Ray Valenti's Codepage

2011-12-28T13:10:00.001-05:00

After installing Spotify app it popped up and starting playing some stupid music. Well that's OK but after trying to shut down the app it refused and continued to annoy me with a promotional song. I will never go near this virus again.

Garmin | Map Updates

2011-12-03T12:26:00.000-05:00

Garmin | Map Updates:

Wow what a deal only $50 for a one time update to a $120 device. This should be no more than $10. I'd rather just buy a new one.

'via Blog this'

Cleveland Ignites Job Growth With Rebuilding Project - NYTimes.com

2011-11-30T18:30:00.001-05:00

It's great to read something positive about our region as least once in a while.

Cleveland Ignites Job Growth With Rebuilding Project - NYTimes.com:

'via Blog this'

Knight-Ridder tablet computer looks just like iPad but it's 17 YEARS OLD | Mail Online

2011-10-31T00:44:00.000-04:00

Amazing story about some visionary work done at Knight-Ridder news. Just as with the Xerox Park research, Jobs did not invent the technology from scratch but he did bring it to market.

It reminds me of Christopher Columbus 'discovering' America.

While he might not have been the first European here, he did a good marketing job when he got home.

Knight-Ridder tablet computer looks just like iPad but it's 17 YEARS OLD | Mail Online:

They really seemed to have it nailed down in the early 90s!

'via Blog this'Publish Post

Data may actually be safer in the cloud: report | ZDNet

2011-09-28T10:20:00.000-04:00

Data may actually be safer in the cloud: report | ZDNet:

This sounded good but the comments posted on the blog must really give you pause. My thinking is: Use the cloud for low security data were collaboration is the primary concern, keep the rest local.

'via Blog this'

Gmail - Chronos Hours - rayvalenti@gmail.com

2011-09-26T11:34:00.000-04:00

Here is something that is really great about Google apps - the ability to send email updates to yourself or others. This sample was generated by embedded code in a spreadsheet but you can also just specify that you would like notification when a document is updated. It's a great way to stay on top of important business data.

A merger between AOL and Yahoo: You’ve got fail? — Tech News and Analysis

2011-09-09T23:39:00.000-04:00

Yahoo is OK by me, don't use if for much, but AOL has earned the public's contempt.

A merger between AOL and Yahoo: You’ve got fail? — Tech News and Analysis:

'via Blog this'

Discussions in Google Docs

2011-08-15T13:09:00.000-04:00

If you can't get people to use Google Wave to store Google documents then just let the documents store the Wave. Google does not fool around when something does not catch on, they move on and fast. I always have problems getting anyone to do this sort of thing. Email is about all anyone understands so the best way to introduce a new collaboration system is to just wedge it into email

Open Source vs. Commercial Software

2011-03-14T01:15:00.002-04:00

CamStudio gets a thumbs up!

Free open source software is frequently as good as expensive commercial software. This is the case with CamStudio vs. Camtasia. I've worked with both and while the cursor following was better in Camtasia, CS has an version that is at least up to the task. I'll be posting a YouTube video of the the software I've written to synchronize my Google calendar and contact information with my local Access database that I have used for years. Now I have the best of both worlds - cloud and desktop.

Gotta love online tests

2011-03-09T17:01:00.000-05:00

This is a question was taken from a test about Visual Basic for Applications. Inheritance is not a part of VBA but you could consider encapsulation as an advantage. All the rest are true if you ask me. I have to wonder who wrote the test and now much skill they really have.

CODE Magazine - Article: From Zero to Business Application in 15 Minutes

2011-02-28T22:23:00.000-05:00

CODE Magazine - Article: From Zero to Business Application in 15 Minutes: "For Customer, I will add a computed field for the summary property called FullName by clicking on the “Computed Property” button at the top of the designer. This sets the Is Computed property in the properties window for you and an “Edit Method” link appears. This method is where you return the value of the computed field. Computed fields are not stored in the underlying database; they are computed on the entity and only live in the data model. For FullName, I will return “LastName, FirstName”.

Public Class Customer

Private Sub FullName_Compute(
ByRef result As String)

' Set result to the desired field value
result = Me.LastName + ', ' + Me.FirstName
End Sub
End Class"

----------------------------------------------------

This really bugs me. It's from a article about Microsoft's new LightSwitch tool. The problem is a SUB returning a value. That is the very definition of a FUNCTION.

This supposed to make life easier and allow you to get apps up and running fast. It also appears they have a new data type called string that will be stored in SQL Server. So presumably it will it end up as Varchar or Char data type. They will have to prove that this abstraction will not result in problems in the real world.

Google releases native client sdk- The Inquirer

2011-02-24T01:35:00.000-05:00

The web and the desktop are getting married:

Google releases native client sdk- The Inquirer

RDBMS | Database Service | PAAS | Microsoft SQL Azure Database

2011-02-23T01:22:00.000-05:00

Strange, I've been using SQL server over the web for years. Why has this been such a secret?

RDBMS | Database Service | PAAS | Microsoft SQL Azure Database

Google Wave – Ahead of its Time or Just Another Failure? - Web Land

2011-02-20T16:42:00.001-05:00

Google Wave – Ahead of its Time or Just Another Failure? - Web Land

While I found Wave to be very exciting and useful, a couple of my developer friends were less impressed which surprised me. Wave solved the problem of "email threads" whereby people carry on long ongoing conversations that can be very complex to follow especially when they include several of the previous comments in their reply.

Facebook is fun, but Google is providing a new platform for business productivity embedded in a social meeting space. Apps are slowly working their way into more and more of what I do online. While they are not as powerful as Microsoft Office, for a great many situations they are all that people really need to get the job done. Google Apps provide basic functionality combined with online storage and easy collaboration. It's a combination that is hard to beat especially for free.

Akron/Canton web meetup

2011-02-08T23:47:00.000-05:00

Tonight I attended a meetup of the Akron/Canton web meetup group. We covered current trends and voted on setting up some labs to learn new tools. Mobil devices are hot but development is a challenge to say the least. It seem unlikely that any standards will win acceptance with the hyper-competitive state of the mobile market. But that makes a group like this all the more useful, you can exchange horror (and success) stories and hopefully gain some perspective. I'm looking forward to attending more meetings.

High Bridge Glens.avi

2011-02-05T22:22:00.000-05:00

Here is a video of the ice at the High Bridge Glens in Cuyahoga Falls:

Web Components with Google Gadgets

2011-02-01T23:01:00.000-05:00

The web is build for the distribution information and code. Web components and specifically Google Gadgets allow anyone to invent a nifty widget and then share it with the world.

Well anyone who is willing to write some HTML and Javascript at least. Google even supplies a simple small Gadget to allow you to develop tools called Google Gadget Editor. It is essentially just a text box that allows you to post and preview your applet right inside your iGoogle page. The key to success is to go slow and test frequently.

Recently I designed a Google web form to track the time spent on my current projects and it was very fast and easy to set up. But when it was done it had something missing that my Access desktop application has had for years, and that something is a stopwatch utility that counts minutes and hours. The best part of this is the the pause button that lets me stop the counter during phone calls or any other distraction and then pick up right where I left off. There were several of these gadgets already posted but none of them did exactly what I wanted. The result is my own offering which is currently functional if not very polished as far as the UI.
With a little more work I hope to have something that is more attractive and ready to offer to the online community.

JQuery Tutorial - Simple Ajax

2011-01-16T14:55:00.000-05:00

While scanning some videos about Javascript and Ajax this video by a British kid by the name of Tom Rogers came up. His willingness to be himself and share the computer programming skills he has gained with the world really impressed me. It shows the power of the Internet to allow anyone with determination to overcome limitations and then project the skills they have gained to anyone who shares an interest. The more important part is not the technology however, but the force of will required to stare down critics and push ahead with whatever you have to offer. I think he will end up with a career in web application development.

In the Woods – “jQuery for Absolute Beginners” Video Series

2011-01-05T00:33:00.000-05:00

In the Woods – “jQuery for Absolute Beginners” Video Series

So now that the Net is whittling away at brick and mortar video and bookstores, you might think that it is a great time to offer something online like training videos. You might think that, but then you just might be wrong. In the process of teaching myself more about JavaScript and the JQuery library I considered re-opening my Lynda.com account and checking out the online tutorials. But a quick Google search located this site which as it turns out has very good video tutorials - for free. So sure it seems inevitable that intellectual property such as music and books will more and more be delivered via the tubes, but now how do sites that sell training videos compete with free when the free version appears to be of at least equal quality? The Net has a lot in common with the wild west during the gold rush days.

Fractals - The Colors Of Infinity (By Arthur Clarke)

2010-11-27T17:30:00.000-05:00

M.C. Escher would have been all over Mandelbrot sets.

Google's DocVerse links Office with Google Docs | Relevant Results - CNET News

2010-11-23T21:59:00.000-05:00

This will be very a very interesting development. The web wars rage on.

Google's DocVerse links Office with Google Docs | Relevant Results - CNET News

Gmail Import Feature Mysteriously Disappears From Facebook

2010-11-21T12:04:00.000-05:00

Gmail Import Feature Mysteriously Disappears From Facebook

Bad move Facebook! Data wants to live free!

Novell Vibe Launches, Shrugging Off Google Wave Ghost - Messaging and Collaboration - News & Reviews

2010-11-09T23:55:00.002-05:00

If Google Wave is dead then why is it still listed on the Google Apps page and presented as a part of the overall Apps strategy?

It seems that other software companies see the value in Wave:

Novell Vibe Launches, Shrugging Off Google Wave Ghost - Messaging and Collaboration - News & Reviews

Wave had one major flaw: it was too far ahead of it's time for most people. But then again time moves on and people finally are ready to move forward.

Q u i x o r * L a b s

2010-11-08T00:12:00.000-05:00

Recently a the addition of simple meta tag to help track usage of my web site with Google analytics triggered a recompile of the the code behind the web site and while this should not have been a problem when posted to my hosting service I got a nasty message that my application did not have the correct the full trust credentials required to execute on the server. And for unknown reasons my host tells me I will have to move the site to a new Windows 2008 server to correct this. OK but they also tell me that the FrontPage server extensions needed to upload by Visual Studio 2008 is not available on this system. So as far as I can tell they have provided no solution.

The Chinese tell us that every crisis also presents a new opportunity. Since I am being forced to move my site and/or upgrade my tool set all bets are off and I might as well look into other hosting options as well. The leader in the contest so far is my registrar Go Daddy.With so many options to consider it might take a few days to make up my mind on which way to go. For the time being my Google based test site {Quixor Labs} will be open for business.

Google Sites & JavaScript Problem - Google Sites Help

2010-10-30T13:00:00.000-04:00

Well this answers a lot about the limits of Google Sites:

"It won't work as I don't think Google Sites will ever offer JavaScript.

What you have to remember is that your Google Site is always at a google.com address and, therefore, many people, firewalls and virus checkers automatically trust everything at a google.com address: Javacript can deliver malicious code, so it's never going to happen."

So it appears while Google sites can provide huge functionality right out of the box using all the power of Google Apps, you can't really script the pages with JavaScript. As long as you are using the site for fairly standard functions this should not be a problem. However if you need to custom code something, you will have to find an alternative platform. So it appears for now it is best to straddle the .Net and Google worlds when it comes to web sites.

Converting to Web Email

2010-10-20T11:42:00.001-04:00

About six months ago I switched from Outlook to Gmail's web client for all my email. About the only hitch I have encountered so far is the five email account limit. As a computer geek I maintain several accounts for various reasons one of which is that it is a way to foil spammers.

But one thing that until recently bothered me was the fact that I could not just click on a link from a web site and pop up a new email window. When you encounter a generic problem like this there is a pretty good chance that someone has produced a extension that overcomes the limitation and sure enough programmers at Google have already created something called Send from Gmail which pops up a new window with the email address filled in and ready to go. Doing the same thing from a windows app still requires an external app but one is available in windows Vista. I wouldn't be surprised if this changes soon and even desktop apps will show up in the browser.

Signs of the Great Recession

2010-10-11T00:17:00.001-04:00

This summer it has been impossible to ignore the signs of recession especially at highway on/off ramps. Every expressway light now has someone standing there with a sign telling a tale of woe and asking for help. Some people claim that this is just a new scam and these guys are working people's sympathy as a career but I tend to doubt it. On one occasion a car zipped by and someone made some sort of comment to the guy looking for the handout. He became angry and shouted some four letter words and demanded that the car come back presumably ready for a fight. If this guy was truly making big bucks and not humiliated by his situation I don't think this would have been his reaction. Panhandling at the intersection has been going on for years but what is new is the number of people out there. They are the most visible and dramatic sign of our economic hard times. The stock market may have made a strong come back but don't expect any high fives from the guy standing on the corner.

Ipad

2010-10-09T02:44:00.000-04:00

Will be checking out the reader this weekend, I was won over when someone showed me the Ipad's interface. This is the first version of something that will undoubtedly become the newspaper of the future.

RSS and Atom Readers

2010-10-02T01:41:00.000-04:00

Even when you understand the idea behind a technology it takes time to incorporate it into the way you live. RSS Readers let you sit on top of a huge amount of information and scan the titles very quickly to pluck out the nuggets that are worth your time. The more I use Google's reader the more I appreciate it. I still have a Blockbuster account (yes I know they are going under) but I can see what has been recently released through a RSS subscription. Local news, comments made by friends on a meetup site, magazines, all kinds of information can be managed via a reader.

2010-09-17T00:37:00.002-04:00

This is cool:
class DataAsEnumerable: BaseSQL
{
public DataAsEnumerable()
: base()
{ }

public DataAsEnumerable(string MyConn)
: base(MyConn)
{ }

Don't ask why.

Codepage Web Meeting

2010-04-13T23:52:00.000-04:00

If anyone has a question that they would like to review in tomorrows CodgePage Web Meeting just make a post here or email the question along with any related sample code to Support@quixor.com

See you at the meeting!

Office 2010

2010-04-05T15:43:00.001-04:00

Office 2010 is scheduled for release in June and I've just begun to play around with the Access module. No conclusion has yet been reached, but my one request would be designer integration with SQL Server 2008. Unfortunately Microsoft seems to be pushing Sharepoint for distributed & web applications but this is definitely not an migration path to move a small project into the big leagues.

Web is the Word

2010-02-05T18:16:00.001-05:00

Since social media is such an excellent way to burn through a day, it is high time to make these sites work for me instead of against me. Twitter, LinkedIn and CrossLoop have been added to the QFS contact page in an attempt to make time spent in online chat pay off. Well it may or may not work but at least now I can tell the wife "I'm working" whenever she asks me what I'm doing mid-tweet.

2010-01-13T01:01:00.002-05:00

Google to China: Don't be evil
After thwarting an attack by Chinese hackers, the company declares it will no longer self-censor its search results

Now I'm even more enthusiastic about Google. This sort of stand is all too rare in business. I hope more companies take the high road in the future.

Multi Media Mogul

2009-12-06T22:09:00.012-05:00

For some time I've had a web cam and also a cannon PowerShot that also does web video recording. Sure it's fun to play around with them, but why not put them to use as a business tool? So here is a short introductory video to introduce myself and promote my software consulting business. I've also created some screen casts that demos my base library the I use when starting new projects.

2009-11-26T11:11:00.001-05:00

Hope you all have a Rockwell Thanksgiving!

Video Production Rewind

2009-11-25T01:55:00.006-05:00

The new online video demos have gone well. Camtasia screen capture and editing software is great, it has a bunch of features yet to be tried. There are cheaper alternatives but if they are missing features or are not well documented then then savings will be lost in time costs. I do hope this effort has some benefits. One thing that is now possible is training videos instead of the traditional printed documentation that nobody reads. The experience has been very empowering, and is also a great creative outlet.

Web 2.0

2009-11-17T16:35:00.004-05:00

One of the problems to overcome when you are self-employed is that of setting direction and choosing which of those options take priority. When clients, friends and family make demand this is not a issue but in between when you have some extra time you have to choose which of a million possibilities are the most worthwhile.

Web 2.0 is exploding and now just knowing what is being offered can take a chuck out of your day. My current goal is to update the long ignored Quixor web site with a demo of some recent projects. Now in addition to traditional text with static screen shots it is possible to add audio and video to show the application in use. YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook then provide the channels to push the results into the marketplace. What works best should reveal itself over time.

Straight Talk Phone Service

2009-10-27T13:01:00.002-04:00

Monday I was able to activate my account via a phone call with few problems. My old cell number was transferred and now the only real problem is keying in my contact numbers into the new phone. Unfortunately there is no standard, automated way to do this as far as I know. The web service was able to connect but with such a small screen I'm not sure how much use it will get. But at the moment I'm happy.

Straight Talk Phone Service

2009-10-24T12:16:00.006-04:00

My experience at the Verizon store left me cold so when I found this new phone service called StraightTalk at Walmart that had one plan for $30 and another unlimited for $45 it seemed too good to be true. So far that is exactly the case. How can a world-wide retailer launch a new service with an activation web page that greets you with:


A chanel exception has occurred:
 No block found given name.
block(s)=[straight.activation.welcome.start]

The Sign In/My Account page tells me that it is still under construction, but I can activate or refill on the other pages. I might expect this from little Jimmy down the street who tries his hand at web building. Don't worry though, they also offer telephone activation. But this just provided a recording telling me no one is available and I should "check back later." Come on Walmart, this is not the way to launch a new cell phone service.

More to come when and if this is resolved.

Google Docs

2009-10-18T15:40:00.002-04:00

Google Docs now offers a way to share folders as well as documents. This is great since it offers a free way to collaborate with anyone by offer both storage and basic applications via the web. For free!

What Happens When a Town Loses Its Newspaper?

2009-03-29T12:06:00.002-04:00

The way it looks today, the newspapers are going the way of the telegraph. As a
daily reader of the Akron Beacon Journal I'm somewhat divided about this fact.
We need independent and accountable reporting in our cities to keep tabs on the
mob. And by mob I mean the organized crime syndicate we call government.

The Internet is certainly responsible for taking a big bite out of newspaper
circulation, but is this bad? Both printed paper and the Internet are mediums
of communication. One medium requires big printing plants, trucks, drivers,
printers and a whole bunch of dead trees. The other computers, electricity and
some wire that serves other purposes as well. Here is a quick review of these
two delivery systems.

Online Advantages:
* Online is significantly more eco-friendly than print.
* Online stories can appear in seconds, print can take up to 24 hours.
* Readers can publish editorials with print, but online offers ongoing dialogs
on a specific topic.
* Online can contain instant links to related video and audio.
* You can instantly look up a word or name that you don't recognize.
* You can read stories written by someone in Australia as easily as your home
town.

Newsprint Advantages:
* you can read the newspaper anywhere you go, in a restaurant for example.
* Newspapers can be saved for archival purposes.
* You can use newsprint as a drop cloth or bird cage liner.
* Newspaper is good for staring wood fires.

Print clearly has the comedic advantage here, but it's actually the portability
factor that makes print still relevant to me.

Overall the writing is on the wall. Newspapers are on the way out, but not the
purpose they serve. We absolutely need local news reporting, particularly
investigative reporting of government. But still, what will I read at the
dinner table?

Here is a new media story from and old media source:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1886826,00.html

2009-02-24T22:36:00.009-05:00

Saturdays meeting of Web Development SIG was full of info about using and managing web-based social networking tools to help promote your business. Marc Majers claims that at his job at the Cleveland Institute of Art he spends approximately two hours a day working managing his content.

What was most usefull to me (althought I have not yet tried them out) was the availability of three meta tools that allow you to manage all the resources from a central site.

Ping.fm

Power.com

hellotxt.com

More after I've had a chance to try them out, Mark seemed found of hellotext.com.

Twitter has now moved from a person-to-person contact tool to one that businesses use to publish updates to potential customers. The important thing to remember is, that unlike email with it's huge spam problem, anyone who abuses the people on their follow list will soon find that no one is listening. As a business owner you had better limit your tweets and really offer something of value when you post.

Maintianing consistant periodic contact is important, otherwise you will be de-listed from the networking sites. Two attendess also identified themselves at marketers and seemed to perk up most with regard to Twitter. I've recently started using a new Twitter client called blu myself, but Tweetdeck seems like it would be best for maintaining huge lists of subscribed accounts.

Like all marketing methods you have to experment to find what provides the best bang for the buck; or maybe it's just the best bang for the keystroke.

Access for the Masses

2009-01-01T23:44:00.006-05:00

The other day a developer friend mentioned that the Access 2007 runtime is available as a free download. The last time I looked into the runtime (2003 version) it was packaged as a Visual Studio add-on and was rather pricey. The new wizard-based package builder was was simple to install and the entire process of making a deployable Access application was super-easy taking only a few minutes to create. Not all of the latest changes to Access have been to my liking, but Microsoft got this part right.

An extra 32 bits

2008-12-23T23:23:00.006-05:00

Two years ago I got a brand new dual core machine with 4 gig of ram to run Vista. Right out of the box Dell had installed software that would throw an error during boot up. Needless to day that is not what I was hoping to see on a brand new machine. My only big beef with Vista has been the Karo-syrup-like performance. Recently after joining a new domain, the sidebar stopped working altogether. This prompted a clean installation of Vista - this time with a 64 bit version. Wow, this is the machine I thought I was buying. Everything snaps just like a fresh version of XP. Nice.

House of Blues Lives up to it's name

2008-12-07T22:40:00.002-05:00

The HOB was full of white twenty somethings tonight to see the comedy troupe Stella. Someone commented that they seemed to be improvising their material. Boy I sure hope so. If they spent fifteen minutes in preparation, how will they ever recover all that wasted time?

2008-12-03T23:02:00.000-05:00

To follow up on the relationship post, here is the final result:

I ended up with a very simple design that just allows roles to be defined for each person in a relationship. Since it would be impossible to define every one of these in advance, new [Role] list items can be keyed into the combo box and it will then be appended to the [Roles] table.

The table looks something like this:

2008-11-21T22:38:00.000-05:00

My very earliest surviving project was what started out as a simple address book of my personal contacts. Originally an Appleworks file, the data has evolved and still lives inside an Access application. For quite a while I've thought that it would be great to link individuals by pairs of relationships.

So far all I have set up is a table to define these relationships.

Definition Converse Category
-------------------------------------------------
Brother Brother Personal
Landlord Tenant Professional
Parent Child Personal
Doctor Patient Professional
Spouse Spouse Personal
Husband Wife Personal
Wife Husband Personal
...

Each of these will link two "people" records. Some of these are reversable (Spouse) others are directional.

More to follow...

Software for Tough Times

2008-11-06T11:16:00.000-05:00

As a long time FMS customer, I found Luke Chung's article to be right to the point about software development:

"Every organization faces a wide range of application development
challenges. Some require enterprise level solutions, while others are best
handled by front-line information workers.

The more information workers can take care of their own needs, the more
value application developers can provide to the problems beyond that. With more
and more power on individual desktops and networks, information workers can
accomplish many tasks themselves. We believe they should do so. Whether it's a
sophisticated Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or Microsoft Access database, end
users can create and modify their own solutions to quickly respond to their
needs.

Anyone who has relied on someone else to design a report and experience the
hassles of adjusting columns and getting it "just right" knows the frustrations
of relying on someone else to understand and do what you want. Let's not get in
the way of individual efforts."

Back in school up-front analysis and design was always emphasized as the best practice. Not that this is not important, but real world application development does not hinge on a simple exact formula. As it turns out an iterative approach of Design-Prototype-Present-Repeat is frequently the fastest way to a solid working solution.

Close, on-going contact between the user and developer is also critical. I've seen users develop their own queries from raw tables and thereby come to understand the process and flow of data though the system. Once the data has been identified and successfully extracted, all that was needed to solve the problem was the polish of a good user interface laid on top of wizard-generated reports.

Always important, a slowing economy just serves to emphasize this type of development efficiency.

Fall Weather

2008-10-24T22:22:00.000-04:00

Ah rainy 49 degree nights - finally perfect coding weather.

Thought for the day

2008-08-26T16:27:00.001-04:00

No doubt about it, web apps are a lot of work.

Twitter - no longer just for the birds

2008-08-14T12:18:00.001-04:00

My first thought when I heard about the social networking site, Twitter, was something like, "well that's great for teenagers with a lot of time on their hands." But somewhere along the way the IT Development community seems to have taken a shine to tweeting. Ok, well just so no one can accuse me of falling into online curmudgeon status you will find my Twitter link to the right.

Hamlet Under the Stars

2008-07-25T23:33:00.000-04:00

Tonight was perfect for and evening with Shakespeare in the Lagoon at Stan Hywet. For my money Andy Nagraj's Laertes was the best performance of the night. Highly recommended.

Social Networking

2008-07-16T12:46:00.000-04:00

NPR did a spot this morning about how social networks such as facebook, myspace, linked in, meetup.com is impacting people's lives. For the under 30 crowd not having an account on facebook is equivalent to not having a phone number. Essentially you don't exist. Initiations to parties are now going out via facebook or myspace. After all, email is so 1990's. For some of my older friends (not to mentions John McCain) just browsing the web is a daunting task. How ironic that a technology that is supposed to bring people together is now dividing them primarily based on age.

Hard to beat free

2008-07-01T11:50:00.000-04:00

Today while browsing my junk email folder I found what appeared to be a inquiry from a recent ad posted on Craig's List. Further investigation showed that it was spam sent from what appears to be a rival seeking to duplicate the Craig's List format - free online advertising by region. If you really want to get a new service going I don't think that sending spam with a From name of Tommy Tallywaker to a recipient of back.be.nimble26@gmail.com is going to do the trick.

Craig's List really has demonstrated the power of the web to offer an incredible amount of value all for free. How traditional media will complete with this model is still to be determined.

Subreport Linking

2008-06-28T11:25:00.000-04:00

Sometimes the simplest things cause the biggest problems. In this case it's the Subform/Subreport linking feature of Access. My application uses a two-field primary key that links two tables together and this works perfectly with Access forms. However when I try to use the same technique in the report module, it just does not work. Period.

A Google search returned no pertinent posts about this problem. However testing has shown that a single field key works in both contexts. The solutions seems to be to add a extra key (Autonumber field) to the tables just for reporting purposes. I hope this post somehow gets indexed and saves someone else from the frustration of finding a work-around for this issue.

Please disregard the previous post.

2008-06-22T13:27:00.000-04:00

330.945.4865 is currently experience trouble - again. Please call 330.310.6097 for information.

Phone Phinaly Phixed

2008-06-20T22:06:00.000-04:00

For the last three weeks some callers have experienced static on the line or worse - no service at all. After over a dozen support calls and five on-site visits the systems now seems to be stable. At least one technician at Time Warner knows his trade. If only he had been the first one out the problem would have most likely been fixed the first day.

This experience has produced one (hopefully) positive outcome however, i.e. the email-based ticket tracking system. The idea here is to collect and post any software request or bug fixes to a database that will allow you to check the current status of the request/problem with a single click on the return email. No log-in or complex online system to learn. After all software is supposed to solve problems, not create new ones.

Marketing Mode

2008-06-02T23:42:00.000-04:00

Slow rentals have me in a web marketing mode as well as traditional newspaper ads. The problem with print ads is that they used to be about $10-15 to run a three day ad, but now all they offer is one week at $60 or two at $75. Craig's list is giving then a run for their money though. It's hard to beat free.

Looking for a place to stay?

(can't hurt to repeat links right?)

Quxior Web Site circa 2008

2008-05-22T18:27:00.000-04:00

Finally the new version of the Quixor.com web site is live. This version includes new graphics rather than the Zen inspired simplicity of the old site site which consisted soley of text formatted via Cascading Style Sheets. The essentail layout and features remain the same, but I like having my company logo back in place.

Although not visible, one big change was the move from a table based layout to one driven by css formated <div> tags. The change to div made it somewhat simpler to design the page but not terribly so. Complicating matters was the concurrent change to the use of ASP "Master Pages." This new technology allows a single main page (Master) to be designed that determines the essential layout and the detail pages supply the content. The advantage here is the reuse of site-wide code for things like navigation and user login and security. The key new technique is to learn how to use the FindControl() method to reference portions of the master page HTML inside the detail page's code.

The site is now .Net 3.5 ready as soon as the transfer to a new server takes place. With any luck this should be complete this evening. Now everything is in place to allow me to play with Ajax and Linq.

2008-04-21T22:18:00.001-04:00

I finally attended a GCPCUG web development SIG and was very glad I did. Brian Gorbett is a recent addition to MS’s developer evangelist team and his presentation convinced me to add Silverlight to my “technologies to check out” list. Apparently MS is planning on using the 2008 Olympics to push version 2.0 into prime time. One gee wiz thing he showed was called “deep zoom” that allows you to embed one large graphic inside another and then zoom in several levels deep - fractal style. Not really something you would do everywhere but it could have some interesting possibilities. For example you might want to do a Google Earth type thing and scale details of a map.

He also mentioned that the upcoming IE 8 has been made to be more standards compliant and will reportedly break 40% of the existing sites. Fortunately they have a compatibility mode that reverts it back to a version 7 rendering engine. He convinced me to run right home and download it since I’m in the middle of a complete conversion of my web site and want to make sure it's legit HTML-wise. So I did. Big mistake. Apparently it is not yet compatible with VS 2008 new menu control which is now front and center inside my site. I should really know better that to try something in beta on my development machine. Can you say “Virtual Machine?”

If you are just dying to see Silverlight in action you can check out MIX or Memoribilia portion of the Hard Rock site.

Funny Stop

2008-04-16T00:07:00.000-04:00

Amateur night at The Funny Stop proved to be worthwhile tonight. It's easy to sort out the people with potential from the rest. Some comics seem to think that all that is necessary for a laugh is to point out the faults in someone else. This is not enough. Surprise is the essential element that makes a joke funny. Take us down a familiar road and then suddenly make a left turn leaving us someplace we didn't expect to be. That is the fastest route to a laugh. Tom Foss was able to do this at a rapid clip.

History Boys

2008-03-30T22:27:00.001-04:00

We went to see "The History Boys" at the Beck Center in Lakewood. The play was fine, even if an hour too long. Student -teacher relationships and attitudes toward homosexuality were explored.

We followed up with a dinner at Players on Madison with a few friends from CFI. The Tortilla Encrusted Organic Chicken Breast was great but Mary was not happy with the "special" fish meal she ordered. The conversation was great as usual.

Post One

2008-03-27T13:15:00.000-04:00

The last blogging software I used (RadioUserland) was self-hosted one my web site, but it had a way of slowly falling apart, loosing graphics and even whole posts. So why waste time fixing it? This site has great features and templates, plus no software is required. Now I'm happily blogging again.