Green-Eyed Monster

Details about the new WordPress theme in action for this site (and possibly the source to it).

Web publishing with Symphony

My review from experimenting with Symphony, a web publishing system made for web developers. Symphony powers your website using XML and XSLT, and is a cinch to setup (you only need one file and the proper server permissions and it does the rest).

Update: This post will not be made; Django is my new lover.

I need your help, literally!

Honestly, this post is a distress signal; stay tuned if you want to make some money and have some fun.

Update: This post has been published; check it out here.

Python+Django+Satchmo=Uber-smexy

Most developers have at one time or another worked with a language that has an unwieldy syntax and lack of good OO support — these issues and more are solved with the Django framework. Satchmo comes in as an e-commerce application framework built using Django as it's foundation and this entry will be my review of the framework in a real-world scenario [as I currently have three e-commerce sites on my plate].

Windows colo to Linux VPS

My trials and tribulations with making the leap from my colo'd Windows 2003 hosting servers to an Ubuntu 6.06 Linux VPS.

Linode smells so good it makes me drool

A follow-up entry about why I chose Slicehost as my VPS provider, why Slicehost was a good idea to begin with and a bad idea in the long run, and a review of Linode — the VPS provider where I'm migrating to which should rectify my Slicehost issues. I've also got a great transcript of a conversation between me and Chris Aker, the owner of Linode that will go up here.

That said, let me begin this entry by explaining what I mean by "relaunch".

I've realized that over the past few years in which I've had this site, it has mainly been used as an outlet for [what I call] noteworthy items — or items that I found entertaining, humorous, informative or ridiculous. Unfortunately (until recently), these noteworthy entries haven't been very consistent or compelling and usually consisted of a clip or quote from another blog, or a link to a website (or link trolling), along with a short quip of my own added to it — nothing that captures attention, compels readers to comment or even attracted readers to return. I've heard this practice referred to as "me too" mode.

Aside from all the geek stuff (standards-compliant code, CSS redesign, content syndication, SEO optimizations), defining what this site "is about" is a major part of this relaunch. My goal for this site is threefold:

1. I would like to make this site an outlet for creative and technical articles that readers can learn and benefit from. In my 13 years in the IT industry I have seen and learned enough for two people; I have been involved in a superabundant amount of projects ranging corny banner advertisement design to dynamic multi-user web applications to micro-datacenter deployment. Aside from my industry experience, I also have a great deal of career experience as I have been a business owner for 10 years and self employed for over 5. I like to think that all of what I have gained and experienced in my life so far could help or inspire someone.
2. I would like to provide quality content for family and friends who aren't involved in the IT industry; things like entries about how my baby boy is doing, things my wife and I are doing to increase our quality of life, and so on. I feel that family and friends are extremely important, and without these people to lean on during tough times, I wouldn't be where I am today. Sometimes it's hard to keep in touch (can't call everyone every day), so I figure this site could be a good outlet for communication from time to time.
3. I would like to post information about projects I'm working on and clients I'm working with. This isn't to promote them — it's simply a way for me to keep friends, family, potential clients and random readers in the loop of what I have going on. Also, putting a post up here and there about my career activities will slowly create an archive that I can look back on later and see how I have progressed (or digressed) along the way; maybe I can even set a few long term goals and see if I achieve them over the long haul.

The design & technical approaches for this relaunch

Why stop at changing my blogging objective and style of writing when I can go the distance! So, I decided to address a ton of design and code aspects that were flawed with the site as well.

First of all, the site interface was using a hacked up version of Hemingway, which other than it's AJAX support and administration features is already a pieced together chunk of crap in the first place (just my opinion, sorry). Following that, the publishing system I use for this site was way out of date and needed to be upgraded (along with all plugins and add-ons being used).

If you're curious about any of the upgrades and changes this site has undergone for this relaunch, here's a summarized list:

• Powered by the latest stable build of WordPress 2.1
• Completely new site interface (theme) constructed for WordPress 2+, written from scratch and inspired by Jeff Croft — I love his whole approach at blogging, both design & content
• Changed character encoding from ISO-8859-1 (a UTF-8 subset) to UTF-8; fixed characters not properly using entity references from displaying erroneous symbols
• New site is 100% XHTML 1.0 Strict compliant, validated by the W3C Markup Validation Service
• Revised (and removed in some cases) all past site entries; pdated all permalinks and entry source code.
• Cleaned up all stale database entries and postmeta.
• Added support for asides (what I call noteworthy entries) on the main page
• Integrated a variety of my favorite, regularly updated syndication feeds on the main page
• Updated the integration of my del.icio.us and Flickr feeds to use SimplePie for RSS parsing
• Added "entry archives" to allow review of all past entries arranged by month+year
• For readers who comment, support for Gravatar 2.0 has been seamlessly integrated
• Implemented a variety of SEO optimizations
  • (re)Generate a Google Sitemap on post (or page) creation and update
  • Automatically notify Google via Google-Ping when a new Sitemap is generated
  • Integrated Google Analytics
  • Improved individual page title readability by search engines

Relaunch resolutions — a meme inspired by my friend J. David

(who was inspired by Brian Clark to do the same)

1. Post more compelling, focused content much more regularly
2. Write entry headlines that actually depict the entry content
3. Try to connect with readers by focusing my entries on the reader rather than simply voicing opinions
4. Reduce the amount of external links used in entries; pushing readers somewhere else is not my objective
5. Provide more downloads and usable material for readers

I know, there's only supposed to be 5 resolutions, but I have one more:

6. Update my Flickr album as frequently as possible so as to keep fresh new photos rolling on my site

The final word

So, that's it. Hopefully all of the changes, upgrades and integrations I have made (and resolutions I've set) will make this site what it hasn't been for all these years, if not increase my reader count from two or three (I'm being too generous, aren't I) to ... hmm ... let's shoot high and go for ten?!

Anyway, on with the show...

• 15 hours of labor; began at 3:00 AM
• First breath was at 6:17 PM on Feb 06, 2007
• 8lbs 13oz (3 oz short of 9lbs!)
• 21" long
• Born without forceps or vacuum
• Wondering about what we named him?

Flickr photos

Photos from digitaljhelms' photostream of the JMH "Junior" (Set)

Boston — Two suspects were arrested Wednesday after officials found 38 blinking electronic signs on bridges and other high-profile spots across the city that were thought to be bombs. The scare forced bomb units to scramble across Boston all day. The "devices" were actually magnetic lights which resemble a character on the show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force", on Turner Broadcasting's Cartoon Network. Boston Mayor Tom Menino is now demanding restitution of at least $750,000 to compensate the city for police costs, and the state's attorney said he plans to go forward with criminal charges.

Got time to waste? How about some links!

FOXNews.com - Suspects Refuse to Answer Questions on Botched 'Aqua Teen' Marketing Scheme
Boing Boing: LED ad campaign ignites terrorism scare in Boston
Peter Berdovsky's personal Myspace site
Myspace site for Berdovsky's band
Interference Incorporated (Guerrilla Marketing agency hired for the stunt)
wbztv.com - Arrest Made In Boston's Hoax Device Incident (Boston's local news channel)
Boston LED terror scare: a message to the media (Ed Adkins has something to say)
Aqua Teen Hunger Force viral ads cause Boston bomb scare - Engadget

Oooh, and videos!

Boston Ad Prank Suspects Talk About ... Hair
FREE BERDOVSKY
This is NOT the Graffiti Research Lab
[ adult swim ] apology
[Adult Swim] v.s. Boston (spoof)

Wait, there's more; how about some photos!

Photos from mostaghimi's photostream of the Adult Swim Apology (Set)

Photos from Vanderlin's photostream of the LED Adult Swim Ad (Set)

Finally

If you are hellbent on supporting the "ATHF: War on Boston" there are a ton of eBay auctions ready to help arm you with your own guerrilla marketing propaganda.

• err Aqua Teen Hunger Force T-shirt AnySize! Mooninites
• AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE MOON RULES MOONINITES SHIRT LRG
• AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE MOON RULES MOONINITES T-SHIRT XL
• Mooninites T-Shirt Sizes Small - XL aqua teen
• AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE MOONINITES QUAD LASER SHIRT MED
• Boston Proper Embellish Gem Ruched Knit Top S 6 8 Aqua
• VTG Forecaster of Boston Aqua Ultrasuede Coat SZ 24
• 1880's Dr Cumming's Vegetine Boston, Ma aqua medicine
• Boston Proper Aqua beaded poncho tunic 10/12 NEW$139
• 1870 Hutch FAIRBANKS & SNYDER Boston MASS Deep Aqua
• MOONINITE AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE LOGO DECAL STICKER!!
• XXL AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE MOONINITE T Shirt New w Tags

http://www.intelligence-test.net/part1/

The test site states,

Believe it or not, this type of test can be a good estimate of intelligence (if you excuse the cultural bias). People who did well on this type of test are likely those who are gifted with verbal ability and linguistic pattern recognition. This sort of assessment would discriminate against those with non-linguistic pattern recognition (like solving jigsaw puzzles) and spatial intelligence (like the ability to use a map or see hidden figures in a drawing).

Scoring: 1 to 5 is Average, 6 - 11 Somewhat Intelligent, 12 to 18 Intelligent, 19 + Genius

How well did you do? How long did it take (if you kept track)?

Update

After I finished the test, I sent an IM to my friend telling him what I had scored. He informed me that there were three more parts to this test!
http://www.intelligence-test.net/part2/
http://www.intelligence-test.net/part3/
http://www.intelligence-test.net/part4/

Now, this brings me to the subject at hand which may be old news to some of you but oh well... I found a spoof of the iPhone on the AdLand site which had some interesting info about Cisco owning the name iPhone. Yep, Apple is being sued by Cisco — is Cisco wrong? Links galore — and if you google this, you'll find tons more.

So, here's the scoop: Apple launched the new iPhone using a trademarked name belonging to Cisco which is in use by Linksys, their consumer division, for its line of VOIP-based wireless phones. Cisco decides to sue Apple for trademark infringement, only to find that they in fact may no longer own the trademark.

Here's where the story gets twisty; In the lawsuite, Cisco claims Apple is persuing the iPhone trademark under an alter ego entity named Ocean Telecom Services LLC. Ocean Telecom's corporation registration places it in Wilmington, DE — however their website puts them in the UK. Furthermore there is no Ocean Telecom listed in the white pages for Wilmington Delaware, nor in the Better Business Bureau database, and that address is registered to a company named "CT Corporation" which turns out to be a company acting as a registered agent.

So, like Ed Burnette said in his article, it appears somebody set up a corporation that exists only on paper, hired CT Corporation to act as their registered agent so they could get official mail, and then used the paper corporation to file a trademark application for the "iPhone" name.

And, this Apple-trademark issue isn't new, it has apprently been going on since the third quarter of 2006.

To check out the actual trademark application details, check out the USPTO electronic trademark search and lookup "iphone" using the Basic search form.

Well, [I guess] as they say in business: "bad publicity is still good publicity."

Ok, so I'm now over my depression from looking at the figures of these rich bastards. I'm sure this list may be old news to some of you, but here's a quick look at the top 10; head over to the link (above) to see the whole list.

William Henry Gates III

53.0

Microsoft

Warren Edward Buffett

46.0

Berkshire Hathaway

Sheldon Adelson

20.5

Casinos, Hotels

Lawrence Joseph Ellison

19.5

Oracle

Paul Gardner Allen

16.0

Microsoft, Investments

Jim C Walton

15.7

Wal-Mart

Christy Walton (& family)

15.6

Wal-Mart (inheritance)

S Robson Walton

15.6

Wal-Mart

Michael Dell

15.5

Dell

Alice L Walton

15.5

Wal-Mart

Oh, and yes, those decimal figures — those are billions. Crazy how Wal-Mart is in that list four times. I mean, I knew the Waltons were rich, but dayum — four Walton's in the top 10 of the top 400 richest Americans!?

Apple Reinvents the Phone with iPhone http://www.apple.com/iphone/

MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO — January 9, 2007 — Apple® today introduced iPhone, combining three products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod® with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, searching and maps — into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting users control iPhone with just their fingers. iPhone also ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, which completely redefines what users can do on their mobile phones.

Also check out these links:

• MacWorld Announcements Real Time - iPhone Announced
• Macworld Keynote 2007 transcript
• Apple Announces The iPhone
• Keynote Photos from Macworld SF 2007 - iPhone Part 1
• Keynote Photos from Macworld SF 2007 - iPhone Part 2
• Keynote Photos from Macworld SF 2007 - iPhone Part 3
• Crunchgear @ MacWorld 2007: The Keynote
• Exclusive Apple iPhone 360 degree Gallery: 50 Photos of the Jesus Phone
• Macworld San Francisco 2007; Keynote Address

QUOTE (Sebastian Mares @ Feb 24 2006, 06:51 PM)
Whats so hard about downloading a file to your desktop, running it, then deleting it? Are people that lazy?

QUOTE (LilJames @ Feb 24 2006, 07:52 PM)
You waste at least 10 seconds when doing that. If you download 6 files a day, that makes one minute wasted per day. 365 minutes per year (~6 hours). If we assume that one lives 75 years, that makes almost 19 days wasted just for having to manually open and delete an EXE.

Curious about the solution? I use the OpenDownload extension - works like a charm...

• Hyper-fast frictionless wheel scrolling
• SmartShift™ scrolling technology (detects the application and changes it's scrolling mode for optimal usage)
• Rechargable Li-Ion battery w/ stealth 4-level battery level meter
• Wireless USB 2.0 connectivity
• Laser engine precision and control

A mouse? It sounds like I'm describing some kind of military weapon, but yes, that's the feature list for the new Logitech MX Revolution mouse which Logitech has proclaimed is the World's most advanced mouse.

I was hooked on the XG Laser 2500 at first because of it's 6 DPI switch button that lets you jump between 600, 800, 1200, 1600, 2000, and 2500 DPI at the press of a button for immediate accuracy. Funny enough, the CMOS chip in the XG Laser 2500 is made by Agilent, the same company Logitech works with; but the 2500 is 500 DPI ahead of any Logitech mouse.

Anyway, the MX Revolution is quickly becoming a favorite on my list; wish I could test them both!

• embedded Bluetooth® technology
• stealth backlit touch-sensitive controls
• constructed from a single, semi-translucent piece of black Plexiglas® set in a brushed aluminum frame

What's not to like?! Now I just have to find a mouse that's as pimp-tight looking as this keyboard but still out-performs itself and doesn't just look good.

I could probably live with this setup for all of eternity, but recently I have found a major issue with using Microsoft wireless devices in an operating system other than Windows: additional data is being sent with the key codes!? I'm not sure what the data is exactly, but I found out about this while troubleshooting an unkown scancode error that was nearly unavoidable in my recent installation of debian. This message would show up out of the blue (not specific to any one key) and would sometimes roll down the shell prompt window for days until I hit another key that sent a piece of "hidden" data that would stop the error from occuring. I thought this was a misconfiguration of Debian until I found (after hours and hours of digging) a blog post about a guy having the same problem and [thankfully] his solution.

Now, I have two more linux distros running (Ubuntu desktop & server) and the problem occurs on these as well! So, although my keyboard and mouse work fine in Windows, this unknown data being sent doesn't make me very warm and fuzzy, therefore I think it's time to look into some new input devices..

In a post on C# Shiznit, Bobby discusses an awesome keyboard made by Enermax called the Aurora and in looking at it's specifications I see that it's not only half of the height that my Microsoft keyboard is, but it's also about 50mm shorter in length and 30mm shorter in depth which would give me back some real estate on my slide-out keyboard tray instead of having the keyboard hang over the edge like it does now!

Well, I'm not sure what setup I'm going to choose, but I'll be sure to post my findings when I'm finished!

Damn, if you haven't checked out the trailers for this movie yet, you should be shot. This Frank Miller inspired flick is going to be absolutely bad ass!

Teaser Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/300/

Theatrical Trailer: http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/300.html

What's else makes this movie so bad ass? The fact that it's got Just Like You Imagined off the Fragile (Left) album from Nine Inch Nails as the promo track in the trailer.

Even more, I'm considering migrating all of my hosting customers and personal sites over to a Linux server of choice, running the Mono Project (mod_mono) to take care of my .NET applications and closing down my Windows 2003 servers.

Not only will hosting costs drop considerably, but I won't have to screw with IIS and it's poor, irritating issues anymore (whew!), I won't have to pay Microsoft licensing fees for every damn server and/or server application, and the list goes on, and on, and on, and on...

If I do decide to go this route, I think I will be much happier with Linux, and especially Apache as it has become a very robust web server application and can handle most of my SEO concerns right out of the box; no more writing libraries to do trivial tasks such as URL rewriting. Yes, I know, I can run Apache on Windows - but what's the point, that's just more overhead for the already bloated Microsoft OS and all it's "standard" services that are running.

Also, with Linux being the main backbone for most of the open source development projects, I will be more likely to make the change to Ruby [on Rails] or a Python-based framework for future web development like I have always wanted to. And until then, I can still bang out a .NET project (running under mod_mono) when I need to get something done and out the door.

Bobby DeRosa of C# Shiznit wrote,

Visual Studio 2005 is a significant improvement over 2003. Visual Studio 2003 lacked the ability to move an ASP.NET web application up to an FTP server from within the IDE. One of the new attributes in 2005 is the built-in Copy Web Site feature that gives you a side-by-side comparison of your local site & your FTP server.

It's OK at best. It's slow to initialize and load - and it doesn't save your password for you. You have to re-enter it every time you bring up the tab - fraking lame. The Synchronize Site feature attempts to synchronize your site - but it doesn't really do that. It goes through each file, compares the local copy to the one on the remote server and if they don't have the same modify date, it asks you which one you want to use. It will ask you this for EVERY file that is different. If you check the Apply to all checkbox, then it simply uploads ALL files, without giving you an overview of what it is going to upload.

It's a pathetic attempt to add site synchronization into the IDE, poorly executed and looks as if it was thrown in last minute.

And so, in December 2005, Bobby ported over a Visual Studio 2003 Add-In he wrote [called Web Deployer] to work with Visual Studio 2005. Well, nearly a year has passed with a few minor revisions here and there, and a completely new version of Web Deployer is being released, now titled Dispatch and built exclusively for Visual Studio 2005. It allows users to quickly and easily upload web applications to an FTP server without ever leaving the IDE and has multiple features to help keep local and remote files in sync.

The Bigger Tiles plug-in causes Photoshop to process image data in larger chunks. This will reduce the overall time to complete many operations, especially on computers with more than 1 GB of RAM installed. Bigger Tiles will also reduce the responsiveness of the application in some situations.

The Bigger Tiles plug-in is installed in the Extensions folder, within the Plug-Ins folder in the Adobe Photoshop CS2 folder. To activate it, rename it to remove the "~" from the beginning of its name.

I found the plug-in file in the following location on my installation of CS2:
Program Files\
Adobe\
Adobe Photoshop CS2\
Plug-Ins\
Adobe Photoshop Only\
Extensions\
Bigger Tiles