Blog

We work on the Internet and are constantly consuming information. There's a lot of it out there. We'd forget it if we didn't write it down someplace…

Visual Lizard's blog covers everything from web standards to the muppets, from php to comic books to music, just about anything we find interesting

Friday, June 9th, 2006

Sorry can't take your call

Ok folks there are some no brainers out there, like don’t stick your finger into a live light socket, don’t drink wood alcohol, don’t stand in the middle of a railway track with your eyes closed facing away from an oncoming train. Another no brainer should be that you should not talk on your cell phone while taking a nature call. If someone calls while you are "busy", let it ring. Most cell phones have call display now so you can call whoever it was when you are no longer occupied. Three very good reasons for this:

You have other things to concentrate on and wouldn’t like it if someone actually barged in on you in person.
The person on the other end doesn’t need to hear what you are doing.
Courtesy to others who may be using the facility next door.

There are other places where you shouldn’t be using a cell phone of course. Driving, since having someone jabbering away in your ear can distract you from navigating a 1500kg+ vehicle through heavy traffic. Theatres and other entertainment venues where the audience should be sitting relatively quiet.

For those of you who talk in very public places, use some common sense, if you have something to say which you don’t want overheard, don’t say it in public on a cell phone.

This is about what is considered acceptable social etiquette. Just like you were taught some general table manners as a child, the very public activity of cell phone use has some very specific manners. I have seen some pretty rude behaviour by cell phone users in the past. We have manners for most social situations which for the most part people follow in a general sense. Why is it taking people so long to pull together their manners for this form of communication? Apparently a study has been done. Maybe they will be able to give us some answers and start us on the path to polite cell phone use.

Thursday, June 8th, 2006

Net Neutrality

The US government is at it again trying to control the Internet and give sweeping powers to large corporations who will decede what you see on the Internet. It's all about big business instead of fair access and freedom for all. I don't know about you, but the Internet is one of the only places you can still get "the news" that large cable companies such as FOX NEWS fails to report. This is in the US but who knows the global consequences.

There is a colalition who has been fighting for the rights of the little guy , a grassroots organization called "Save the Internet"

Please read the Intro quote below and check out the whole story as this could change the Internet as we know it.

"Today, the House of Representatives will be debating and voting on proposed Net Neutrality amendments to the Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006, a bill that will grant sweeping powers to telecommunications and cable companies to set up a tollbooth Internet."

Full story here."

Wednesday, June 7th, 2006

Launch #6 in a month

PEVAC AMERICA builds security gates for companies, embassies and security sensitive facilities has relaunched their site after 3 years. The relaunch features a new design, features, and content. This version remains a static site, but has been enhanced with a photo gallery feature which uses javascript. In order to provide this site with a bit more functionality, a savings calculator was built by your’s truly using PHP.

The new design was provided by Spacecadet Design out of Winnipeg and was implemented by we Lizards. Suffice to say that we have heard very happy sounds coming from the people who make the gates.

Tuesday, June 6th, 2006

iPod pocket recorder

The iPod started out as a basic mp3 player which has become the most popular music player ever. Then the gadgeteeers started making software and hardware apps like the new Nike+. There have been a number of recorders built already. This one looks pretty cool.

Monday, June 5th, 2006

Not For You

I would have posted about this earlier, but needless to say I have been busy lately. Anyhow, Apple has teamed up with Nike. As you can tell, we like most of what Apple does. I am also a runner whenever I can make time for it. So when I read about their announcement, I was excited. Very excited.

When I run, I usually have my iPod Nano with me. Needless to say, having software that would record distance, time, pace and so on would be awesome. I popped over to the Nike+ web site and read through all of the information about their new products and how they work with your iPod. I was sold. I clicked the pre-order link thinking that peak running season is upon us, so this works out very nicely.

At the niketown.com site, where you are directed to pre-order, I added the Nike+ shoes and iPod kit to the cart. I then proceeded to add 2 new shirts and a pair of shorts, all of which I desperately need, and headed for the check out. I had read the availability advisement that Nike+ products would not begin shipping until early July, but I was fine with that. Getting the shoes, clothes and iPod kit all in one shipping box would be half the fun.

Lucky for me, as I was looking at my cart (see the graphic to the left), I noticed the very fine type in medium grey just in-between the remove from cart and subtotal lines that meekly states "U.S orders only". Hmmm... glad I saw that before trying to proceed with my purchase.

Granted there is nothing the developers can do to determine what country I actually live in, but they could test your IP address and warn you if you appear to be outside the US. Or the simple, less headache, low cost route would be to take the "U.S orders only" text and display it at the top and bottom of the screen. Perhaps in red and using some dom scripting, fade it from red out to grey over 20 seconds or so.

Needless to say, I am disappointed that I can not get Nike+ gear in my country before running season ends. However, as a web developer, what disappoints me more is the lack of world wide consideration for who is going to be interested in your product.

Nike, make it known that pre-order is for US customers only. Provide an alternative for visitors from outside the US. Give them a link directly to their country specific nike web site (that as of this writing is still trying to sell me hockey skates during running season and makes no mention of nike+ at all) that should have more details about getting the product into my hands as soon as possible.

I'm still stoked about being able to chart my runs while doing nothing other than wearing a new pair of shoes and plugging my iPod into my computer after every run. What I would like to see is a more conscious effort on the part of web developers and programmers from inside the US to give a little thought to the fact that people from around the world will be looking at your web site and trying to order your products. If they are US only, make sure it states so clearly BEFORE I get my cart full and am ready to check out. By the way, this sale would have been for $229.00 US and I had my credit card in hand.

Monday, June 5th, 2006

Global Warming Confusion

Recently I was accused of not seeing the "other side" of global warming. While I agree that there are most definitely two (or more, many more) camps in the Global Warming debate, my belief is firm in that to do nothing is not an option.

Even if we grant that this current heating of the planet is the natural cycle, there are things you can do to make sure you are not as much of an impact on the natural environment. If you have never sat in the deep parts of any forest by yourself for at least an hour (as still as possible) so you can feel the rhythm of the earth and nature, then you are missing out on part of our human nature.

Anyhow, more fuel for your water cooler discussions can be found over here (link tip from kottke).

Thursday, June 1st, 2006

X-Men: The Last Stand

So X-Men: The Last Stand was release last week. I went to go see it. Actually, I went to go see it twice. I really wanted to love this movie as much as I did the first two. Really, I did want to. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen.

The first two movies in the series were directed by Bryan Singer. Not only did the first one prove the X-Men could be as popular on the big screen as they have been in the funnybooks for thirty years, but the sequel was actually better. Singer, however, decided not to do a third movie, instead hopping over to Warner Bros to helm the soon to be released Superman Returns. So, Fox went looking for another director and settled on Brett Ratner.

Ratner has done some okay films. I liked Red Dragon. I was amused by the Rush Hour movies. After The Sunset was okay. But, no offense to Mr. Ratner, he may be a bigger X-Men geek, but he’s no Bryan Singer.

The first two movies seem reined in compared to this latest offering. Where X-Men and X2 could be called science fiction movies, The Last Stand is definitely an action movie. A summer, popcorn, McDonalds tie-in, action figure licensing action movie. It’s louder, it’s flashier, it has more of everything, and it has everything they couldn’t do before.

As far as I can see, someone decided to make a third X-Men movie, then they grabbed every cool idea that, because of budget or story or director decisions, were cut out, and crammed it into the script. Sentinels? Sure, put a cameo! Danger room? Been wanting to see that, yep, stick it in! Beast? Damn straight! Phoenix? Hell yeah! Juggernaut? Why not! Angel? Would look good on screen! Colossus? Wicked!

Course, you quickly realize the problem. With some many things going on and some many characters added, you don’t get to slow down and develop anything.

That’s not to say the movie sucks. It’s enjoyable for sure, as long as you know it’s action fluff you’re going to see. And there are a couple surprises within, story bits where you catch yourself thinking "I can’t believe they did that".

When Tim Burton left the Batman series and Joel Schumacher took over, Batman Forever went on to make the most money at the box office of that series. Yet, no one would ever claim it’s their favourite. Though it was flashy, had big names, and was eye popping action, most of it’s success came from the strength of the original two.

I expect X-Men: The Last Stand to end up exactly the same. Big piles of money, but with fans going back to watch Singer’s movies instead.

Tuesday, May 30th, 2006

Responsible Asynchronous Scripting

Shaun Inman writes a feature article on Vitamin titled Responsible Asynchronous Scripting. It's a short note that AJAX should not be used willy-nilly across the board, despite the Web 2.0 fad blowing about.

I remember when AJAX really picked up speed, and a couple really smart and respected people completely reinvented their websites to use AJAX and DOM scripting everywhere they could... only to dial it back to a reasonable level a couple weeks later.

I've been sitting on the sidelines, avoiding AJAX as I watch it being applied for purposes that did not, in my opinion, require it. There's a difference between making something easier to use and reinventing the wheel. However, I'm lately seeing less "How to use AJAX to do..." tutorials and more "When NOT to use AJAX and why..." articles. With documentation being drafted in that mentality, I think I will finally take a look.

Friday, May 26th, 2006

An Inconvenient Truth

The new movie about Al Gore’s crusade to show the truth about global warming was released to the world on May 24. This is a must see for those of us who look at today’s world and see the climate practically changing before our eyes. Inconveniently here in Winnipeg we won’t get to see the movie until June 16.

Wednesday, May 24th, 2006

Begin the Regime

Stephen Harper, Canada's Conservative party leader and prime-minister, has given Canada a nice international black-eye with his first move towards pulling us from the Kyoto accord. You can read the full story over here, but the crux of it is the claim that Canada should be given a break due to the fact that we are a world energy exporter. What? Given a break? Are you serious? Canada's carbon foot print is atrocious as is and we need a break because we export fossil fuels to the US and abroad?

You know what, how about we level even harsher controls on ourselves as a world exporter? Let's try and exceed Kyoto in every aspect. Create jobs where some will be lost. Turn those jobs into world leadership areas and export Canadian knowledge to combat global warming. Why not lead the race towards a cleaner future? Why not position Canada and Canadians to lead the world in reduction?

Obviously, money talks and vision is a thing of the past in modern governments.

Wednesday, May 24th, 2006

Ghost Rider Trailer

There’s a new trailer for the upcoming Ghost Rider movie. Yes, this movie is written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson (he did the Daredevil move), and yes, it stars Nicholas Cage... to many, not glowing endorsements. I’m not to fond of that combination either, but damn, the effects on the trailer look great. Be sure to see not only the western Ghost Rider on his flaming skeletal horse, but the modern day Ghost Rider riding up a building. Sweet!

Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006

Pay Internet? I don't think so!

At an international world wide web convention in Scotland this week, the inventor of the internet came down on the side of free access and against a multi-tier internet. That’s right keep the internet the way it is. Free access to content. The consumer pays for access to the internet in general. Access is free to any and all consumers. Sir Tim Berners-Lee has said that building a two tier internet (which has been suggested by some US telecom companies) would turn the internet into a very boring place for those who could not afford access to the second tier.

This article on the BBC does a much better job at explaining this than I ever could. Suffice to say that Sir Tim hasn’t sold out and stands behind the ideals of his invention. I am all for any system that does not discriminate against the poor. Viva la revolution!