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

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.

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Cleveland Ignites Job Growth With Rebuilding Project - NYTimes.com

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:

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

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!

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

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.

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Gmail - Chronos Hours - rayvalenti@gmail.com

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

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:

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Discussions in Google Docs

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

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

 

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

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

The web and the desktop are getting married:

Google releases native client sdk- The Inquirer

RDBMS | Database Service | PAAS | Microsoft SQL Azure Database

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

RDBMS | Database Service | PAAS | Microsoft SQL Azure Database

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

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

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

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

Web Components with Google Gadgets

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

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

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.