Using twitter as an alerting platform

 Javascript, On The Front Line, PHP, Programming, Tech, twitter  No Responses »
Jun 302010
 

mypph 300x228 Using twitter as an alerting platformI received an email from Clickatell inviting me to top up my SMS account.  After a split second consideration I realised I did not need them anymore.  Sorry Clickatell!

Twitter is more convenient.  I have set up a few private accounts and subscribed to them through my own.  When an event occurs I receive notification direct to my phone as a free SMS message direct from twitter.

Although twitter has been unreliable lately it has proven more convenient than using Clickatell.  In time twitter will fix the problems and they may even be suitable for mission critical solutions.  I hope so because they are easy to use and should spawn many superb product ideas all designed to keep us informed with the information we want now, not just when we visit facebook.




MS Office 2010 Ribbons Driving You Mad?

 Utilities  No Responses »
Jun 282010
 
Get the Flash Player to see this content.

They were so bad in 2007 that I gave up and used Open Office instead. A colleague said the ribbon in 2010 is much better.

So I tried and for a few days everything seemed OK. Keen to embrace new technology I thought the problems I had with 2007 were teething issues.

Not so, unfortunately. The pressure of a deadline drove me to Open Office again. Determined not to kick 2010 completely I searched and found www.addintools.com offer a free “Classic Menu for 2010″ and for both 32bit and 64bit installations.

So I am using Office 2010. Again.

Payment Processing for Onelogbook

 Javascript, On The Front Line, PHP, Tech  No Responses »
Jun 212010
 

homepage 150x150 Payment Processing for OnelogbookOnelogbook is an outdoor sports activity program currently in development. My task was to add Paypal payment processing to the joining form.

Technologies used were PHP, MySQL, Javascript and I created a few minor graphics. Payment information is sent to Paypal for processing. On successful payment Paypal return IPN (Instant Payment Notification) code to the website and the user is authorised to use the website extended features.

Javascript is used for form validation and PHP provides the server side code. If a payment is cancelled user details are removed from memory and the database is not updated (you can see the cancellation notice at the end of this short high speed video).

And a “Please Wait” graphic – scourge of Paypal Payment Processing!

pleasewait Payment Processing for Onelogbook

New widget for Styleroomz

 Javascript, On The Front Line, PHP, Plugins, Tech  No Responses »
Jun 192010
 

Styleroomz asked for a widget to showcase products. Data is retrieved from their affiliate source as XML in a zip file.

The XML is updated daily to ensure prices and special offers are fresh.

The widget uses HTML, XML, MySQL, Javascript and PHP. Data sources include XML for the affiliate information such as coded links, pictures, pricing and store information, and MySQL used by the Styleroomz ecommerce software to link to their pages. The Yui library from Yahoo was used to create the carousel effect.

The following short video demonstrates how the widget in use.

Terry Pratchett Quotes WordPress Plugin

 Entertainment, On The Front Line, PHP, Plugins, Tech, Wordpress Plugin  No Responses »
Jun 162010
 

Click here to download the Terry Pratchett Quotes WordPress Plugin/widget.

If you are a fan of Terry Pratchett then how can you resist a free Terry Pratchett Quotes plugin windget?  To install download the pratchett.zip unpack to your hard drive and then upload the pratchett folder to your WordPress plugins folder.  After activating the plugin go to your Widgets (in the Appearance menu) and drag it to your sidebar.

The widget adopts your template design automatically and displays quotes at random.


Moist Von Lipwig by ~rhianimated on deviantART

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