Bit Pimpin’ since 1975
September 7th, 2008 — Ajax, Business, Open source, Programming
They released Chrome: less browser, more application delivery platform. JITted Javascript — for fast DOM wizardry and Ajax yumminess. It’s own application space and full-stack OS hooks through Gears. Your app can effectively leap into the cloud. More ⊕
July 28th, 2008 — Ajax, Blogging, Business, Community, Design, Marketing, Stranger than Fiction, Wordpress
On Wednesday, New York Times Co. (NYT) reported disappointing second-quarter earnings, and on Thursday the stock continued in its steep descent.
At the end of trading it stood at 12.48, or virtually half the price it commanded one year ago.
This part of the story is unsurprising, given how the Street is slamming any newspaper stock.
What’s startling is something else: If you back out much of the rest of the company’s portfolio, you arrive at a surprisingly teeny valuation for the vaunted New York Times itself, despite all the respect the brand commands.
July 22nd, 2008 — Ajax, Blogging, Books, CMS, CSS, Community, Design, Fireworks, How-to, Humor, Marketing, Microsoft, Photoshop, Pimp that App, Politics, Programming, Ruby on Rails, Stranger than Fiction, Wordpress
It’s time to band together and drop the funk.
Oddly Zen is seeking collaborators and guest-bloggers for full-time, part-time, or one-off content contributions in the areas of:
And get some link-backs all from the comfort of your cube.
Note: Think of this as an open-source blog. Contribution should make you feel good. 
Also, I’m looking for someone (preferably one other person) to build a Rails application with. It will be a gift to the community as well — and if it makes any cheese, we’ll donate it.
July 20th, 2008 — Ajax, Design, How-to, Marketing, Pimp that App
Guess who’s back, back again…?
Is your application a hooptie? Could it stand a ghetto-fabulous makeover of MTV-sized proportions? Chances are, even if it is washed and waxed, it could probably move on up to the big time by following a few nuggets of kind reflection.
I’ve been kicking around some thoughts and observations of various social media sites and APIs. And guess what? My eyes have seen the glory of the pimping of your app. That’s right — just follow these golden rules and you, too, can go from limp to pimp.
More ⊕
April 23rd, 2008 — Ajax, Books, CMS, Programming, Ruby on Rails
I visited one of my favorite sites today — A List Apart. I was excited to see an article entitled “Getting Started with Ruby on Rails.” Like the name suggests, it is a solid introduction to Ruby on Rails and programming with the framework. Through Rails has already won many converts, it is still just being picked up by scads of developers… those who thought it best to wait until it was more supported or more mature.
I began experimenting with Rails fairly early due to a coworker’s suggestion. Then I dove in head-first when I started working for a firm specializing in Ruby on Rails development. And I’ve loved every minute of this wild ride. It is more fulfilling than previous frameworks I’ve used — ASP.NET, in particular. This feeling is due in heavy measure to the eloquence of Ruby the language, it’s natural feel, but also to the design considerations of the Rails framework. It is true that constraint can spawn creativity… ask anyone who has written a Sonnet and followed the appropriate conventions including Iambic Pentameter and the rhyme scheme. In this way, Rails allows me greater creativity and flexibility through its constraints. More ⊕
April 16th, 2008 — Ajax, How-to, Programming, Ruby on Rails
I recently created a plug-in for TinyMCE, the rich text editor, to handle image uploads, creation of thumbnails, and a gallery for insertion into the TinyMCE editor. I am super-busy — working full-time, writing a book (due out soon!), and juggling life, family, and everything-else-under-the-sun — but I am committed to writing a tutorial on how I accomplished this magical feat. (At least I’m impressed. :-)) Anyway, check back for updates. If I’m feeling especially magnanimous, I might even package it up for release…
April 16th, 2008 — Ajax, How-to, Programming, Ruby on Rails
I encountered an error today with a Rails Ajax drag ‘n drop and sortable list I developed for a client. Scouring the production logs, I saw:
/!\ FAILSAFE /!\ Wed Apr 16 14:19:18 -0500 2008 Status: 500 Internal Server Error can't modify frozen string
After some Googling, I saw a couple posts in the Ruby on Rails talk Google Group. Sure enough, others were experiencing the problem, but there was no reported solution. Apparently there is even a patch in the Rails core — or at least a ticket in for the problem. But, I don’t think that is necessary, because I came up with a solution without having to patch the core. More ⊕
