Ryan Leland

Google Chrome - Just Another Browser?

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:35:24 +0000

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).

New theme, and update.

admin — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:33:34 +0000

Posting from my iPod! Just updated wordpress to make use of the touch app for wordpress. Seems pretty slick so far.

Learning Cocoa. Again.

admin — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:31:31 +0000

It’s been a long time since I did any Cocoa programming, and even what I have done in the past hasn’t gone much beyond a few tutorials here and there. The interface builder always intrigued me though, but I think what always was the killer for me was some of the subtle, and not so subtle differences between Obj-C, and C, and the insane differences between Obj-C, and C++. I sort of got the bug after downloading the iPhone SDK (Cocoa Touch), and seeing just how close it was to Cocoa. Also, the iPhone Simulator is fun to play with.

I’ve just finished building a few “Hello World” type apps though, and the difference between making those, and trying to do anything in Win32 is just insane. It honestly even feels easier than web development. At least the prototyping side of it, and getting the interface all plugged together. I just feels like such a a natural way to build an application. I kinda wish I could build websites in that way. Anyway, I really shouldn’t be learning Cocoa since I actually have a freaking website to finish (ack). But it’s sorta fun learning for now. If I make anything cool, I’ll try posting it along with the source code.

me-vs-timelines

admin — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:59:22 +0000

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

admin — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:03:41 +0000

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!

http://www.addedbytes.com/cheat-sheets/

Post Demo Camp

admin — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 02:13:09 +0000

I was very impressed. Thanks to all the people, and sponsors that were part of this great day. It was such a great environment to share, and I really got the sense that there was a community vibe. There was a great energy, and anticipation when we showed up, and I was not let down. The sessions I took part in were as follows:

Angel investors presenting what they are about, and what they look for. This was really cool, as these were some of the group that funded nexopia.com.
U of A Aerial Robotics Club.
Fundamental Programming Skills vs Framework Knowledge.
Accessibility & Usability For Disabled.
How to ‘be’ a Contractor.
Emerging Mobile Platforms.
Zero Budget Marketing.
Analytics: How it can help.

Probably some of the highlights for me were the angel investor group, the zero budget marketing, and of course the endless supply of beer, and wi-fi.

DemoCamp Edmonton 3

admin — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 06:06:46 +0000

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 . 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

admin — Fri, 23 May 2008 04:22:53 +0000

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/

More Battlestar Galactica TV movies on the way!

admin — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:17:55 +0000

It’s pretty easy to guess that season 4 finale will come in the form of a TV movie, but there’s some good info regarding the future of BSG in this article. According to speculation in the article, the final 10 episodes might not air until 2009. Also, it’s been noted in the BSG fan community that the last supper photo has been altered. Tough to say, but it does seem very interesting.

Tricia Helfer Appreciation Day

admin — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:14:08 +0000

Okay, so perhaps not officially, but perhaps it should be. Or, maybe everyday should be. At least if you are a horny sci-fi nerd from Alberta. Sure, Tricia Helfer plays the to-die-for Cylon siren “Number 6″ in the Sci-Fi series Battlestar Galactica (which I may have alreay mentioned that I LOVE), but as it turns out she’s amazing in nearly every possible way. I guess the only things that would keep her from perfection is that, well, she’s married. Or, more accurately, not married to me. Bah, I’m just joking. Seriously though, there are plenty of reasons to love this elegant woman. For starters, she loves animals, and she’s an environmentalist (one that actually does something). And so, please take a moment with me to appreciate this fine lady.