I need an open source or COTS package for generating affiliate websites including secure backend. A secure backend means that the affiliate can log in to manage their affiliate site. Suggestions?
Category: Technology
All things geeky.
The Public Relations Long Tail
What?!! Reporters, bloggers, and spammers get lumped together at the end?
Email spamming reporters and bloggers: Why is this here as a tool? Because people are still doing it in spite of the high risk and low reward! They can’t give up the 1% return. See Eric Eggertson on the topic. [Source, Now is Gone, The Public Relations Long Tail]
Today’s Technical Challenge
This one sounds pretty simple. I bet you can’t do it! (That is coming from the guy who claims anything can be done…I will find a way!).
The challenge: Part 1- Write a piece of JavaScript that pops an alert box with the message "You left!" when focus is lost on the browser. This means that if someone is looking at the webpage in Firefox and then switches to another webpage in a different tab, different window, or goes to a different application altogether (say Microsoft Word or Internet Explorer), then the alert box should appear. Any loss of focus to the active webpage makes the alert popup.
The challenge: Part 2- Write a piece of JavaScript that pops an alert box with the message "You returned!" when focus is returned to the browser. This means if someone was checking their email, using Internet Explorer, or was in a different Firefox tab, when they return to your webpage the alert box pops up.
The JavaScript for this challenge should work in both Firefox and Internet Explorer. The user should be able to repeatedly remove focus and return to focus and see both messages multiple times.
Good luck!
References
- Mozilla.org reference to window.onblur Using their code example works differently in Firefox and Internet Explorer. In Firefox, the event fires twice meaning when I move away from the window, I get two alert boxes. In Internet Explorer the event fires once. Returning focus to the window and leaving against does not cause a blur event. So this appears to work once per loading of the window and not through repeated lost focus and refocuses.
- Incorrect behavior of window.onblur event under IE and a workaround I need to test this in IE7
What are you doing with your phones?!
Narration (with additions): [audio:http://realityme.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/whatareyoudoingwithyourphones.mp3]
During the Bearden Bulldogs versus Farragut Admirals high school football game, Cathy and I were busy tapping messages into our phones as quickly as our frozen fingers would allow. I was Twittering the game. My father-in-law, a true die hard football fan, did not understand how we could be looking away from the game to play with our phones, "what are you doing with your phones?!" Cathy explains, "Doug is putting game highlights on Internet for people to read. See (shows her phone to her father), the Knoxville News-Sentinel editor is encouraging Doug." He doesn’t believe her. Something significant happens on the field, he suggests, "Tell your ‘editor guy’ about that play."
So how does one explain this fascinating world of instant communication and self-publishing to people who have not experienced it or perhaps to those who have not even become comfortable with computers yet? Some people feel that if you are over 25 years old, you cannot understand things like Twitter. Jon Swanson suggests 8 ways to explain 2.0 friends to 0.0 parents. My favorites are:
2. You know how you like to shout at the television? With 2.0, @newmediajim can hear you.
…
4. Remember how you used to walk down the street and say hi to people along the street? That’s what i do when I turn on my computer.
[Source, Levite Chronicles, 8 ways to explain 2.0 friends to 0.0 parents]
Web 2.0 tools have such undiscovered potential. The Red Cross is using Twitter to help reunite families during disasters and to forewarn of impending doom and the request resources for help. Presidential candidates are using Twitter for publicity and to have closer contact with the voters. People blog for different reasons; I have published why I blog. This list could go on for pages. The possibilities are endless. The changes that will come in the next 5-10 years will blow people away! Of course, faster broadband in the United States is crucial.
Update: Random Mumblings talks about breaking news. See also Group Twittering instructions for events. Music City Bloggers talks about Instant Communication Changing the Rules. Michael Silence warns of Big Brother watching during Liveblogging of sports events. Read Ryan Sholin regarding Notes on breaking news. Les Jones chimes in.
Thinking about hosting your own blog?
I am a huge advocate of getting your blog away from 3rd party solutions like blogger.com. If you have blogspot in your blog’s address then you need to consider getting some hosting and using a solution like WordPress.org (note: wordpress.com is a 3rd party solution just like blogger.com and while I advocate every wordpress user having an account at wordpress.com for statistics and askimet key, you really need to use the open source software found at http://wordpress.org) WordPress is not the only content management system out there which is great for blogging. You have a ton of choices! If you have trouble setting up a WordPress blog, just contact me and I will help.
One negative in hosting your own blog is that you have to pay a host for server space. That is akin to renting a building to run your business. In the Internet business, like so many businesses, you get what you pay for. Free hosting will likely have problems but it is available. I have personally found 1&1 hosting to be very reliable with great customer service despite its low cost. I highly recommend 1&1!
The postive of paying for hosting is that you get full control over your content. If Blogger’s robots determined that your blog suddenly appeared like a spam blog, they could take you offline instantly and lock you out of your account. You could find yourself unable to access your posts and drafts. If Blogger suddenly went out of business or just quit, you’d be out of luck. Does this happen? Ask anyone that hosted their photos at Yahoo. Yahoo bought Flickr and did away with their photo hosting. Anyone that failed to move their photos by the deadline lost their pictures. All links to those pictures are now 404 pages. We personally came within minutes of failing to get our pictures moved. By paying for hosting, you get backups of your data, control of your site, and the ability to handle exceptions (like 404s) in a way that can benefit your audience rather than drive them away. Plus with your own domain name, you can virally market your blog by using the address in your emails. You can’t send an email from blogmaster@someblogname.blogspot.com but you can send an email from blogmaster@myowndomain.com and everyone who gets that email has the chance to say, "I wonder what myowndomain.com is?" Each email sent becomes a subtle advertisement for your site.
1&1 has a great deal right now! Since Uncle Danny is testing the limits of my webspace and monthly transfer volume, I thought I should review the limits on my account. When I did, I discovered that 1&1 is offering their Business shared hosting at only $5.82 per month! (normally $9.99) This is for the first year only with a 1 year commitment. It’s worth it! Their standard packages are still month-to-month (no contracts; no commitments) if I am not mistaken. They are $3.99, $4.99, $9.99, and $19.99 for shared hosting with increasing benefit respective to price.
Full disclosure: The 1&1 links in this post are associated with an affiliate id. If you purchase hosting from them by using one of those links I do get a payment but the affiliate link does not influence my decision to recommend 1&1. I genuinely like their service! This is also not pay-to-post. I just did this of my own inspiration.
Color commentary in 140 characters? Impossible!
Follow the bearden vs farragut game at http://twitter.com/djuggler
—
==================================================================
This mobile text message is brought to you by AT&T
The updates: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Update:: Knoxnews coverage. And Jack Lail’s coverage of my coverage.
Coder Motivation
One method for programmers to stay focused, keep it simple, and get the job done is to set micro-goals or micro-milestones. "When I get this query returning the correct results, I can take 10 minutes to read/write blogs." These rewards may come in the form of snacks, naps, leisure time, or anything that the coder made find rewarding and a rest from the project. I have found one reward that absolutely does not work! Never set your reward as "when I get ____ finished, I may go to the bathroom." One way or another, you are going to fail!
What do programmers do?
Word problems! Programmers solve word problems.
My challenge is that I have sales people with base locations. Their territory allows them to sell a handful of products but each product can be sold a certain distance from their base location. Product A is eligible to be sold within 10 miles of base location product b 30 miles and so forth with product f being nationwide.
I have to create an interface which allows the end user to say "I’m here and want product ___" and then I show them all the qualified sales people who can get that product to them.
The program should also read the user’s mind so that the dropdown of regions will only show regions that sales people can actually get products to. The mind reading has to happen since product f is nationwide all regions should always be listed…well…unless the user wants product a….
That’s programming!
Engineer Roads for Speed Control, part II
The video below focuses on bicycles. Beginning at minute 3:00 they discuss and give examples of traffic calming methods, what I refer to as engineering for speed control.
And today started off so well…Now I’m seeing stars
I have been working a project that no person in their right mind would have accepted, particularly at the pittance of the budget alloted. It is a train wreck but today, after several hours of feeling like I was trying to fill the ocean with sand from the beach, I felt the train was back on the track! The client is in a timezone 7 hours ahead of me so I have to work furiously to have this done for their opening business day. Then I had a meeting to help the boy scouts plan for a high adventure trip next summer. During the meeting, at 4:30pm on a Sunday, I get a message that another parent has called my wife to consult on the 3-D solar system project that he knows all parents have probably been working so furiously on for the whole weekend (or longer). Solar system project?! To be built to scale! And with excellent report attached.
So, a pot of coffee brews as I tear the house up looking for objects that are to scale (a trip to AC Moore for Styrofoam would have been nice!) and watch the business day in my client’s timezone come ever so much nearer. Let’s go upstairs and figure out just what the world revolves around.
AT&T Secret Room Back in the News
The Washington Post brings us a story from Mark Klein, a former AT&T technician, about the AT&T secret room used by the NSA to copy the entire Internet.
He knew that the NSA was supposed to work on overseas signals intelligence. … "This splitter was sweeping up everything, vacuum-cleaner-style," he said. "The NSA is getting everything. These are major pipes that carry not just AT&T’s customers but everybody’s." … the NSA was doing content analysis. [Source, The Washington Post, A Story of Surveillance]
Do you feel safer giving your government unchecked authority?
Update: See also: AT&T Whistleblower: Telecom Immunity Is A Cover-Up
Update: BoingBoing points to Senator Dodd’s video at the EFF.
CONFIRMED! Google IS mapping Knoxville.
I wasn’t sure if it was Google or a competitor driving around with the camera on the car. It is confirmed! That is a Google car!
Why Twitter? Because San Francisco CA is shaking
With Twitter, I know that San Francisco just had an earthquake. A big one. Obviously that may not be of importance to someone in Knoxville…unless you had relatives there. Just one example.
Update: more. Truemors. wise crack. 5.6 hits South Bay. Dave Winer is ok but was scared. Biggest native apenny has ever felt. scared the stink out of a skunk. Twitter has coverage but not local tv. USGS page on the quake is here. another acknowledgement. on google maps. missed Scoble but got his house. could have been a tech bubble burst. still no news coverage. some missed it.
Update: Reddit comments. Building at 2699 California collapses. John Anthony Tenta aka Earthquake.
Update: Finally some news about the earthquake..wait, no, that’s just news reporting that Twitter reported the earthquake.
Knoxville Street Views Happening Now
Narration with additional commentary (note: since this was ad libbed I misspoke and called the antenna on top of the car "a satellite" when I intended to say "a satellite uplink" or "satellite antennae): [audio:http://realityme.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/knoxvillestreetviewshappeningnow.mp3]
Put your best lawns on! A California company is driving around Knoxville taking pictures of your neighborhood for Google Street Views or a competitor. I saw one of these cars zoom through my cove a few weeks ago and I wasn’t quick enough to strike an interesting pose. 
I was also unhappy with the state of my lawn and porch but oh well. So, will Google catch you peeing on the side of the road? Getting a ticket? Breaking into a house? Growing pot? Or just showing off your favorite thong? (see also). Concerned about privacy?
Better picture:
Update: Confirmed! That is a Google car!
Update: The WebUrbanist presents 10 urban snapshots from Google Street View including one implying that the google camera van ignores traffic blockades. Mashable asks Should Google offer to blur Street View imagery for people requesting privacy? And get my cat off your website! If you are enjoying these links then you will also enjoy http://www.streetviewfun.com/, some bizarre splicing issues, and Wired’s voting system to find the best Street View pictures.
Update: Jon Hickman asks, "Where do you actually see the pictures they take?" I am pretty sure these will show up in Google maps and Google Earth. Mashable suggests that they will be accessible from http://www.googlestreetview.com/ and two others but those domains aren’t live yet. Ah! Here is Google’s video explanation of Street Views and a direct link to where Street Views are available.
Of course Microsoft has Windows Live Street View.
Update Feb 6, 2009: Top 10 Moments Caught on Google Maps Street View (link to the flasher – she’s just a blur of pixels now)
Say NO to speed cameras
I was against red light cameras (and still am! $2 million TN dollars went to TX because of Redflex!) and I sure am against speed cameras. Speed trapping makes roads dangerous! Roads should be predictable. We don’t need people slamming on their brakes for police cars and cameras. Sometimes to avoid a problem it is safer to speed up then slow down even if that means hopping above the speed limit. An officer can see, "that truck was about to sideswipe him and he avoided it by speeding up." A camera cannot make that judgment.
I often drive fast on the Interstate. It is safe because the relative speed of traffic is the same and visibility can be several miles. I don’t drive recklessly. There is a huge difference between driving fast and driving recklessly. A slow driver can drive recklessly. In town, I tend to drive the speed limit. I recognize the lights have been timed such that you will make little gain by speeding in town. The few seconds you shorten your trip by speeding is not worth the danger you place pedestrians and other drivers in within the unpredictable confines of busy roads.
Speed cameras and red light cameras are profit tools for public, tax funded law enforcement. We don’t need them! We fix traffic problems through better civil engineering (narrow roads, curves in roads, reduction of traffic signs, removal of speed limits, etc.) and through education. Could you imagine the impact it would have if a police officer pulled you over for speeding and instead of giving you a ticket brought a video player to your car and forced everyone in the car to watch a 15 minute educational video on how speeding wastes fuel, puts unnecessary wear and tear on the vehicle, places people at unnecessary risk, and reduces travel time by less than a few minutes than staying under the speed limit? The 15 minute delay per incident may be reason enough to slow down. But even if the message did not reach the driver, perhaps it would get through to some of the passengers and then you’ve made a difference. Will a bill in the mail have that same impact?
UPDATE: Michael Silence has put up a poll to see if Knoxville wants speed cameras. When I took it, 86% said no.
Update: UT to probe ethics of using traffic cameras. Think about the other cameras we can have in our future "beeeep Our facial recognition software has identified you as Jane Doe. You have been standing in the same spot for 5 minutes and one second which constitutes loitering under ordinance w37704. A fine of $45 has automatically been assessed to your cell phone bill."
Related: Google is mapping Knoxville. How will you be immortalized for the world to view? Do speed cameras change driving habits? See Driving Patterns – Let the Ass Merge.
