IS 449W class blog

Apple's Outstanding Growth

2010-04-21T23:43:00.003-04:00

Apple is continuing to take over the iGadget world, this time by posting an 87% profit increase this quarter. They accomplished this feat by selling 11 million iPods, and doubling their sales of the iPhone smartphone, climbing to an Apple record of 8.8 million smart phones for this quarter.

These sales figures helped Apple post a 3.1 billion dollar profit on revenue of over 13.5 billion dollars. These figures are astronomical and are far higher than any other technology device manufacturer of these times. The article where I received these figures at can be found here. Surprisingly, analysts still see more record breaking quarters to come in the future. These estimations come with an increase in Mac demand, with a demand increase by over 33 percent from the previous quarter.

With all of these figures release for the quarter, one figure that was held back was that of initial iPad sales. I and many other are curious of this figure as they have presumably invested a large deal of money into the future of this technology. An unofficial figure was release by Steve Jobs at an Apple preview event, where he stated that over 450,000 units have already been sold. This number has yet to be backed up officially however.

100 Texts Per Day

2010-04-21T23:31:00.002-04:00

A new survey states that one in three teens text over one hundred times per day. Personally I find this rather funny/sad. Do people actually talk face to face anymore? Do people even talk over the phone that they are texting on? I remember when the text-revolution started and everyone first got their unlimited texting plans. It was all the rad to text during class and pass secret e-notes back and forth without the possibility of getting them intercepted by the teacher.

But really, 100 texts per day? Even when I had annoying girl friends who would get worried when I didn't respond within the first five minutes of a text I don't remember sending that many texts. That could be why she complained but that's besides the point. I still didn't receive that many texts.

The CNN writeup on this epidemic can be found here. Apparently as I read deeper into the article teens also make 5 phone calls a day. I would say this is average. But still, 100 texts per day is outrageous and I only imagine doing so with three to four girlfriends, or possibly if I became a bookie. Either way it's rather a stretch.

What I have learned from this class!

2010-04-21T23:30:00.002-04:00

Since January, I've been concerned about this class. I'm not really a programmer but I had to do some coding. It was very hard but I got through it. With the help of my classmates and Professor Drake this class has been a roller coaster I never really understood what API's were or how this class was supposed to connect everything that we have learned from the beginning of our curriculum but "HEY" it's ok. I kinda learned a little something about myself in this class and that is good enough for me.

Though I understand what exactly AJAX is and how it is used I found an article that I figured might be good to end off the semester with. Well it's not really an article, it's more like a person asking a question. People responded with answers like: it makes your page look pretty, it runs like a local application and it's good for an ample bandwidth.

I myself think AJAX is a good skill to have under your belt, it's everywhere we look. Sites actually refresh without refreshing. It's very interesting and I'm proud of the fact that I got two of my iterations to use this powerful tool.

Facebook competes with Google

2010-04-21T23:16:00.003-04:00

Based on the article found on the CNN technology page it's easy to see that as the web further progresses, old and dominate web sites like Google can and will eventually receive great competition. Sometimes this competition, however, comes from an unlikely source. As social media like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter continues to take over the world wide web, newer ways to look at finding relevant web pages begins to take affect.

While there is a massive amount of data compiled by these social media sites, they are often not indexed and difficult to search for. Facebook is trying to create an efficient way to compile all of this data as well as tie it into everyday search querying like a typical search engine of today. This would ideally provide search relevant material that could also compare the query with your friends and what they are searching or friending at that moment.

Google is still being Google and looking for new ways to progress and stay ahead of the market. Currently they are talking of a deal with Twitter where Google would display Twitter results on their search engine like it already has Google Adwords. This article states that the place a user still spends most of his or her time is in their inbox, and Google already has this advantage over Facebook with its Gmail email system. However popular Facebook might seem, I still doubt they will be able to trump Google anytime soon.

Google Website Optimizer

2010-04-21T22:49:00.002-04:00

Going along with creating successful landing pages that will increase your conversion rate is a tool by Google that will help collect data to measure this. The Google Website Optimizer is what they call an A/B/n tool. This stands for the comparison of web page version A to web page version B, and n stands for C, D, E, etc.. This tool is used to compare one web page to another and have real life users make decisions on the actual web page. They get a chance to make a conversion decision on different web page hypothesis and have their data represented accurately.

How it works is you provide two or more different web designs to Google and the tool unknowingly displays these different versions to the visitors, and like Google Analytics it tracks what they are doing on your page, and measures the conversion rate of all of the different pages. This way you will then have tangible data to compare and help make a better decision as to which version to use.

Using the WiderFunnel LIFT model as I previously described can help create better web page version hypothesis that will ideally provide you with better conversion rates. This way you can use the Goggle Website Optimizer between the best overall pages to come up with the best web page with the most optimal conversion rate.

The WidedFunnel LIFT

2010-04-21T22:44:00.002-04:00

Using a search engine like Google to yield results on how to increase your conversion rate leads you to two separate types of web page design education; one which talks about specific tips to help your web site’s conversion rate, and another is a different set of pages all together which talk about detailed models to implement in order to do the same. The primary distinction is that the models help to develop valid test hypothesis (new web site designs of current pages) by using a structured methodology.

The methodology I'll talk about specifically is called the WiderFunnel LIFT Model, which stands for the Landing Page Influence Function for Tests. WiderFunnel is a marketing optimization design team that uses this self-created LIFT model as well as the “proprietary closed-loop, scaleable, continuous-improvement process to execute Conversion Optimization” called the Kaizen Method as a strategy for their clients.

The WiderFunnel LIFT model was published in a blog article on the WiderFunnel web site on March 16th, 2009. At the beginning of the article WiderFunnel claims to have lifted each of their clients’ conversion rates by at least 10%, all the way up to 277%. This is a lofty claim, but if proved to be true shows the real possibility and power of using a specific model like the LIFT model to help aid in your web design process. WiderFunnel states that a true methodology is better than plain tips as most web sites provide for help with web design and conversion rates. The WiderFunnel LIFT model is made up of six conversion factors: Urgency, Clarity, Relevance, Distraction, Anxiety, and Value Proposition. The WiderFunnel website is found here.

Today's Web 2.0

2010-04-21T22:43:00.001-04:00

In today’s Web 2.0 world things are a lot different than they were when the first website was considered to be published almost twenty years ago. In 1991 Tim Berners-Lee was the first to combine Internet communication of that time (both email and Usenet) with the early days of hypertext (which soon became HTML) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_design). As web design and the Web itself further progressed I remember the first web page I created in elementary school, and how I was jealous of pages online who were using table layouts for frames. By the time I picked up web design in high school (at the Livonia Career center) and actually learned how to use tables correctly, it was no longer the norm. The World Wide Web had moved on the bigger and better things such as Macromedia Flash, Cascading Style Sheets, and JavaScript.

With the advancement in web browsers over the last few years; including the redistribution of the web browser market share, and the increasing browser support of W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (which includes recommendations on everything from HTML, CSS, DOM, to XML), the World Wide Web has changed. Now in the Web 2.0 world web design has began to become a science based on statistics and real life testing, and has started to stray from fancy web design and all-flash websites. Web designers are now focused in making web sites with a clear purpose, and using this clarity to increase website conversion rates: the process of getting users to do what you want them to on your website.

This can be different for each site. Some sites may want users to simply join their product mailing list; others may want you to register for a specific web-based product or actually order their real life product and have it shipped to your house. Whatever the purpose may be, there is now specific data that has been collected which leads to a certain set of criteria each web designer should now try and implement into their web sites to increase their conversion rate.

The iPad helps you cook!

2010-04-21T22:37:00.004-04:00

With all the hype about the new iPad, I figured I'd try to understand what makes it so great. According to this article it seems that people are using their ipad to help them create tasty creations. I bet this is so convenient for us that like to try new recipes. I can recall trying new recipes and constantly having to run to my computer or laptop.

The iPad can just sit on your counter and it'll serve just like a piece of paper. As long as the cook is careful around it I imagine this would be a great idea. My favorite site to get recipes from is Campbell's and foodnetwork.com. The author of the article is fond of a website named epicurious and bigoven. I've never been to these sites but I guess they're great too.

I guess that one day I will jump on the "Apple" band wagon but as for right now I'll just stick to liking a few features and jamming out to my iPod. This is an unusual function though. I never thought to use the iPad in this way. With it's marketable features of it being thin and very portable though, i can understand how one would be excited to use it in the kitchen.

The LAST BLOG>>> McAfee and Stuff

2010-04-21T17:23:00.015-04:00

While I was at work today, my computer started acting crazy. It was restarting itself after every 40 seconds. Soon after I realized that almost all the computers were behaving that way.
Twitter has been buzzing with the news this afternoon that McAfee updates were shutting down XP PCs.
This is what Mcafee saida according to this article:

The faulty update has been removed from all McAfee download servers, preventing any further impact on customers. We are not aware of significant impact on consumers and believe we have effectively limited such occurrence.

McAfee teams are working with the highest priority to support impacted customers and plan to provide an update virus definition file shortly. McAfee apologizes for any inconvenience to our customers.

Anyways, our group project came out pretty good. It matches the requirements for the Group Iteration 3 which is good. Although I am little jealous when I look at Adam Heeter's Group project which by the way looks amazing. But I really enjoyed learning about Ajax.

I am so happy that this semester is finally over. But I have four more months to graduate. So last weekend we finally completed our project. I really enjoyed blogging for this class. Although commenting could be hard sometimes. In the end, I would like to thank John Drake for all the encouragement. I would also like to thank Joe for being so supportive during the entire project.

And Good Luck to everyone else.

"Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that’s where you will find success."
– Thomas J. Watson

Last Blog

2010-04-21T13:07:00.006-04:00

It has finally come, the last blog of the class. There are so many things that have been instructed and presented to us throughout this course that have left many different emotions about this whole class. Is working with ajax, JavaScript etc something that I want to do?No not at all, but it still has taught and shown me some interesting things that I am glad that I've gotten to know.

Next step I have no idea what it is about to be; whether it will be jump right into the job force, getting more education or certifying myself in some technology field. And one of those certifications I was looking into is from Microsoft certification called Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. This certification enables you to demonstrate the ability to design and implement an infrastructure solution with Windows server 2003 based business solutions.

This was a good experience in taking this class. And who knows what else that might be in the future right now, but I am looking forward to see what is all out there in Information Technology world.

Google New Site for Data Request

2010-04-21T11:36:00.008-04:00

Do you wanna find out which governments are hassling Google for user information, well Google recently has established a new site;named Government requests, for this purpose. This new site displays a map of the entire world and it shows the different countries that have given Google and YouTube government requests to either provide user data and information or removal of content.

Google says thats all of the information is not perfect to give complete detail of all the requests. This is due to the fact that one government can ask for many different users or removal of one or more URL's, but this information still gives a pretty clear view of how many requests the company gets and from where the request comes from.

The country that asks for the most requests is Brazil with 3,683 data requests and 291 content removal requests. Coming up in second is the United States with 3,580 data requests and 123 removal requests. But then the requests from countries drops in data requests with the United Kingdom and India coming up with 1,166 and 1,061.

Government Request Site

Google does not ignore these requests and they stated that they have partially or fully complied with approximately 82.5% of these requests. And Google is quoted in their blog post as stating that"it hopes the new Government requests site "will shine some light on the scale and scope of government requests for censorship and data around the globe. We also hope that this is just the first step toward increased transparency about those actions across the technology and communications industries."

You Tube

2010-04-21T06:30:00.003-04:00

One website that I think is wonderful is You Tube. You Tube offers the ability to upload videos to the Internet for anyone to see. You can share videos with friends or family at any time. Looking for an old commercial or TV show that you have not seen in years? Chances are it is on You Tube.

You Tube

You Tube first entered the scene in 2005. At that time there was no website that offered the ability for people to upload their videos directly to the Internet. Since its founding You Tube has hosted millions of videos to the site. Users can share video with their friends instantly. With your user account you can control who is able to view your videos.

You Tube offers a great service to Internet users that was previously unavailable. With the click of a mouse the user can instantly pull up videos that they are looking for. Who knows....you may even stumble across a TV show or commercial you have not seen in years.

Microsoft

2010-04-21T06:14:00.002-04:00

Whether you love them or hate them one thing you cannot escape in the world of computers is Microsoft. They have been in the vocabulary of personal computers since 1975. Bill Gates started tinkering with the idea of a personal computer in his garage in Seattle, Washington. Since its inception Microsoft has grown to become a computer giant.

You can see more about the history of Microsoft here

Microsoft has quite a few computer projects under their belt...the big one being Microsoft Windows. Windows first entered the arena in 1985. Since then there have been many releases of Windows. Windows 95 was a huge breakthrough with the use of GUI's instead of flimsy graphics. Currently Windows 7 is the latest Windows operating system...which in my opinion offers much better performance the Windows Vista.

Microsoft has had a long history with the Windows operating system. Is there still room for improvement?? Yes. I think Microsoft has taken a big step in the right direction with Windows 7. It offers much better performance than the previous version of Windows.

Last Blog

2010-04-20T22:01:00.003-04:00

So I wanted my last blog to be important and meaning but, it isn't. I am amazed to have finally finished this class and this semester. I graduate on sunday and am very exicted to take the next step into my masters. I am going to get a masters in MSIS and am exicted to see how difficult it is.

So this weeks blog is about how apples iPhone broke their sales records this quarter. "iPhone sales were at an all-time high," said Peter Oppenheimer. They said its due to the abilities of the iPhone is why its having so much success. Competitors are having trouble competing with its possibilities.

The iPhone is a great success for Apple Inc. It really gave them the upperhand in the world of smart phone. I found this story on computerworld.com and this is the exact link to find the information you might be interested in.

Last Post - Thanks!

2010-04-20T19:03:00.005-04:00

I thought the the final post of the semester should represent the closure of my experience at Eastern. It has been a great ride. I look forward to seeing where everyone ends up in the business world - I am sure that we have been given the skills necessary for success. Eastern has allowed us all to grow in ways that we may not even be made aware of right now.

I just wanted to send out a thank you to all of my Professors throughout these last four years... mostly for putting up for my terrible jokes and puns. I wish you all the best. I hope that Eastern continues to value your expertise as much as I know the students do. I would also like to thank my group this semester - you all did a great job and I am proud of our end result.

As we all search for jobs, try to open our businesses, or just go home to be with family, I am sure that the experiences for the last four years will never be forgotten. College is supposed to be the best time of your life - I think that it is just the beginning.

IT Jobs

2010-04-20T18:50:00.004-04:00

There are many opportunities available for those of us who have fallen into the IT field. Many of them seem to be rather high paying, but there is one major drawback in today's economy - experience. There are people that are actively seeking for jobs that have fifteen years experience, that do not require any training other than corporate processes, and who are more willing to relocate in order to take/maintain a job.

There is hope, though. Careerbuilder.com states, “Business expansion and the increased reliance on technology within all sectors has resulted in a competitive environment for skilled IT professionals,” says Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology. “Many companies are raising base compensation for new hires and offering additional perks, including signing bonuses and equity incentives, to recruit and retain top candidates.” This means that, assuming you find a proper job, you will be put into a better situation than there would have been some years ago.

I can only hope that there are positions that are actively seeking recent graduates, as many of the job requirements that I have seen seem to want experience, experience, and more experience. Cross your fingers, everyone - we might need a little luck.

API Documentation

2010-04-20T18:41:00.003-04:00

One of the main issues this semester was the lack of available for each individual API that many of us attempted to use. Google has set up discussion groups and blogs that will assist you in the development of a workable API, but even then there are many situations that are not easily worked around or understood.

An example of this struggle would be with the attempted use of the C-Net API. There were so many variations of it [Java Script, PHP, etc] that I believe the developers lost the simplicity that API's are supposed to achieve. There really should not be a reason why implementation of this sort should be difficult, but it remains so.

Even if there is documentation for an API, many of them have usage limits that are simply unreasonable. I have seen examples where there was only an allowance of three requests per hour - just testing the API would have put you over the limit. Many of the methodologies are created by people who quickly put something together, rather than those who were actually trying to make life a little easier. Worst of all, it is extremely difficult to read and understand code that was not developed yourself.

All things being equal, finding documentation turned out to be a project in and of itself. I hope everyone had a good time creating their projects.

History of Computers

2010-04-20T17:35:00.003-04:00

As the semester wraps up I was thinking about the impact that computers have on our daily lives. Computers have changed the way that people around the world communicate. They have changed the way many people shop, and they have changed the way information is exchanged. Someone can sit at their computer and shop across the country or send an Email around the world with just the click of a mouse.

For more information on the history of computers click here.

Remember when you would have to send a letter and wait a couple of days to get there? With Email it can be sent within seconds. Remember when you had to go across town to find that special item you were looking for? Well now you can shop from the comfort of your living room. Computers have made many things much easier. I can remember in the early days of the PC when an upgrade became available you would to have to take it to the store where it was purchased and they would send it out for an upgrade. Now you can upgrade your computer instantly with downloadable patches provided by the manufacturer. You can even download movies over the internet and watch them on your computer. Wow how the times have changed.

I believe that computers are a great asset to the world as they make many things easily available that were not so easily available before. As the Internet and computers continue to advance I believe more products and services will become available. One thing is for sure...the Internet and computers have really changed how the world does things.

Final Blog!!! / New iPhone

2010-04-20T09:31:00.006-04:00

First, I would like to take this opportunity to scream: FINALLY, THIS IS MY LAST POST...EVER!!!!! Okay but seriously I thought this day would never come. When Professor Drake gave us this task back in January, I told myself there is no way I will be able to write something consistently every week. But I am glad that I did instead of just slacking off and then having to scramble to get in 5 posts in one week. Overall, I thought the whole blog idea was really fun. I usually spend my time anyway finding cool information on the internet and this allowed me to share my findings with others. As well as seeing other interesting information found by my classmates.

My last post is about a very, very unlucky young Apple Software Engineer. Gray Powell was given a 4th generation iPhone prototype to test in the real world. Well he had it in a special case that disguised it as a iPhone 3GS. Unfortunately, he went out with some of his friends, drank many beers and ended up leaving the prototype iPhone on his bar stool.

Well the story goes, a near by fellow bar patron found the phone, not knowing that it was a prototype, and waited for Gray to come back (he never did). Next day he discovers that it is something special and tries to call Apple to let them know that he has something that they might want back, but no one took him seriously. Before you know it, he ends up selling the phone to online tech blog giant, GIZMODO, for $5,000. Gizmodo then ends up leaking many, many pics and videos showing off the prototype of the iPhone that will be unveiled in June. There were many doubters that this could be the real deal, but then Gizmodo received a letter (shown above) from Apple's legal team asking for the phone back. This all but confirms it real.

This is really crazy to me. Imagine how you would feel knowing that you single handedly led to Apple's next great product being leaked out to the world? Hopefully Gray gets to keep his job because anyone could of made that same mistake.

Original story found on GIZMODO

RIA - HCL and Silverlight

2010-04-19T13:27:00.019-04:00

I was reading this report by HCL guys about how online shopping could be more like real life shopping experience. As we all know how HTML limits our capability to make such applications which are not so user friendly. According to them and as we all know that Adobe Flex and AIR, Microsoft Silverlight, JavaFX, OpenLaszlo, and AJAX are those RIA (Rich Internet Application) enablers which makes apps so much better.

I think if really want to develop such applications, we have to think just like end users. We have to go beyond the restrictions caused by coding limitations.
I think Silverlight is something which is an upcoming thing.

As Microsoft says :

Silverlight is a powerful development platform for creating rich media applications and business applications for the Web, desktop, and mobile devices.

Silverlight is a free plug-in powered by the .NET framework that is compatible across multiple browsers, devices and operating systems to bring a new level of interactivity wherever the Web works. With support for advanced data integration, multithreading, HD video using IIS Smooth Streaming, and built in content protection, Silverlight enables online and offline applications for a broad range of business and consumer scenarios.

The cool thing about silverlight is we don't have to write code separatly for browser or device compatibility purposes. I think it is another technology we need to learn to get better at creating rich internet applications. You can join silverlight developer community. I think it is worth giving a try. for the site click here : CLICK

After learning AJAX, i just can't searching more and more about it and to see how develpoers use it their projects.

Final blog

2010-04-18T19:39:00.003-04:00

It was easier at the beginning of the semester to find things to blog about, but lately I've been really struggling to think of topics that I wanted to blog about. Similarly, sifting through the existing blogs today, I found quite a few of them were about their last blog. I figured I'd follow suit.

This semester is my last semester at EMU as an undergrad, and I can honestly say, it couldn't end sooner. I learned a lot this semester, especially in this class. While blogging wasn't new to me, I learned that it could be more than just a few sentences, no matter how unlikely that is, at least from me.

My group will be wrapping up our group project in the next few days, and I'm kind of excited to finish it up. It seems like I have to wrap up a big project in every one of my classes this week, on top of that I'm starting a new full time job, so this week will definitely be a crazy one. I'm looking up though, things will definitely be interesting in the few months to follow.

AJAX Programming Language

2010-04-18T19:37:00.003-04:00

When I first started this class I was frightened by the Ajax programming language. Asynchronous Javascript and XML is what AJAX stands for and that alone would scare any newcomer to this programming language. All AJAX really does is refresh the part of your webpage that needs refreshing without refreshing the whole page.

The main part of AJAX is the XMLHttpRequest, which fetches information from an outside server and brings it back to the user requesting the information. XMLHttpRequest was first implemented into Internet Explorer 4, then shortly after was added on to all existing browsers. AJAX is really a fancy form of Javascript.

For more information click here.

This class has taught me quite a bit about AJAX. To become familiar with AJAX you really need to have a strong background in Javascript. Also you need to have some experience with if/then statements and the basic structure of programming languages. The most important thing that I can take away from this class is that when it comes to programming languages patience is a must.

Facebooks new safety center

2010-04-18T18:53:00.003-04:00

Facebook recently redesigned their safety center which is aimed at parents, educators, law enforcement officials and teens. It was launched on Tuesday, and was created to make sure that the site's 400 million users are networking safely.

Joe Sullivan, Facebooks Chief Security Officer, says that the site is more efficient now, although he doesn't include a reason as to why it is more efficient. I think that he just thinks that saying it is will make people think that they are safer when using Facebook?

Privacy settings are also explained in detail on the new page, as well as how to block users, remove unwanted content from a profile page and anonymously report abusive behavior. The online center is a result of Facebook’s collaboration with its Safety Advisory Board.

Finally finished group project

2010-04-17T23:02:00.003-04:00

So we finally finished our group project today, still needs a little changing but at least the 4 API's are there. It took us some time today at the library but it feels good. Just have to type one more blog and I'll be all set.

So while working on our project we found a great API to help with the weather. It shows the current weather of any area you chose. It was pretty simple to implement pulls from the site and shows it on our site. We used www.weatherreports.com to pull the information.

I like the simplicity of the way they show the weather, also I like how it was simple to implement into our site. I'm relieved to have finished our project and after my last blog I will be graduating in 1 week.

Javascript

2010-04-17T19:56:00.003-04:00

One language that was prominent in our class was Javascript. Javascript came about from Brendan Eich who was hired by Netscape in early 1995. It was Netscape's desire to make Javascript support more accessible to non-Javascript programmers. This language was originally called LiveScript but on December 4th, 1995 Netscape and Sun Microsystems officially named this web programming language Javascript. Javascript should not be confused with Java, which is a totally different language.

What made Javascript so great is no special compilers were needed to make this programming language work. All that was needed was a word processing program and an FTP program. Javascript offered great possibilities to web pages. Instead of boring, static web pages Javascript offered new life to web pages in the form of animations and interactions with the user.

Read more about the history of Javascript here.

I learned quite a bit about the Javascript language in IS 449. In the beginning Javascript gave me many gray hairs but once I became acquainted with the basic syntax of the language it was not so bad after all. The Javascript syntax is very similar to C++. Javascript does offer a great set of tools to a web designer who wants to add excitement to their web pages.

Time To Step-Up : Ajax with ASP.Net

2010-04-17T18:14:00.059-04:00

So whats next after Ajax ... since we all now realize the presence of Ajax almost everywhere in the web world. We should explore all kinds of ways to do asynchronous programming. Everytime I try to find something interesting it is somehow connected to Microsoft. As professor Drake was talking about Jquery and that is one of the JavaScript libraries which can be used for our web applications and we don't really have to do a lot of javascripting.

I am with you on how programming can be so painful especially JavaScript. And how Professor Drake waited till last class to tell us about jQuery as he wanted us to go through the not so good learning process for Ajaxing.

I want to elaborate more on javascript libraries.The Microsoft Ajax Content Delivery Network (CDN) enables us to easily add popular JavaScript libraries to our Web applications. For example, we can start using jQuery simply by adding a script tag to your page that points to Ajax.microsoft.com. The Microsoft Ajax CDN enables browsers to reuse cached JavaScript files for Web sites that are located in different domains.
The Microsoft Ajax CDN includes the following libraries:
• jQuery
• jQuery Validation
• Ajax Control Toolkit
• ASP.NET Ajax
• ASP.NET MVC JavaScript Files
The another cool thing is The Ajax Control Toolkit, which contains a set of controls that you can use to build highly responsive and interactive Ajax-enabled ASP.NET Web Forms applications. And one more thing which I want to mention is the Ajax Minifier which is a command-line tool and a Visual Studio Build Task that enables us to minify JavaScript and Cascading Style Sheet files. This enables our websites to run faster by making scripts and CSS files as small as possible. You must download the Microsoft Ajax Minifier before you build the Ajax Control Toolkit.
To get started I am uploading a link where you can find Video tutorials which will help you to learn how to use Ajax in ASP.Net and even if you are just beginning to learn ASP.NEt, even then it would be useful for all of us: Click Here

Indrani Medhi - Human Computer Interaction

2010-04-17T17:58:00.005-04:00

This is the age of making impossible possible. I am amazed at how world is evolving as one single entity. I truly believe that Technology is the most important or may be the only factor making it possible. Technology is bringing the whole world all together. Its funny that I am coming up with different ideas to blog up at almost end of the semester. I was stressed out before about being admitted to the Master's program and all the paper work I have to do to get in. Finally I am admitted to the MSIS program at EMU and I feel so much better now.
Anyways back to the topic, Indrani is a student of design and she has been working on text-free user interfaces for illiterate and semi-literate users.

She has developed text-free user interfaces (UIs). These are design guidelines that would enable any first-time illiterate person, on first contact with a computer, to immediately realize useful interaction with minimal or no assistance. Isn't this great!

There is a huge population in India and many other developing countries who are way too away from technology. I was surprise when I came to America that there are people here who can barely read or write. I think this kind of technology will be useful to so many different countries and not just India.
"Medhi's applications are based on a few key principles: extensive use of hand-drawn, semi-abstracted cartoons with voice annotation in the local language, aggressive mouse-over functionality, a consistent help feature, and looping full-context video dramatizing the purpose and mechanism of the application. She has applied these principles to design four applications: job-search for the informal labor market, health-information dissemination, a mobile money-transfer system, and an electronic map. "Medhi has painstakingly and methodically conducted research to understand how to design user interfaces for computing devices such that illiterate and semi-literate users can use them. She has spent a lot of time in the slum communities understanding the needs and aspirations of the people of those communities and their daily lives," says Kentaro Toyama, former assistant managing director of Microsoft Research India."

Check Technology Review India for further Info : Click Here

F# - Hmmmm.....

2010-04-17T15:43:00.007-04:00

I was reading recent blog by Don Syme who is a principal researcher at Microsoft research. He is also the inventor of the new programming language called the F#. Initially I was like "oh my god, another language by Microsoft. They just can't have enough of them." I was curious to look into this language and see how different it is from others.

This langauge is already quite used by the .Net community but still new and different. The reason I am writing about this langauge because this claims to make asynchronous programming easier.

Now the reason it is called F # ( F sharp ) is Microsoft claims it to be FUN language or a very Functional language to work with. In lay man terms it is language which helps you execute complex programs using very simple code. This langauge is meant for the .Net framework.

“Functional programming offers important new ways to think about problem solving. The F# Interactive lets developers work interactively with data and application-programming interfaces [APIs] in a lightweight, explorative environment. F# also provides a set of core features for making parallel and asynchronous programming easier.”

It took them almost five years to develop this language. It can work on varied platforms like Linux, MAC including Windows. It has a great tool bag which provides you with various functions making it user friendly.

The Visual Studio release includes important new features of F#:

A simple, succinct functional syntax.

A rich .NET object-oriented programming model.

Integrated parallel and asynchronous programming features.

Units of measure.

F# Interactive.

Microsoft do not claim it to be replacing C# at all. The interesting fact about F# is that you can use its functions in already existing C# and visual basic projects. Well I am definitely excited to try this new language and see how can I do asynchronous programming with it although it could be used for various purposes from scientific analysis to Game develpoment and much more.

If you want more info check out this article - Click

14. Library of congress to archive tweets

2010-04-16T20:54:00.010-04:00

Yes, I made It to blog 14. Is everyone on twitter? It seems only yesterday people were asking what is a tweet. Even the government believe that tweets should be saved for historical reasons. The library of congress plans to archive tweets. In total twitter users send more than 50 million tweets a day. There is approximately 104 million twitter users. Library congress states that they will not archive personal tweets but only the ones they consider scholarly and for research.

The library uses this opportunity to embrace the digital media. Library is trying to used updated forms of communication for research and historical purposes. Twitter CEO agreed to allow the archived files to be saved by congress. Twitter CEO is excited about the news.

So if you are on twitter just think your tweets could be saved forever in library of congress catalogs. A hundred years later people can for whatever reason view what you were talking about on twitter. Its going to be an expensive process but i don't see myself looking up old tweets at the library.

Google Cloud Printing

2010-04-16T20:34:00.007-04:00

Yes the end is almost here. But any ways my blog for the week is about google cloud printing. Well google keep concocting ideas and there new one is prints. Google labs is planning to create an application that allows users to print from any internet based computer. according to techworldnews.com the google cloud print is said to revolve around google operating system, Chrome. All the applications are said to be webbased.

It seems that printers must be cloud aware. Google would have to work with the manufactuers of printers to get there idea up and running., since none are cloud print ready. The printers would have to connect through google through a proxy.

Several issues with cloud printing are privacy and securtiy. Google plans to combat any issue with with the two by allowing only authorized users to print from printers and keeping private information only availble to the person who requested the print. I think that cloud print will work for google but how well i don't know.

Blog 14

2010-04-16T15:52:00.006-04:00

When I started blogging it was easy to come up with topics to discuss. Then towards the end of the semester it got harder to come up with ideas to blog about. Now, I'm finally finished.

Using the class blog has been a very useful way to communicate my progress on projects and discuss different topics. It has also been a useful way to get information from others. There were times that I didn't want to blog but it was a necessary and helpful part of IS449.

So this is it. Blog 14. I just want to say thank you to everyone in class for sharing their information. There was a lot of new things I learned from all of your post.

Success!!

2010-04-16T15:06:00.004-04:00

I have been working hard trying to get my site to work. I have only been able to retrieve data using the proxy pass-through and return the XML in raw format. I wasn't able to get anything to display properly.

Initially I used the Chronicling America API which gives newspaper information. Since I couldn't make it work and display, I tried the Wine Blog API. Then I had success! I was able to retrieve the XML with the proxy pass-through and parse it in my JavaScript to display the title and description.

It may not seem much to some, but I'm very excited that I finally got something, anything, to display properly. I plan to continue to see what other things I can do with this. The endless hours of working on this has paid off.

Group Iteration 3

2010-04-16T11:24:00.004-04:00

Although things didn't go so well for my individual iteration3, the group site turned out great. Adam really went above and beyond with this project. Of course he has a lot of prior knowledge and experience. Here is what our site looks like:

Our site uses several API's to create a place for users to find jobs by location, get detailed information for a career, see housing and weather information for that location, and view the location and career on the map. Our group has completed all of the requirements for iteration 3 and maybe a little more. The site is better than our original ideas.

I am very happy that we completed our iteration and how everyone worked well together. As we have seen in this class, all of the groups came up with great ideas for their projects. I look forward to finding other ways to use API's and create different sites.

Individual Iteration 3

2010-04-16T09:04:00.005-04:00

Well I was not as successful as I wanted to be for this iteration. My plan for my project was to use the Chronicling America API with the Google Maps API to display newspapers by location. This is how my site looked for iteration 2.

I started to parse the XML but I had a lot of difficulty getting it to work. The information would not display properly. I tried to parse the XML in JavaScript without success so I am now trying to parse in the PHP instead.

Besides completing the requirements for this course, I would still like to complete this iteration for myself. Creating Mashups and integrating web services is a great skill to have. I plan to continue working on my project and hope that I can get it to display successfully.

CNET is not one of them

2010-04-15T15:35:00.005-04:00

Okay so here we are at the end of the semester and still struggling with the API's and thier annoying documentation. You are lucky if you get the right information at the right time to do the coding for your project. The most difficult part is to understand the API documentation because either they have loads of information to bombard at you or they have nothing to offer accept API service.

So the new problem is that apparently CNET api's cool cool dashboard is not working. What I was thinking of doing was to show reviews of play stations and etc from CNET's Games And Gear category. Now the next step is that you need a category ID to call their web service for this particular category.

Now I looked into the documentation and they have ID's specified only for some of the most popular categories used by the developers but not all of them. It is quite surprising that nobody used their category of games and gear but mp3 players and televisions etc. So next thing I did was to go to forum to check if somebody else was facing the same problem. And there was solution to my problem ...there was the URL i could use which gives xml response with all the category ID's in it which you can see if you know how to read XML.
That URL worked and did gave a xml response but it didn't had games and gear as a category in it and I don't know why? And it is also not a child category. So now I gave up on CNET and started doing ebay which now seems better option to me. :-(
Here's the link to the page which shows the request URL which gives the category ID's for CNET...Click

Blog #14

2010-04-15T09:07:00.004-04:00

I started my friendly blog counter a couple of weeks ago. I am proud to say that this is blog number 14 for me. It feels good and encouraging that I was able to accomplish the blog task. The more I thought about the easier blogging became for me.

The best thing about blogging for this class is at gave everyone the opportunity to share what they have learned and struggled with in this class. I also like the idea of keeping last semester blog posts on our blog so we can go back and look at some of the issues in the class before us.
I am very excited with the progress I have learned in this class. With my individual project I worked with Google Maps, fanfeedr and weather api. My group project I worked with the youtube api and really enjoyed the documentation on it. The biggest thing left with our group project is getting one more api and I think we will all be very happy with the progress.

I looked around and tried to get some information on how to make blogging more enjoyable when doing it. At times it can be enjoyable when you have something on your mind and want to share it with others. When you are stuck and don't have anything to write, then it can become a challenge. Here is a link to an article on five essential tools to make blogging fun and easy.

Hackers exploit new Java zero-day bug

2010-04-14T18:38:00.002-04:00

So since I have 3 blogs left, I was looking around for new's on computers. And the first this I found was pretty relevant to this class. It has to do with songlyrics.com users who would be sent to Russian sites which would attack their computers. So the work they did would hack the site and enter an IFRAME to the site. They also said it attacks new the IE and Firefox servers.

They talk about the upcoming possible copy cats. Because it is so easy to copy and the code is simple. "It's so easy to use and copy that I would expect that it'll be in the [exploit tool]kits in a few days." Roger Thompson said. Roger Thompson is the chief researcher at AVG Technologies.

It looks like there was a conversation about how Travis Ormandy reported to Sun. And they declined to put out a new patch. "They informed me they do not consider this vulnerability to be of high enough priority to break their quarterly patch cycle," Ormandy wrote on the mailing list. "I explained [to them] that I did not agree, and intended to publish advice to temporarily disable the affected control until a solution is available."

The exact site is on computerworld.com. Please check this out more and avoid possible interruptions on your computer.

BLOG 14!!

2010-04-14T18:35:00.004-04:00

Here it is the end of the semester and I am writing my final blog. We all know that blogs are traceable. But what is traceable?

Try everything. "Almost anything you do in today's society involves leaving a track," said Doug Klunder of the American Civil Liberties Union. He's the director of the ACLU of Washington's Privacy Project, from the article "In the digital world, we trade privacy for convenience."

We are tracked almost from the moment we wake up. Our cell phone track are movements, our cars are video taped by camera capable of recognizing license plate numbers and each and every click is tracked.

11 million people were victims of identity theft last year alone. The article found that people between the ages of 18 and 24 are more likely to revel personal data, thus making themselves targets.

Evan Ratliff tried to live a year with out leaving a trace. His readers were able to track him and eventually find him.

Ratliff said paranoia and suspicion quickly set in when he was on the run. There was little romance to living like a fugitive, he said.

"It's hard to let go of that idea that if you really did it right, you could end up on a beach in South America for the rest of your life drinking margaritas," he said. "That's always still there, but I think the actual process of living on the run in the United States -- in the end, it's almost never going to be worth it."

Indexing Tweeter Trail

2010-04-14T16:11:00.009-04:00

No longer will your Tweets from Twitter be only seen by your followers and friends for just a few days or weeks. Google is now indexing all of peoples tweets in a big, searchable database. Recently Google has announced that it has a new search feature that lets users look at the entire history of tweets in anytime frame and in any subject. This new feature is set to debut in the next few days.

All you would have to do now is enter the search term and select the update option then with a click of a button you will find results of tweets on that search condition dating back to February 2010. And Google in working on progressing this date back feature to eventually get all of the past tweets dating back to the first one made on March 21, 2006.

Here is a example of the new feature

With this new Google made feature you can see all tweets on a specific day, month or even year with the handy graph that is displayed at the top of the page results. Google says that these features are pretty useful because you can see what people we talking about on a day of a major event or significant occurrence. But for those people who want to keep their privacy, you don't have to be included in this feature because you have the option of having your time line public or not.

New Cisco Router Supports 322Tbps

2010-04-14T15:27:00.005-04:00

Bandwidth at the speed of light? Maybe not but Cisco's new router will supports speeds up to 322 Tbps. What does this new phenomenon speed compare to? Cisco says that with this speed is enough to allow every person in China to make a video call at the same time. And with this new hardware it can be achieved.

The company's new large scale core router is call CRS-3, the CRS stands forCarrier Routing System. Cisco boasts that this new router is 12 times as fast as its nearest competitor and it is 3 times the speed of its predecestor. With this new found technology and hardware did not come cheap, the company stated that it spent $1.6 billion in the product's design and engineering.

Here is the break down of what 322 Tbps is, Tbps is terrabits per second and a terabit is a trillion bits. Now compare that to the mbps(megabits per second) that today's highest speed consumers and business broadband speed connections are measured in. Here are a few of the feats that 322 Tbps could do: Transmitting every motion picture ever made in5 minutes, downloading the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress in 1 second, or transmiting the entire DNA sequence of 56,000 people also in 1 second.

Test your Internet Speed

Testing is being prefomed now and CEO John Chambers estimated the router to be available before the end of this year. It also comes with a pretty expensive price tag, reporting that pricing will start at $90,000.

Google AJAX API's

2010-04-14T14:50:00.002-04:00

Looking for a good API, look no further than who else, Google. Google has taken the industry by storm with all of it applications and gadgets within the past couple of years or so. So what else could they come up with, some good AJAX API's. Working on my last individual project, I was stuck and could not get my web page to fix the output format of the feed I was using from the previous individual project. So I do what I usually do when I cannot find something I need, I Google'd API. And in the search results I found googles site for AJAX API's.

Google AJAX APIs

I knew google had the google maps API but didn't think about if they had any more until I looked up in their search engine and to my satisfaction I found what I needed. Google has a range of AJAX API's such as Google Maps, Google Search, Google Feed, Google Book Search and Google language just to name about half of them. These AJAX APIs cover a wide range of applications that you might want to use in the future if you are in that kind of web page creating field.

And to help you out with coding and writing script Google has also given you tools to make your job a little bit easier with Interatctive Code playground. This helps you edit and find mistakes in your code that can help your API run effiecienty. And Google has also provided Google API libraries for Google Web Toolkit and this is a collection of libraries that provide Java language bindings for popular Google Javascript APIs.

3D TV: Not for the Drunk, Tired, or Pregnant

2010-04-14T14:28:00.004-04:00

With the buzz going around about the new 3D TV's coming out and those that are already in the market, there is something new, bold and interesting for consumers to pay a good chunk of income for, but is it all worth it? Companies such as Sharp, LG and Samsung are all trying to add new enhancements and new features to their production of 3D TV's but at what cost to the consumers?

There is a 3D warning to consumers who are either a pregnant woman, a teenager or a drunk; yes that included people who like their alcohol, that they should not necessarily be watching this new phenomenon. And this is no joke, the creator of one of the 3D TV's; Samsung, has in fact issued this warning. And here is the proof Samsung 3D TV Warning.

And these were some of their statements:Children and teenagers may be more susceptible to health issues associated with viewing in 3D and should be closely supervised when viewing these images and that pregnant women, the elderly, sufferers of serious medical conditions, those who are sleep deprived or under the influence of alcohol should avoid utilizing the unit's 3D functionality. (Samsung.com)

And one of the surprising statement warnings that they have issued is that even without those restrictions that some people can still become disoriented by viewing the 3D. Although I have read all the warnings, I still like my chances and will give 3D TV a try.

DOM Is Not So Bad

2010-04-14T13:45:00.003-04:00

After studying the DOM (document object model) for a couple of weeks it is not so difficult after all. In fact, the DOM makes things very easy by breaking down the XML into sections (trees) by their order in the document. Once you get the server to pull the XML from the API's server the rest is surprisingly easy.

Once the code is pulled up from the server onto your server you just use Javascript to parse the XML. For instance, lets say you have a tag that contains the price data. You would get the price tag data by assigning a variable to it. For example, var price = requestDocEbay.getElementsByTagName("price")[0];. The code is looking for the "price" tag then going no further. Next you have to assign a variable to get the data from the first tag node. You do this with the following code. var priceText = price.firstChild.nodeValue. What this code does is get the data from inside the tag. You can find a great example on page 361 from our textbook. This is the example I used for the group project and it works out great.

For further insight please check out the following links.

IBM Article

Cover Pages

The DOM may seem intimidating at first but don't let it scare you. It really helps to break down the DOM into little pieces. Do each section of your code, that way the code is not huge and does not scare you away with pages of code. Finally I can say this has been a good week of programming!!

iPad has Wi-Fi problems

2010-04-13T15:37:00.004-04:00

Surprise surprise!! Just as I suspected Apple is having problems with a new release. It's always the loyal fan boys who go out and buy something right away that end up with the bugs and get stuck with a defective unit. Almost immediately after an initial release a new version of something is released that is better. You should always wait to buy something.

This article talks about how many users are having problems with the Wi-Fi in the initial release of the Wi-Fi only iPad. It's not just beginners having issues either, technology experts who write blogs on different technologies are having problems with it as well. On Apple's support website there were 11 pages of comments last Tuesday morning on a post saying Wi-Fi connections were weak or kept cutting out.

Apples answer to this? "Apple posted a Web page outlining troubleshooting tips for "occasional problems" that included weak Wi-Fi connections or not being able to find a signal. The tips include moving closer to a Wi-Fi router or hot spot and making sure the Wi-Fi router is plugged in and the power is turned on. The Web page also suggests checking for sources of possible interference, like a microwave oven, and making sure you're connected to the correct Wi-Fi connection if multiple ones are available." So if their technology fails then they treat us like idiots and say make sure the router is plugged in and turned on? Get real...

Group Iteration 3

2010-04-13T15:26:00.003-04:00

There is only 1 week left before we have to present our groups iteration 3. I think it's coming together really well. There are a few different API's that we're using. Recently we decided to use the CNET and YouTube APIs. I think they are going to work great together along with the API's that we already have going.

Aman and Joe are working on the CNET API and I think they will be done soon. Aman talks a little bit about working on it in her blog post here. I think that we did a really good job of picking different API's that would go together well for what we are trying to accomplish for iteration 3.

One of my favorite API's will be youtubes API. I think it is really well documented and has a lot of support, which makes it really easy to set up and use. Steven and I worked on it this past weekend and got it to work. We just need to integrate it into our groups website. I'm learning a lot about the different APIs, even though it is pretty painful sometimes.

MacBook Pro update/First FourSquare User to Check In At North Pole

2010-04-13T14:55:00.007-04:00

First, I want to talk about how excited I am about the news Apple dropped this morning. They released the long awaited refresh of the MacBook Pro line. I know they are a lot people out there that are saying that it isn't that big of a change or difference between what was previously out. The only "real" upgrade was the 15/17 inch models now sport Intel's current i5/i7 processors instead of the outdated core 2 duo's and now there is an option to add a high res screen to the laptops. I know thats not a big deal to others but to me this is what I have been waiting for. If you guys remember I think I mentioned in my first post of the semester that my apartment was broken into and one of my prize possessions stolen was my MacBook Pro. Well I have purposely waited four months without jumping the gun and buying a new one because I knew a refresh would be coming soon and didn't want to pay the same amount of money on soon to be outdated hardware. Now I'm glad I have waited.

My feature story is about the 15 year old pictured above. His name is Parker Liautaud and for at least a little while, he is going to be known as a big deal. Why you ask? Well thanks to social media/networks becoming so big in todays world, Parker was achieve a feat that has not been attempted in the growing Foursquare universe.

Parker will go down as the very first person to check-in from the North Pole and the Last Degree Badge. Now I'm not too familiar with Foursquare but after reading up a little bit on it, it can be describe as almost a game of tag, using Google Latitude approach. You can see where your friends are and get little messages (Twitter Style) from them and also "Check-In" at all kinds of different locations around your area. Although I guess its pretty cool for this 15 year old to get his 15mins of fame from this, but it was a pretty dangerous way to spend your Spring Break. Hopefully he had more motivating factors to accomplish this other than "Checking In" on Four Square.

Story from Mashable

Boy racks up $1400 tab on Farmville

2010-04-13T14:23:00.003-04:00

I found this crazy article on cnn.com. I found it to be hilarious, and infuriating at the same time. I think I would go nuts if my kid spent that much on a game.

There aren't many details in terms of the boys age or anything like that, it just says that he was a preteen. I'm assuming that he must have been around 8-12 years old. It says that he emptied out his savings account and then stole his moms credit card and started buying things with that. When asked why he did it he said that "they had brought out good stuff that I wanted."

She says that she wishes that there was more security to prevent things like this from happening again. I agree to a certain extent. I think that first she needs to teach her son that stealing is wrong. Also, that spending this much money on frivolous things that you will not see a return on just stupid. She needs to teach him the value of money. If I was the parent here, I'd make him work it off by doing chores, and also take away the computer/tv/video games.

Individual Iteration 3

2010-04-13T13:53:00.002-04:00

I spent quite a bit of time on Iteration 3. I posted it here. It's not exactly what I wanted, but I had to make some compromises because I couldn't figure out how to get it work the way I wanted it to, and I was running out of time. It was pretty frustrating, but I think I'm happy with the way it ended up.

The way I wanted it to work was to have you click on a team from the drop down menu. After you did this I wanted to have the teams address show up on the map, and show up under the map. Eventually I would have added a box for the user to enter their address and get driving directions. I think this would have been a great tool for any sports fan that lives in Detroit. Obviously it probably would have been obsolete at this point because of GPS systems.

The way it ended up working is the user clicks the drop down box and selects a team. Then the map shows them where the home of that team is. If you click the teams logo under the map then it'll show the user the teams address.

AJAX Is Not Just For Cleaning

2010-04-11T20:39:00.006-04:00

As the semester is winding down, I thought I would write my final blog about what I have learned in IS 449. The first thing I learned was about MashUps. This is a really cool technology and I think it is really going to take off in the next few years as soon as more people realize what really can be done with it. Being able to search several sites at the same time is going to be the future of the Internet. I have also learned that not all Head First books are not as good as the html version.

Another thing I learned was that AJAX was not a cleanser used to clean the bathtub and sink. AJAX is a very complex and unforgiving coding language that can either make really nice things happen or really bad things to happen. Now when I look around the Internet I see AJAX everywhere and see how important knowing about is. I also learned that the COB is now closed on the weekends and that student center is not the best place to work on coding. I also learned about API and that the IMDB does not have one for whatever reason.

As I reflect on this class and my time coming to end at Eastern, I feel good, nervous, sad and little perplexed about where I am going to go from here. Whatever happens I feel good to e graduating in two weeks and moving on to wherever the world is going to take me. I wish the whole class the best, especially for all those graduating. Good luck everyone, I will miss you all.

HP's Slate

2010-04-08T06:03:00.009-04:00

HP slate may be better than Apple's ipad. HP slate has more features that users want like built in camera and usb ports. unlike the ipad the slate uses flash. it is also said Microsoft and hp will team up to overpower apples ipad.

the slate may be good for PC lovers and since ipad is expecting to change the future of computers i know Microsoft is eager to stop them. Google also plans to try and topple Apple with there plans in creating tablet of there own.

More and more companies are following after Apple and try to create there version of the ipad with hopes of gaining market share and becoming the king of the tablet. google and Toshiba are planning releases of similar tablets. I don't know how the slate will do compared to the ipad but if the slate is truly better hopefully consumers will see it.

DOM Elements

2010-04-07T19:28:00.004-04:00

I know part of the problem I have been having with this book is that it shows you how to do one thing. It does not show you the other DOM elements that you might want to use. I thought it might be nice to know what else we can do with the DOM.

Well, I found a list of DOM elements and what they can do. JavaScript Kit lists the DOM methods that are most used by programmers. The page is rather long so they have added a search function.

Here is an example:It also tells you if that DOM is supported or not supported by the listed browsers. The headache that are spared is endless.

Iteration 3: Continuing to pull my hair

2010-04-07T19:23:00.003-04:00

I really wanted my iteration 2 program to work and after hours and much frustration, I decided to give up. I started over and listened to some advice from Chris. He told me to use Google's API to create a site and it's a lot easier than what I was doing. I got the Google key and then continued on to create my site. My site switches blogs at the click of a button. The biggest issue I had was within my PHP file. Every time I tried to run the program, an alert box would come up saying "undefined". I have no clue what that means but that's what it said. No matter what i tried I got the same alert box or no results but no alert box. I am so happy that Chris helped me. If I have learned anything from these iterations it is that I HATE programming.

But when I was in John's office he told me about a cool site that I wished would have helped me more than it did. The site is pipes.yahoo.com. It pretty cool. It is supposed to help create mashups for the people that are not the best programmers but need to get things done. I found the site to be pretty interesting. It can filter contents and do a lot of other stuff.

One of the students from last semester blogged about it and she liked it. If I get more time I am going to try and create my own little mashup and then publish it so that can be searched and people can use it. It might even inspire someone else

More DOM Help

2010-04-07T19:05:00.003-04:00

I am still struggling with DOM and parsing. I tried using a loop on my individual project and got a "child not found" error. This baffled me.

The more I worked with the code, I would get other errors. Some of the error were like "Results Expected" and Request not well formed.

Then I tried using the code that my teammate Jeremy had for our Iteration 2 group project. I pulled it in and modified it. I loaded up with no results at all!

I keep trying find a site that will explain how DOM and Simple XML parsing works. I have posted several other sites and now I have another one to add to the list.

Quirksmode has a nice introduction to W3C DOM. It shows a lot of code examples and I have posted a sample from the site:

function test2(val) {
 if (document.getElementById && document.createElement)
 {
  node = document.getElementById('hereweare').parentNode;
  node.setAttribute('align',val);
 }
 else alert('Your browser doesn\'t support the Level 1 DOM');
}

Down to the wire

2010-04-07T18:36:00.002-04:00

I finally got my iteration3 to work. I had to start over from iteration 2. The older project didn't quite mesh with the newer additions.
I started over using Google's Ajax search API. Using feedcontrol worked great!

var feedControl = new google.feeds.FeedControl();

It allowed me to use several blog feeds and had a handy tabbed feature. my plan from the beginning, was to make a page that I would actually use myself. I have feeds from the several pages that I go to on a day to day basis.

I have learned a lot using that API and will be able to use most of that knowledge on the group project. It isn't up in the dropbox yet because my winzip is out of date on my laptop. It will be submitted when I get home tonight.

Blog Counter

2010-04-07T16:08:00.004-04:00

Last week in class there was a lot of concern questions about the blog post grades. I have not figured out how to count the comments an easy way, but I have figured out an easy way to count your blogs.

All you need to do is have a keyword that is the same in all your blog posts. As you can see with the picture to the left, I have used my name Steven as my keyword. Leading up to this blog post you can see that I have done 12 blog posts.

In case you were not aware, the image is posts by tag area of our blog. I wish it would be this easy for our comments, but it won't be. The only way this wouldn't work out if other people in the blog decided to tag your blog counter in their post. So, please don't ruin my counting system and put Steven in any of your tags. I hope this helps people who are wanting to know how many blog posts they have currently.

This is the blog and comment counter that was discussed last week from a student from last semester. Here is what he created last semester

problems

2010-04-07T15:50:00.005-04:00

I am going to blog about some of my problems that I have run into. I am going to start with the end and work my way back. I had my site working almost exactly how I wanted it to work last night. I then showed my site to someone today and my wunderground.com api decided to not work.

I started to freak out and still am a little. I have come to the conclusion that I have tried to send too many requests and weather is making me take a break. The reason I am more confident now is because I was able to get it to work again before I started blogging.

Another problem that I ran into but was able to work around is the fanfeedr api. I went into my profile on fanfeedr and was able to say I wanted to use xml instead of json. With a little more experience in xml I made the switch and had great success.

YouTube Redesigns Video Page with parts of AJAX

2010-04-07T13:48:00.007-04:00

Before months end this past March, You-tube launched a new design to its website and its claiming to be one of the biggest redesigns in YouTube history. Some of the features include a new see more videos function, which should make it possible to load a horizontal grid of all the videos uploaded by a particular user.

This feature will use AJAX technology so in terms users do not have to reload pages so they can look through additional videos. Here is the list of new changes listed by newteevee.com:

A drop-down menu above the video reveals a horizontal scroll bar offering access to all videos of a particular uploader.
Logged-in users find an option to control their video queue right next to the video they’re currently watching, complete with an option to turn autoplay on or off.
The grey box next to the video that used to offer info, URL and embed code is gone. There’s now an embed button below each video, along with other sharing options. Info about the clip is also right below the actual video.
A new subscription button as well as a customizable logo above the video is supposed to offer uploaders more recognition.
The five-star rating system is gone. Most users apparently only used it to make fairly binary choices, voting on a video with either one or five stars, so the new video page simply features a thumbs-up and a thumbs-down button to express likes and dislikes.
Users that haven’t logged in simply get to see a really, really long list of clips.
The masthead of the page is cleaned up, with various links to channel and show pages gone.

Pictures of Before and After

This relates to my iteration because in my individual iteration #3 I used a ajax application for video's to show up on my webpage.

Update...Update....Update

2010-04-07T13:20:00.010-04:00

So here we all are at the end of the semester....and the only class I am worrying about is IS 449. I am lagging behind in the blog part of the class and I even forgot about the responses to other blogs. Well I tell you that blogging isn't a easy thing to do. If I really want to make a sensible response to a blog....I really have to read it carefully.

Individual Project has been pretty good so far. Using different API's at the same time is not a piece of cake. Well for my individual project I think I have been using a lot of yelp. They had the easy-to-understand documentation and examples. I think that I have been lacking on using creativity with AJAX so far.

Coding doesn't really change that much with Ajax but what is interesting is how you can bring a major difference in your web applications using small piece of code. Update on the group project , Initially I worked with the Yelp neighbourhood API and Google maps to complete Iteration 2. Now I am working on CNET api for the final group iteration. I think I will stick with PHP proxy because I find it easy to use. My rest of the group members are thinking of putting youtube in it. We ll see how it turns out.

emueagles.com

2010-04-06T20:08:00.006-04:00

I dont know if everybody knows but the annual football spring game is April 18th at 2pm. We would really appreciate everybodys support, come and check out how we've been working to create a culture here at Eastern with a winning football program.

But on another note I wanted to point out another example of AXAJ that is used at emueagles.com. When you log onto the website there is a constant update of scores of games that just happened. There is also updates on each team and program.

When clicking on the football area, first go to mens sports, then you will see all the information you could use to know more about your football team. There is a ticker that shows the most recent updates and the most recent things that the team is up to. Even on the far right they show what practice we are up to, which updates itself everyday. This could possibly help us with our project if zwire doesn't end up working.

Thank you for supporting our team, and hope we can show everybodu next year just how far we have come.

Lil Wayne blogging from Jail??

2010-04-05T10:25:00.005-04:00

No one can deny that Lil' Wayne is one of the greatest musicians out right now. Not only did he sell over 1million albums of his last rap album "The Carter 3" but he's so bold that he released a rock album in February which landed him on the cover of Rolling Stones. He is also the president of one of the hottest record labels right now call Young Money.

There are so many other achievements and accolades that I could mention, but the only thing that matters right now is that the famed rapper is currently in prison, serving a year long sentence for weapon possession. But recently a new website http://weezythanxyou.com/ has been launched and if you go to the site right now, you will see its first blog post from Lil Wayne.

In it he describes how much he loves his fan (I've been to many of his concerts and think that he is sincere when he says he does) and reminds them that he will be no where with out them. He states that he will be writing from time to time and will try to reply to as many fans as he can. Well you may be asking yourself how is this possible? Is he getting special "star" treatment in jail? The answer is no. Simply answered, his record label knows how important social media is now a days to be able to draw more fans to their artists. That is why Lil Wayne will actually be writing and receiving messages the old fashion way, through handwritten letters in the mail. Then a team at the label will be converting the messages from Wayne into blogs on the website.

This is really a first to me. And another "feature" of todays world where I couldn't of imagined happening 10years ago. But it is really cool that if your such a huge fan of someone and they are put in jail, you don't have to forget about them for 8-12months while they are away. You can just look forward to the next blog update from them and see how their mood is or what is going on in their new environment. Who knows if this will last or if the jail might come up with a reason of why this type of communication breaks some kind of rule or law.

Via Mashable

No API For IMDB

2010-04-04T17:56:00.002-04:00

As my group and I have been working on our project we have learned that the IMDB does not have an API. This really has surprised me because they are not a service that charges a fee to use so why not provide an API for users? I read some articles that the IMDB is looking for someone to develop one. What irritates me is that the IMBD is part of Amazon and Amazon has an API. How hard could it be to add the IMBD?

My group and I have been looking for a replacement for the IMDB. We have found a few sites and Professor Drake emailed some information that may be helpful. The one thing I have really learned throughout this class is to not be scared to completely drop a website that will not work. There are plenty of sites out there that all do similar activities and will work for our project.

I am really looking forward to the final project being done. It is hard to believe that we are almost done. It feels like we just started. I know my group and I will get our project working. It may not be our originally list of API’s but the concept has stayed the same. This class has been an adventure. MashUps are cool ideas that can benefit not only the owner of the MashUp but also the owners of the API’s used. I think that more and more websites are going to provide API’s. Hopefully the IMDB will be one soon.

Help!!!

2010-04-03T16:40:00.003-04:00

I am currently following the example on pages 360-361 out of our book (Headfirst Ajax)

Here is the XML from the Ebay API that I am using :

Our blog would not let me post it but you can view the code by clicking
Here

I have following the expample out of the book to try and parse the XML using DOM

Here is the javascript code I have typed for the Ebay API

function displayDetailsEbay(){
if (Ebayrequest.readyState == 4) {
if (Ebayrequest.status == 200) {

//Add new item details
var responseDoc = Ebayrequest.responseText;
var PictureTable = document.createElement("table");
var TitleRow = document.createElement("tr");
var TitleData = document.createElement("td");
TitleData.appendChild(document.createTextNode("EBay Items"));
detailDiv.appendChild(TitleData);
targetDiv.appendChild(TitleRow);
var ItemPicture = responseDoc.getElementsByTagName("GalleryURL")[0];
var ItemPictureDetails = GalleryURL.firstChild.nodeValue;
var DataRow = document.createElement("tr");
var PictureInput = document.createElement("td");
PictureInput.appendChild(document.createTextNode(ItemPictureDetails));
detailDiv.appendChild(PictureInput);
var EbayTitle = responseDoc.getElementsByTagName("Title")[0];
var EbayTitleDetails = Title.firstChild.nodeValue;
var EbayTitleInput = document.createTextNode("td");
EbayTitleInput.appendChild(EbayTitleDetails);
detailDiv.appendChild(EbayTitleInput);
var EbayPrice = responseDoc.getElementByTagName("ConvertedCurrentPrice")[0];
var EbayPriceDetails = ConvertedCurrentPrice.firstChild.nodeValue;
var EbayPriceInput = document.createTextNode("td");
EbayPriceInput.appendChild(EbayPriceDetails);
detailDiv.appendChild(EbayPriceInput);

Please help...I can't get it to work

Pandora radio

2010-04-02T18:02:00.004-04:00

Ok so it being so nice out today, I wanted to talk about the service I use daily and love because to the variety. It's called Pandora radio, it is a website that offers music the way you want it. Check it out at pandora.com. I know this isn't exactly class related but I wanted to show my appreciation and look at another example of AJAX in effect.

First start by opening Pandora.com and typing in an artist that you enjoy listening to. The first song will be by that artist and is usually a popular song. Then the second song will be by another artist in the same genre and the same type of music. For instance, I listen to country and typed in Darryl Worley the first song was "Awful, Beautiful life" the second song was Keith Urban "Making memories of us" and the third song was Dierks Bentley "Free and Easy. While not the same artist it is a similar sound and something I like listening to.

The reason I wanted to blog about this topic because it reminded me of a way AJAX works. Pandora is expecially nice because it streams straight from the internet(no download necessary) and plays a song while giving you updates on artist. Howstuffworks.com says that for every four minute song it takes roughly 20-30 minutes to to examine. With 400 attributes being scanned. Another feature they have is the "thumbs up-thumbs down" if you decide you like a song it will find other songs by that artist or closer to that type. If you dont like a song chose "thumbs down" and it will refrain from songs of that type. Another example of AJAX is they give you the option of buying the music from amazon.com.

Hope this opens someones eyes when they are sitting at home and are tired of searching for songs they like on youtube.com.

My Iteration 3 Code XML

2010-04-01T12:00:00.004-04:00

Ok heres my code, the issues I've had is that im only pulling back the titles. I want to pull back all the information from the blog site. So what the next step will be is to use Prof Drakes code to find a way to bring back not only titles, but content.

I got stuck on a few places, and I hope by posting this if any of you get stuck you can reference this. But first I got stuck by not adding

title= xmlDoc.documentElement.getElementByTagName("title"); on line 37. Also I got stuck by not adding

Current += title[i].firstChild.nodeValue;

So when your doing your project I hope that seeing this helps.
If anyone has an idea how to make this better please feel free to let me know. I can always use the help. I also used www.w3schools.com/js/js_obj_array.asp to get extra information on javascript arrays.

function getDetails() {
request = createRequest();
if (request == null) {
alert("Unable to create request");
return;
}
var url= "proxy.php";
request.open("GET", url, true);
request.onreadystatechange = displayDetails;
request.send(null);
}

function createRequest() {
try {
request = new XMLHttpRequest();
} catch (tryMS) {
try {
request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
} catch (otherMS) {
try {
request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
} catch (failed) {
request = null;
}
}
}
return request;
}

function displayDetails() {
if (request.readyState == 4) {
if (request.status == 200) {
xmlDoc=request.responseXML;
title = xmlDoc.documentElement.getElementsByTagName("title");
var Current
for (i=1; i {
Current += title[i].firstChild.nodeValue;
}
document.getElementById("Proxy").innerHTML=Current;
}
}
}

WWW

2010-03-31T20:01:00.006-04:00

The world wide web has come a long way. Internet has come a long way. The parents of WWW have had another breakthrough this week. They created the big bang in the tunnel buried underground that snakes its loop between Switzerland and France. The CERN has been a pioneer of sorts. Necessity is the mother of invention. Cern proved it to be true. Based on the concept of HTTP they wanted to develop something that facilitated sharing of information between researchers. The baby eventually moved out of the crib. If not Cern someone else might have developed webpages sooner or later but I think it would have been later. Talking about its invention brings to my mind the concept of 2 results or in other words every action has two results in two different universes. An electron has 2 spins, so in a lighter note in some other universe(may be like those sci-fi series) CERN didnt invent world wide web.
We are learning AJAX. In those days making a webpage might have been the talk of the intellectual elite. I think with easy tools in the future someone very novice might be able to wield the baton in AJAX. In my opinion Mathematics and Programming are subjects that need constant practice and I definitely lack practice.
We now have Web 2.0, wonder what web3.0 will be. It is definitely something that will strive to make human interaction and day to day jobs more easier. Experts say that WEB 3.0 will bridge the gap between Human Gizmo interaction and make it easier and cost effective.

Cisco Valet wireless

2010-03-31T19:04:00.012-04:00

Cisco has recently unveiled two new wireless routers for users. The new routers are suppose to be much more simpler for installation and setup process. Cisco target market seems to be for home and small office use. The routers are called Valet. this is the first time cisco uses its name for consumer wireless. Cisco does own linksys a dominate home router. this another step towards cisco goal to become a house hold brand.

According to a study one and four consumers return wireless routers due to the fact they are unable to setup it up properly. Cisco goal is to make the wireless setup and use as simple as possible. the cost of the routers will be $100 and 150 for the longer range model. Cisco router will come with a flash drive for installation part instead of CD's like other routers.

I think since more and more computer users are not tech savvy even a little bit Cisco had to come out the simple way. But also who likes lengthy setups anyway. I'm for the easy setup. Cisco wants to tap in the home market so they had to make it user friendly.

Office 2011 for Mac

2010-03-31T15:37:00.004-04:00

Office 2011 is supposed to be a large upgrade for the industry. New ease-of-use improvements, the introduction of integration between all applications, and the introduction of Outlook for Mac are all supposed game-changers. The version for Windows is sure to include "cloud" capability, with the ability to save documents on a non-centralized server system that will let you share documents like on Google Docs.

The Mac version, however, may not be able to jump on this bandwagon - at least, not for a while. Microsoft has historically left Mac out in the dust in terms of software upgrades and capabilities. It could be the use of the Cocoa application language, presenting a large barrier of entry for the corporation, the inability to use their .Net platform, or even their business sense telling them not to do it.

I just hope that they remove the ribbon, the toolbar, and the formatting palette. Really now, mac users do not need a user-interface difference between the office applications on PC's. They are, at the very least, trying to make office for mac run as efficiently as possible, as well as integrating its interface to look more like native mac applications.

Japan's SIM Card Technology

2010-03-31T15:28:00.003-04:00

Buy whatever phone you want and then use it with whichever service you want - a man can dream. This dream, however, may soon become a reality... in Japan. The government has launched a review of the SIM lock technology that prevents simply swapping SIM cards with a separate carrier. The proposed legislation will not be applicable to the use of international sim cards.

In the United States, you are able to swap SIM cards if the carrier runs on the same type of network, but ATT and Verizon run separate, incompatible networks. Simply put, it is impossible to run an iPhone on Verizon regardless of how much hacking you do on it.

A [fairly] simple work-around for the Japanese carriers would be to remove the inclusion of SIM cards altogether, tying the phone itself to the account much like Sprint in the United States. This allows the carriers to still lock people into a contract, based off of the phone alone. Tread softly, Japan, for you are treading on my dreams.

Flash

2010-03-31T15:18:00.003-04:00

There are rumors of a deeper partnership between Google and Adobe - the Chrome browser may ship with Flash built right in. The implementation of the new HTML5 standard is a large threat to Flash, as many video playback features are standardized and integrated into the new code. One of the main complaints about flash is that it is a stand-alone installation that must occur on all browsers, rather than being a shipped component.

Flash is also working with Google, Mozilla, and the internet community in general to create a new API that can provide a better way for plug-ins to interact with each other. They state that the current system lacks the flexibility and power to support the expected pace of innovation.

The largest issue that Flash has historically had to battle were the security issues that it has had to battle, most notably the security risks that were introduced by the use of their features. The most popular (by a slim margin) non-computer devices that surf the internet are also not Flash compatible, producing yet another barrier for their continued existence. Only time will tell what will happen to the company - I really do not see room for them in the future.

The Macbook makes an appearance

2010-03-31T13:38:00.004-04:00

I just want to start by saying CONGRATS to ALL the graduating seniors. It has been a long road and I'm sure we are all happy to have finally found our little pot of gold! As the semester winds down I can't help but feel overwhelmed yet excited. I feel like I've slacked all semester and now I'm scurrying to get everything done and raise my grades one last time. LOL But be that as it may our final iterations will be due very soon and I can't wait to have it done!

As we prepare to leave Eastern with a smile and thousands of dollars in student loans, incoming freshman at Seton Hill University are entering with a smile. They won't be smiling because of their new found freedom but they'll be smiling because they are getting new Macbooks and iPads. I know, I know, how crazy is that. These students as well as the staff will be receiving these devices to help them with their learning experience at Seton Hill. The faculty and staff at the university will receive training that will bridge the gap between them and the technology.

I'm sure that the tuition at Seton hill is kinda high but I guess if I were getting a free computer I wouldn't mind paying back those student loans. I feel like this will give these students an enhanced college experience. I like the idea and look forward to hearing about more universities doing this.

Hacker educating Microsoft and Apple

2010-03-31T10:57:00.004-04:00

The three time repeat hacking contest winner;Charlie Miller, of the annual Pwn2own contest is tired of the way that computer industry companies tries to fix it flaws and bugs. That is why he won't tell Microsoft, Apple and Adobe about the 20 flaws and vulnerabilities it has in its software. Instead he will show and teach them how to find the bugs themselves. He recently just won $10,000 in the hacking challenge and has been the winner the past 3 years.

He states that he wants change and says that he is tired of the lack of progress in software security. He talks about companies making patches here and there,which makes the software perform better but its doesn't improve the security of the product. Miller finds the mistakes of the software by using what is called a "dumb fuzzer", a tool that automatically looks for flaws in software by inserting data to see where the program fails. Miller found vulnerabilities in Apples Mac OS 10.6 and safari browser, Microsoft's PowerPoint presentation maker and in Adobe's PDF viewer and Reader.

PC World Article

Miller demonstrated how he came to finding the bugs in front of Microsoft,Apple and other vendors in hopes that the companies would listen and improve of their security standards. He knows he might seem like a bad guy in some peoples eyes but he wants them to take initiative and do more fuzzing to improve on security. Maybe this the way to put the pressure on companies to do so.

Electric Hack

2010-03-30T23:15:00.003-04:00

Just what we don't need is to have any idiot with a laptop being able to hack in to the power grid. That is exactly what the security consultants InGuardians found was possible with all five varieties of smart meters.

The Smart Meters are used to create a network connection between the customer and the utility company. They have a couple different security holes that could allow a hacker in to the system. The type of communtication used by the meters appears to be the weakness. There is a whole host of the scenarios that are possible by taking advantage of these vulnerabilities.

As quoted from the article "The communications standard used by smart meters, in particular, was an area that was a cause for concern, said Joshua Wright, a senior security analyst with InGuardians. If criminals are able to tap into the network, they could potentially doctor another person's bills or even stage bigger attacks on the grid, according to the report."

InGuardians has published a number of reports based on their findings. In one report it was stated that a single criminal could have control of multiple meters at the same time. The reports also point out that these types of vulnerabilities are more common due to our upgrading the grid's infrastructure.

I have worked for a retail Choice provider in the past. The cellphones that power the smart meters are very simple, and the meter boxes were not very secure. We had major problems with people using the phone line for long distance calls all the time or just stealing the phones. So the nightmare scenario of having a terrorist attack on the power grid is very real.

Individual Project 3

2010-03-30T11:39:00.003-04:00

As the due date for our individual projects nears, I began to work on getting a second rss feed into my last project. The hardest part of the individual project so far has been finding rss feeds for my chosen topic of travel. The first one I find was Kayak and they actually have several different feeds that can be used. Finding the second one was a lot harder. I tried Yahoo travel, Travelocity, Orbitz and Expedia. I finally found an rss feed for Expedia and decided to add that one.

So the next part was to figure out how to add the second feed to my current project. I looked back over the class blog and saw the examples that were put up and this really helped. So I wrote the code based on this example, loaded it on people.emich and hit the button. I was happy that it worked until I saw that only the second feed was coming up. This surprised me a little; I would have expected the first one and not the second one to work.

I spent some time playing with the code and still could not get it to function right. I went through every line of code and could not see what the problem was. I finally asked one of my group mates for help. They were able to catch the mistake that I had kept missing and my feed now works with both Kayak and Expedia. The one thing I have learned about writing code whether it be C#, JavaScript or any other computer language is that there is very little room and any type error and the programmer must be a very diligent person and keep checking each line. If one variable is wrong, the whole application will not work.

iPad is reshaping the Internet

2010-03-29T16:15:00.005-04:00

The iPad doesn't run flash. So, think of all the times you needed to update your flash or make sure you even have flash to run a program. Now think of all those programs that uses flash. If your site is shown on the iPad, according to the source I am using, your site won't look pretty.

It turns out people want their site to look "pretty" instead of the opposite. A lot of sites are being changed, this is changing the Internet. Now, all you flash users, don't worry it is still sticking around.

The reason the iPad could have a more pronounced effect on the internet than the iPhone actually really is simply because it’s bigger. The challenge of best displaying your content on the iPhone wasn’t simply making sure you had a Flash-less site — it was fitting it all into a 3.5-inch screen, reducing it to the utter essentials to fit the way people use their phones, a task that might’ve gone beyond a mobile-optimized site in many cases. With the iPad, two of the biggest restrictions — the tighter screen, those smaller windows of time — aren’t there, so content producers very well might not need an app to fit their content onto the iPad. In other words, they really can just build a site instead of an app, which is why the iPad might have a more profound effect on the internet than the iPhone.
Source: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/03/how-the-ipad-is-already-reshaping-the-internet-without-flash/

First reaction to the iPad are mixed opinions. I did read something about a 10 hour battery life and wow that caught my eye when I have to always keep charging my laptop. It will be interesting to see what happens in the near future and see how this will reshape things we are used to seeing.

Apple and Google Together Again??

2010-03-29T11:30:00.009-04:00

First let me start off with talking about the great time I had at Menlo on Friday. Surprisingly not that many people showed up from our class (opportunity to get inside a great company and extra credit). But I felt like Menlo was just an overall "cool" place to work, they had the type of creativity that you would think only Google had in its work place. Basically the programmers were writing coding that you would find in IS315 (a bit more advance) but in pairs of twos. And every week you would be paired up with another partner.

On to my article of the week. Well after all my numerous articles about Google vs Apple. And the fact that the two CEOs, Steve Jobs of Apple and Eric Schmidt of Google, have had a public fallout, GIZMODO has posted pictures showing the two enjoying a cup of coffee last FRIDAY the 26th in Palo Alto, CA. A reader of the web blog saw the two and snapped these pics. The reader aslo overheard a little bit of their conversation. "Enthusiastically, "They're going to see it all eventually so who cares how they get it." Which seemed to be about web content, said the tipster. And, "Let's go discuss this somewhere more private," after they noticed the crowd gathering around."

I think this would of been a really cool site to see. I would of probably went right up to them and pitched my 30sec speech of why I am the perfect hire for either company lol But all joking aside, I think this might be the first step to maybe the two companies making amends. They probably realize that business might be better for the both of them if the two giants get a long.

Full Story can be found on Gizmodo

My code... looking for some help

2010-03-29T09:10:00.008-04:00

I have posted my code and hoping to see if anyone notices where my error or errors are. The first bit of code is my php file.

$url = "http://api.fanfeedr.com/basic/all_scores?appid=735sdkx8cqvh8jbwyfzmr3x7"
$ch = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
$response_body = curl_exec($ch);
$status = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
if (intval($status) != 200) die("Error: $response_body");
var_dump(json_decode($response));
?>

This piece of code is my javascript. I am sorry I don't know how to post code like Adam did, where it was more organized. I used the blockquote which seemed to help the spacing.

function checkRival() {
fanfeedr();

}

function createRequest() {
try {
request = new XMLHttpRequest();
} catch (tryMS) {
try {
request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
} catch (otherMS) {
try {
request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
} catch (failed) {
request = null;
}
}
}
return request;
}

function fanfeedr() {
createRequest();

if (request == null) {
alert("Unable to create request");
return;
}
var url= "getFeedr.php";
request.open("GET", url, true);
request.onreadystatechange = displayFeedr;
request.send(null);
}
function displayFeedr() {
if (request.readyState == 4) {

if (request.status == 200) {
alert("here");
//var myObject = eval('(' + myJSONtext + ')');
detailDiv = document.getElementById("fanfeedr");
detailDiv.innerHTML = request.responseXML;

}
}
}

I think I need to fix how this is being displayed. I wrote in a previous blog comment that I was going to look at what Adam wrote and try and incorporate some of that. I am not sure that will work or not but is always worth a try. Does anyone else have any more suggestions for me?

The Safe Reader

2010-03-28T20:47:00.004-04:00

As the semester goes on, deadlines are quickly approaching. Iteration 3 for both group and individual projects is right around the corner and the material is not getting any easier. I understand what the point of the projects are and I wish that my programming skills were us to par so that I could make some real money by doing what I am learning. I'm sure I could get a nice chunk of change for making a mashup for a small company trying to reduce Internet surf time. But that's not really me so on to reality. I can 't wait to finish my last iteration and my last projects of my undergrad career.

I was searching for an interesting article to blog about and I came across an article about an application available to Blackberry users. The application is called the SafeReader. The SafeReader allows users to listen to text messages and emails while driving. This is a safe alternative to reading text messages and driving.

I think this is a good idea. I've come across a lot of emails with gruesome photos of people who were texting and driving or talking on the phone and driving. Technology has solved the problem of talking but not texting completely. I recently heard or an application for cell phone that will block the user from receiving and sending text messages while driving. I think the SafeReader is a better solution. I can't wait for this cell phone application to be available to all cell phone users.

What is Google Labs?

2010-03-26T15:23:00.003-04:00

I wanted to know what exactly Google Labs does for users like me. I decided this is a great opportunity to explore something I don’t know and share it with others.

According to a google site they tried to answer the basic question what is Google Labs?

Google Labs is a playground where our more adventurous users can play around with prototypes of some of our wild and crazy ideas and offer feedback directly to the engineers who developed them. Please note that Labs is the first phase in a lengthy product development process and none of this stuff is guaranteed to make it onto Google.com. While some of our crazy ideas might grow into the next Gmail or iGoogle, others might turn out to be, well, just plain crazy.

This is fun for the lab can actually grow into something we use daily. Based on everyone’s comments and concern with a project it grows to be something successful or another failed experiment.

Engineers and researchers build Google Labs. This is a way for Google’s Engineers and researchers to be able to show off what they have been working on. I just really like how they use our suggestions as guides to how to improve what they already have accomplished.

Google "leveraging" with it's Services?

2010-03-26T09:30:00.007-04:00

First a little update on the Global IT Club. We missed many of you guys at are last meeting on Wednesday. It's very rare for Professor Drake to give out extra credit and many of you guys missed out on the opportunity as well as an awesome speaker, EMU's new CIO Carl Powell. Dr. Powell was very entertaining and had a lot of advice from his years holding high level IT jobs. Well I know its a little late, but there is another opportunity for extra credit today, Friday March 26th at 2:30pm as we go to Menlo Innovations. Meet us on the 2nd floor of the COB.

Now for the main story. First off, I love the Android platform. Just the ability to be able to download almost any kind of app you can think of and its ease of use. I figured that has to be one of the reasons why every other day I hear of a new Android phone made by this or that phone maker and on this or that carrier. But now multiple sources are coming out with a new reason to why there seems to be an explosive rise of Android handsets.

Google has been enticing manufacturers with a cut of revenue from their other services such as Maps or Search. This is almost the complete opposite of how Apple is bringing the iPhone to AT&T. AT&T pays Apple $400 for every iPhone it sells. So in a way Apple is making money while Google is giving money away. But if you look at it another way, Google has the money to give and this could be a very good investment because people have many, many options of Android handsets to choose from.

Via ENGADGET

Netflix! ahoy!

2010-03-25T15:55:00.005-04:00

I was working on Netflix the last week and it didn't seem to budge from its place. The Netflix api doesn't let you fetch details about its catalogs unless you have an account with it. The Autocomplete feature lets one draw just a gist from its database. In the Autocomplete feature one just needs to write a word, e g I wrote Step, the api shall fetch all the movies that have the word Step in it.
I could not tide over the problem with Netflix, hence my search for an alternative was on last week. We finally found an alternative which is the RSS feeds from Netflix. We had considered Yahoo movies api as well but it doesn't exist anymore. We also came across other interesting websites like TRYNT and Movie Web but the former didn't actually match our criterion. We were disheartened when the address to Trynt.com was an invalid one and it no longer existed in that server. All we got to see was a blank 502 bad gateway page.
Things are not progressing bad. Other than tiny silly mistakes that camouflage themselves in the coded background my programs eventually starts working. I am upbeat about netflix RSS feeds. I think it will be an interesting bit of information bar in our mashup webpage.

Sprint unveils its first 4G phone

2010-03-24T22:10:00.004-04:00

Sprint announced the HTC Evo 4G today. I gotta say, I'm impressed. I'm particularly excited because, as everyone knows, I'm a fanboy of Android. And this lovely piece of equipment features Android OS 2.1. I'm stuck with the MyTouch 3g and the lowly 1.6 version of Android. I really wish that they would upgrade the operating system on units that are already owned by consumers.

So, back to the Evo, I'm drooling over this thing. It has a 4.3 inch display. One other thing that it has that my phone lacks is a a 3.5mm headset jack. I'm not sure why the hell they left that out when designing the MyTouch. Other features include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 1GB of internal memory, Assisted-GPS with Sprint Navigation, seven home screens, a personal organizer, a microSD card slot that accommodates cards up to 32GB, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, an HDMI out port. A 1GB processor on a cell phone is freaking insanely fast too, and the HDMI port? Watch videos from your cellphone on your big screen tv lately? Sounds awesome.

I believe that Sprint is going to be the first carrier to offer 4G, which will be this summer. I'm looking forward to it's release, because I think it'll be the most successful Android phone released, so it'll be interesting to see how it fares.

What you need to know about Google vs. China

2010-03-24T21:49:00.003-04:00

I know that this has been talked about quite a bit. But I found this article that gives a much better explanation of what is going on between Google and China. I was under the impression that the Chinese government wanted Google to collect more information from users for some reason. But this is apparently not the case.

What happened is Google was available in China when they first started up, but it was censored and sometimes shut down by the Chinese government. China's communist leadership restricts Internet content and political speech, so Google had to agree to censor some of its Internet search results in order to do business in China. Because of this Google launched Google.cn. Google says Chinese hackers tapped into the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists and conducted a "highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure." China denies these claims, but the situation caused Google to promise to stop censoring its results in China unless some kind of new agreement could be arranged between Google and China.

So I'm a little confused about something. Did the Chinese government hack the gmail accounts? Either way I agree with Google's decision to stop censoring search results. Communism just completely blows my mind away. I know Americans think they are entitled to their rights, but I sometimes wonder if we realize how lucky we are to not have to deal with the shit that some people have to deal with in other countries.

AJAX is a PAIN

2010-03-24T19:29:00.003-04:00

I just posted on about the great stuff I was finding on XML.com. I found something else that will be of interest to all of us here.

Bruce Perry posted a blog about using a open source Javascript library called Prototype. Why did he do this? Here are his own words on the subject.

"Why didn't I just create a plain old JavaScript object (POJO) for my application, instead of introducing an open source library? For one, Prototype includes a nifty collection of JavaScript shortcuts that reduce typing and help avoid the reinvention of the wheel. The commonly touted shortcut is $("mydiv"), which is a Prototype function that returns a Document Object Model (DOM) Element associated with the HTML tag with id "mydiv". That sort of concision alone is probably worth the cost of setting up Prototype. It's the equivalent of:

document.getElementById("mydiv");

Another useful Prototype shortcut is $F("mySelect"), for returning the value of an HTML form element on a web page, such as a selection list. Once you get used to Prototype's austere, Perlish syntax, you will use these shortcuts all the time. Prototype also contains numerous custom objects, methods, and extensions to built-in JavaScript objects, such as the Enumeration and Hash objects (which I discuss below).

Finally, Prototype also wraps the functionality of XMLHttpRequest with its own Ajax.Request and related objects, so that you don't have to bother with writing code for instantiating this object for various browsers."

He goes on to SHOW YOU how to set up your files for using prototype by adding certain lines of code and files. And finally he finishes up the blog with examples on how to use the library.

Dynamic Web Interfaces

2010-03-24T18:56:00.003-04:00

As I am still working with my individual projects http requests, I have been looking for some more information out on the web.

Well I found this site that talks about http requests, XML, DOM and parsing all in one!
XML.com has several sub-chapters on topics near and dear to our hearts. But the one I found most interesting was the one on Ajax.

The article starts with the history of XML and its interplay with JavaScript. The codes examples start with the basics, then it turns to "The Form," "Handling the Input," "HTTP Heavy Lifting," and the "The Server Script." There are examples on the parsing, xmlDocloading, and server requests.

And as with all good teaching blogs, there is a link to a book for more reading. In this case the book is "No Nonsense XML Web Development With PHP" by Thomas Myer.

Go Daddy may follow Google from China

2010-03-24T18:21:00.006-04:00

A recent report from Cnet news says after today's congressional hearing with China, GoDaddy.com plans to stop registering domain names in China. The reason being is new regulations requires a great deal of information from China users. Users are now required to submit a picture and business licenses number. GoDaddy plans to continue to manage existing .cn users but not allow any new registrants.

GoDaddy has had an increase of Distributed Denial of Service or DDOS in the past few months from China. Censorship has been a problem in China. This is the first time a governemt has ask the company to seek additional information from its customers.

I think China is a very strict company so some companies should leave China. Hackers in China are not only threatening to the companies but to the users of the company. Hackers could get control of private information. GoDaddy might follow google and who is moving their severs to Hong Kong where the laws are less strict.

How Google used AJAX

2010-03-24T17:52:00.003-04:00

While the term AJAX was first coined in 2005, Google waited until after April of 2009 to implement it into their god-like search-for-anything-engine. Today you can see the results of their update visibly in the new and improved drop-down text lists which are queried off of what you are currently typing. For example: if you were to type 'dogs' into the Google search bar, a drop-down list containing the possible phrases 'dogs 101', 'dogs for sale', 'dogs that don't shed', and even two having to do with 'dogs and chocolate'. Apparently dogs LOVE chocolate or something, but anyway.

This wasn't Google's main adaptation of AJAX on their search engine however, but is a mere bonus to what they were truly trying to accomplish after April of 2009. In an article listed on CNET at http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10220532-93.html?tag=mncol, Stephen Shankland talks about what's going on in the background that is actually making Google more money.

In a very simple adaptation, Google used AJAX to start loading the specific search results under the default 'boilerplate' that always remains in the same position after each subsequent search is performed. While this may be the definition practically of simple easy-to-use AJAX, the mere milliseconds that Google saves after each search really makes a difference. Apparently all of these quicker times ad up to a large amount of new searches, which in turn transfers into more ads being shown and therefor more money in Google's pocket. I figured they were merely updating their search engine to help benefit you and I by letting us know that 'dogs in funny costumes' was a possible search term, but I cash is the driving factor and I'm wrong as usual. Thanks Google.

Windows 7

2010-03-24T15:13:00.005-04:00

After waiting three months I finally took the plunge and installed Windows 7 on my computer. Windows 7 has the same layout as Vista but is much improved. Gone are the slow start times and numerous Windows services that run in the background and bog your computer down. In my opinion, Windows Vista was basically another version of Windows Me (Millennium). Windows 7 gets great reviews by many user and many of them also state how Windows 7 is much improved over Vista.
Reviews

I took advantage of my student discount and purchased Windows 7 Premium. Installation was a breeze for me...Windows 7 took a lot less time to install than Windows XP. The reason for this is probably when you install Windows XP you must also install all the service packs and updates which can take a few hours. Since Windows 7 is new it does not have that many updates with it. As I installed Windows 7 I did have some skepticism about installing a new operating system.....will my hardware and their drivers work?? All that was quickly laid to rest as all my hardware played nice with Windows 7.

After some skepticism I am glad I installed Windows 7 onto my computer. Is it perfect?? No. But it sure is a nice new look and a welcome replacement after Vista was such a flop. Us XP users have been using the same operating system since 2001 and a change is always nice.

NetBeans : JavaScript Editor

2010-03-23T18:09:00.005-04:00

Here's this not so new IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for developing with various languages which includes Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, C, C++ etc. It is called the NET BEANS. Since this IDE is written in Java which makes it platform independent.So it runs everywhere where a JVM is installed.

It is commercially owned by Sun Microsystems. The reason I am writing about NetBeans because this IDE helps you edit JavaScript. As we all having hard time writing codes in JavaScript. This IDE is module based and each module gives a well defined function such as support for JavaScript. The JavaScript editor is an integrated module of NetBeans IDE and it provides extended support for JavaScript, Ajax and CSS.

The editing features includes syntax highlighting, re factoring, code completion for objects and functions.The really cool thing is that it has this feature automatic browser compatibility checks.It also generates Ajax callbacks from a template and JavaScript class structure. I have just started to use this IDE and I would suggest you all to give it a try.

Quarter of U.K. Kids Have Hacked

2010-03-23T12:04:00.003-04:00

A recent U.K survey found that twenty six percent of school age children had tried to hack into someone else’s social or email account. Despite the fact that the majority of children say hacking is wrong. This article raised two important issues for me. The first one being that the younger generation has no respect for others and how safe are our accounts really if children can hack into them? In world where everyone is connected by technology, we really have become disconnected as people.

Young people now days see their computer or their cell phone or other data device not as a tool but as a part of themselves that they can not put down. If you have gone to a movie recently you will know what I am talking. All the young talk extremely loud with their friends, oblivious to anyone else. Then they start to text. Why did you even come to the movie if you want to talk to someone else? These kids are really disconnected from society and what is correct behavior. So hacking into someone’s account is no big deal to them. I see this becoming a really serious problem with all the young people of the world.

Another issue is how safe are our private accounts if young kids can hack into them. I think that the kids in this survey hacked into their friends accounts but they could lead up to non friends accounts and then into other than email or social. It just seems terrible that you have to think so far ahead about the next generation of hackers. Most hackers start out hacking because it seems like fun and then turns into something more. There is no way to stop technology but maybe we can show kids how to be better users and have respect for others.

DOM (Document Object Model)

2010-03-22T15:39:00.004-04:00

As I continue in my IS 449 journey there is a new concept that looks very intimidating....it is called DOM which stands for document object model. Looking through the textbook DOM looks like very challenging and difficult. As I studied the book I realized that if you break down the web pages into subdivisions DOM becomes a bit easier. The first tag on a webpage (usually HTML) would be the head tag or parent. BODY then would be the child of that parent.

In my search for DOM tutorials on the web I came across this tutorial from Mozilla. This tutorial explains the structures for the DOM and how to call the object you want to use when running your API. This site also explains how the XML tree is structure. This was a very useful site and when I looked through the examples I began to understand how the DOM comes together.

Another useful site I came across was our all time favorite, www.w3schools.com. Although this site is not as in-depth as Mozilla's site it still gives the beginner the basic foundation for the DOM tree. Once mastered it looks like DOM can give the API programmer a great deal of control over their API. Hopefully these sites help in our journey of the DOM.

Co-Inventor of XML goes in on Apple

2010-03-18T09:33:00.006-04:00

First I want to give you guys an update on what's happening with the Global IT Club. Well as everyone knows this is Ethos Week and today former Vice President of Intel Corporation, Ken Fine, will be speaking at 5:30pm. Next week, we will be making a field trip to Menlo Innovations. This is a great opportunity for anyone that is interested in the company to get an up close look at what happens on the inside. The field trip will be next week Friday, March 26th. If you are interested in attending or have any questions, let Jenelle, Chris, me or Professor Drake know.

Now for my main feature story, the punches between Apple and Google just keep rolling. Yesterday, newly hired Android developer, Tim Bray, went off on Apple on his blog. Bray who recently left Window Mobile to join Google, expressed his dislike for the way Apple handles its app store and developers. He explained that Apple's "vision" of its internet future "omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It's a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord's pleasure and fear his anger."

Those are some really harsh words. But Bray did say that as much as he hated that aspect of Apple, he still thought that the iPhone's hardware and software were both great. I really have to agree with everything he said. Recently Apple removed thousands of apps from the App Store that they felt were inappropriate. Some just showed women in bikinis or had names such as iBoobs but didn't actually show any nudity. They removed such apps but kept the ones made by "Big" companies such as the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit App and the PlayBoy App. Why keep some and get rid of ALL others? I just don't get it and thats why I feel Android has a leg up on the Iphone.

This Article can be found on MACWORLD via Macwold UK

Parsing JSON response with PHP

2010-03-17T21:50:00.010-04:00

We are currently trying to tie in the Yelp API into our group project so I thought I would post what we have learned in trying to parse the JSON response. Since JSON is the only response method that Yelp offers, it was imperative that we figure it out. First, the proxy part is the same, meaning that I obtained the response the same way that I did with all of my XML responses. To do this I use this but of code:

After that I use the json_decode() function to convert the data into a searchable format:

NOTE: One nice trick that I learned is to do a var_dump() of the data variable to your output destination. What this does is essentially show you the structure of the JSON response so that you can see the hierarchy of tags. This is similar to just putting your XML URL into firefox in order to see the layout. To do this I use the following snippet of code:

The output will look like this:

After that it is just a matter of figuring out which items you want to retrieve and then grabbing that information. Yelp puts everything under the heading of businesses, which means that I use the following code to access the elements:

So here is the output on the site:

CSS styling

2010-03-17T19:51:00.008-04:00

OK I'm working on my individual iteration style of my web page. I did a little styling in Is247 but its been awhile so i don't really remember. I searched the web for some styling tips and i found that w3schools.com has a good tutorial to get you started. I worked through some of the examples which is good practice and it gave me some ideas on how i want to setup my website. the website has its own editor where you can fidget around with it.

I noticed that i have to play around with Css code so i can get it to do exactly what I want. For my final project I'm thinking about adding a several images to the style also maybe a specific background color and specific positioning of my APIs.

I still trying to get the styling of my web page down. I am going to continue to surf the web for some other examples hopefully i will have it down pack for the final individual project.

Funny Websites Hit it Big!

2010-03-17T19:39:00.005-04:00

Let me just start by going over Iteration 2 for our group project. It seems that we came across a few issues. Two of the sites that we wanted to use are such small sites that they didn't have APIs. We basically have to start from square one. We wanted to keep the same objective so we choose to display yelp and google maps for today. But after showing the class what we did have, it gave us some ideas. We basically want to build a site for vacationers going to Traverse City. The site will display where the rental places are, what there is to do, maybe weather, and pictures of the area. We would like to use Flikr but John asked us to try a google photo display also. We'll investigate these and I feel like we are on the right track now.

Back to the topic at hand, have you ever heard of Texts from last night, or FML.com. These are both websites that display mini blogs. Texts from last night just show either drunken texts or funny texts that people text to their friends. FML.com gives a look into embarrassing moments that happen to people throughout the day. Texts from last night was developed by a former Wayne State University law student who decided to take the technical road in life and has hit the jackpot. The site is said to get 4.5 million hits a day.

These sites started as small sites and spiraled into conversation starters. These sites now have iPhone apps and have even been offered a book deal. This is an example of people following their dreams, you have a law school student who risked it all to develop a website. I think she's done pretty well for herself.

XOS Football coaching software

2010-03-17T19:28:00.003-04:00

XOS is a software we use everyday at football. It is run by databases, and I would like to pursue a job when I graduate. It is a program that once inputed helps you watch practice or games as if they were happening in front of you. Also there is a way to fastforward, rewind, slowdown, and stop a specific play to help the coach coach.

XOS is constantly looking to expand their programs by asking coaches about what needs to be removed, improved and added. Programs all around the country use XOS, from big to small programs.

I was thinking XOS could convert to an online orientated company. I know alot of teams trade film of other teams. If they could convert the passing of film through their company they would force schools to use their service instead of competitors. If universities could log onto the server, and find then information they are looking for it would save their time and money. Check out their website and see what its all about xostech.com.

Android Hits 30,000 Apps

2010-03-17T16:05:00.003-04:00

The Android app store has finally hit 30,000 applications, which is more than double what was available in December - but they still lag behind Apple rate of application development. The most important factor, however, is still up in the air - with thousands of applications similar to the iFart application within the Apple app store, the difference in the quality of the apps may differ greatly.

The Android platform's app store has a large focus on open source, free applications in comparison to the iPhone's for-profit business model. Many developers attempt to release free applications with reduced functionality within the Apple store, which could effectively double the amount of applications within the store. With that said, there are multiple applications that do the same functions within the store - i.e. there are many text editors or instant messaging programs.

Many developers are releasing Android marketplace versions of their games for free while simultaneously releasing paid versions within the iTunes app store. It is possible that the Android marketplace's limited number of users (in comparison to the iPhone's market share) may be one of the compelling reasons why applications are not being created at a rapid rate, as the potential profit may not be compelling enough to bring developers over to the platform.

Google's New China - Update

2010-03-17T15:51:00.004-04:00

Twenty seven Chinese companies that have purchased ads on Google's search engine have banded together to demand answers from Google, stating that they placed pre-payments on keywords and that if Google were to shut down its Chinese business that it could have drastic effects. Google's business dealings in China account for roughly 1% of their revenue, but the company currently employs 700 people. The Chinese government also delayed the launch of the Android-operated phones from Samsung and Motorola solely due to their association with Google.

The large issue with Google pulling out of China is that people were depending on their services to be the helpful hand that would pull the nation out of a censorship-state. True, Google is not the largest search engine within the nation [holding a 35% market share], but the removal of the beacon of free speech in the east would represent the ability of the Chinese government to dictate, once and for all, what its citizens can and can not look at.

Some claim that Google sacrificed its moral standing when they entered China's market five years ago, initially complying with the nation's censorship demands. Google needs to tread softly in this time of trial, as their final decision is not simply a business one - it is morally and politically involved as well.

Chronicling America API

2010-03-17T10:12:00.004-04:00

For my individual iteration 2 I am am using the Chronicling America API. This API gives information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages. It is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress (LC).

The site allows you to search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. To encourage a wide range of potential uses, they designed several different views of the data which are publicly visible and do not require an API key to use them.

This API allows you to:

Search - the newspaper directory and digitized page contents using OpenSearch.
Link - using stable URL pattern for titles, issues, editions, and pages.
Linked Data - views of information about titles, batches, issues, and pages in RDF/XML.
Aggregations - of items, like all the pages that make one issue, are related using OAI-ORE

Compared to the old methods of looking up newspaper pages, this is a convinient way to view historic data. Here is an example of a newspaper page:

Google St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T09:34:00.006-04:00

Since today is St, Patrick's Day I thought it would be fun to see what new doodle was going to be used by Google on there home page. They decided to go with a Celtic theme and used Celtic symbols to represent there logo. There was a little article that talked about this and how they usually celebrate different occasions by changing the appearance of their logo.

I also thought it would be interesting to see how many sites came up when you google St. Patick's Day. It turns out there was 19,100,000 results. Everything form news, history, images, and so much more.

This got me thinking. Many people celebrate St. Patrick's Day even if they are not Irish. This is a very old holiday with a lot of tradition and many people like to participate by drinking green beer and wearing green. This would be a great opportunity to create an AJAX application to find local Irish pubs, St. Patrick's Day events, news, and history.

Indivudual Iteration 2

2010-03-17T09:12:00.004-04:00

For iteration 2 I changed my plans for the API's I was planning to use. Originally, I wanted to create a site using the Blogger API in combination with the Google Talk API to allow users to have live chat with others that were in the blog site. However, this seems to be more complicated than I expected. Google Talk API uses XMPP or Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol. In order to connect to Google Talk or any other service that supports the Jabber/XMPP protocol, you'll need to purchase Trillian Pro. So I decided to go a different direction with my project.

The new plans for my site is to use the Chronicling America API along with the Google Maps API. The Chronicling America API gives information about historic American newspapers. So far I have completed the iteration 2 requirements and have set up the Google Map API and am able to return the XML for the Chronicling America API using an onClick button.

The next step is to complete iteration 3. I plan to take the XML that is returned and parse the information to display the newspapers by location on the Google Map for Michigan. This iteration seems like it will be more difficult than the others, and I hope that I will be able to complete this task.