Web 2.0
Google Chrome - Just Another Browser?
I hadn’t really heard of Googles entry into the browser market until today, and frankly, when I heard about it I was probably more annoyed than anything else. Firefox has been great. I’ve really become addicted to a lot of the plugins (especially Firebug). But over the last few years, Firefox has become a little bulkier, and perhaps my plugin addiction has taken away from my browsing experience.
I still am not sold on the world needing another browser. At least, not unless it’s awesome. Well, the good news is I think that Chrome has a fairly solid chance at being something pretty close to awesome. The UI is very minimalist, and the rendering is lightning fast. Start up is fast. I like the bookmark system, and search. And some great developer tools are already integrated. I think a lot of this is thanks to Apples WebKit rendering engine. And that kind of sucks, but only because Apple didn’t make a good browser with what is obviously superior technology.
I guess it sort of frustrates that Google made the browser that Apple should have made. Apple made a great Web Rendering API in WebKit, but just because the API is doing all the hard work, doesn’t mean the Browser should be boring. Yeah, I’ve liked Safari, but it never really did anything for me. It seemed like a good browser, but nothing about it really stood out. Chrome on the other hand is just different enough to actually stand out, and shows enough promise for me to really keep an eye on new developments.
So overall, Chrome is just another browser for web developers to keep in mind, although Safari/WebKit is pretty standards based, so it should be all good. And, at the very least I’m glad that Google made something different enough to be a welcome addition to the market, even though it’s probably not a Firefox killer (yet).
me-vs-timelines
It doesn’t seem as though you-vs-me.com will be ready for my original target launch date. There is simply too much I think could be improved, and too much to still be added to bother showing people when I know it can be better. For the handful of people following my progress, thanks for the encouragement and support.
I think the new launch date is “when it’s ready”, but for the sake of giving myself a goal, I’m going to say Oct, 7, 2008. My birthday. There have been lots of little sites with original concepts that have gone on to do great things, and I’m really hoping this will be one of those. After building the site 3 times, and having as many as 5 designs, I think it’s time I just get it finished to finally see if it has wings.
Some Nice Cheat Sheets
I just found this site while looking for phpDocs cheat sheet. Though this particular one lacks a phpDocs cheat sheet (I did find one), there is some interesting ones here, and all pretty high quality. Enjoy!
DemoCamp Edmonton 3
I can hardly wait. I missed the last one, and I’ve been really hoping there will be something there to inspire me. I think I would be equally inspired if the place was filled with balding middle aged internet marketers that are impressed by the latest CMS, because it will totally make their Web 2.0 internet millions a reality </sarcasm>. Ugh… because I know there is always a handful of those types that go to anything where they can… “network”.
Maybe I’m just not super convinced yet that anyone who is actually innovating are super excited to share what they are working on. I guess we’ll see though. I have hopes that it will be a very productive day. I’ll post again Tomorrow if there is anything worth sharing.
Uploading With Zend_Form
I’m sooo glad I waited until I had learned more about Zend_Form before building any image upload stuff. This tutorial pulls everything together nicely, and provides a fairly elegant solution for uploading using Zend_Form within the Zend Framework MVC. I had read about some people having issues with file uploads, even without Zend_Form. I’m assuming it had something to do with the rewrite engine, or something in their bootstrap. Anyway, this example is real solid, and I hope to make good use of it.
http://akrabat.com/2008/04/07/simple-zend_form-file-upload-example/
Web 2.0 Internet Business Marketing
I’ve been pretty hard on the industry buzz words, but I came across a definition for web 2.0 that actually made sense to me today. The definition was that web 2.0 is actually a computing platform, rather than a collection of web pages interconnected by URLs. I had heard similar definitions, but this made sense to me in a new way.
I’ve been researching OpenID for a website I’m currently building, as well as other various APIs. It is pretty interesting, because I’m starting to see so many opportunities for web products, and services that could be possible simply by making API mashups, or even just utilizing feeds in a clever way. It’s making me think more about where the industry is headed, and what the next youtube or digg might be, as an example.
I don’t think anyone can possibly know for sure, but I do think that looking at what the successful sites are doing, and taking it to the next step would be a pretty good start. I do think that where 5 years ago content was still king of the internet, it’s slowly transitioning to communication, and empowering users. I think any tools that could help people communicate in new and more effective ways are the best bet fir the future. I think youtube, and flikr are good examples of sites that empower users by providing structure. I mean, you could host pictures or video in many ways.
Certainly neither of those sites did anything revolutionary by allowing people to host media. But the service empowered the users by providing the audience, and the tools for communicating. I think based on these observations, there is a fairly simple formula to success on the internet. That formula is pretty much what I just said too. Empower users by providing an audience, and the right tools for communicating. Of course building the right tools, and doing the creative marketing to get the initial audience is where the unknowns come into play, but I really don’t think there is any magic in those either.
Anyway, I have to get back to my web 2.0 internet business marketing plan.
It’s Official!
This is 11 days later than I had planned on officially announcing the launch date of you-vs-me.com, and all my wild plans for it, and the frameworks. It’s getting late though, so I will only be posting the link to the teaser/place holder page, and will be posting details on a regular basis regarding you-vs-me, the frameworks, and several other sites I have in the works.
Enjoy: http://you-vs-me.com
New Hosting, and Catching Up With BSG
Finally found a new host after keeping my eyes open for the last few months. GoDaddy served me well for the cheapness, and reliability, but things like the lack of control, and scalability, and not being able to use Zend Frameworks at all was really starting to get to me. I’ll be gradually moving my sites over to the new Media Temple server over the next week or so.
Also been catching up with season 4 of BSG, and it feels great. Oh, Baltar & 6, how I’ve missed you. So far I’m pretty happy, although all the new cylons is almost a bit too much to handle. You almost start to wonder who isn’t a cylon. Well, they do have a plan.