From Inside Microsoft:
The most interesting info centers on web standards. According to Mary Jo Foley’s report of the session, IE8 will encourage web designers to create websites that adhere to web standards, and allow them to opt-in to a standards mode if they meet that criteria.
“IE8 will encourage web designers to create websites that adhere to web standards”
*Cough* I mean really?
M$ pushing for designers to stick to standards?? How long. How long, has Internet Explorer had ‘quirks’ and workarounds for the box model as well as all the other bugs it’s had? Specifically in CSS. Seriously.
On top of all this, the browser is so integrated into the operating systems in such a way that if it becomes corrupt, it can slow down your OS, and make some files and operations down right break. Unfortunately IE still has a large portion of users out there. As of this writing still about 78% of the population(via Marketshare). I’d personally be willing to say I’ll bet they are corporate users, or the small portion of home consumers who are unaware of other options out there.
On the other hand I will say it’s taken much too long. If this IS true, THANK YOU Microsoft! But I’ll believe it when I see it. I’m sticking to my firefox. 
Microsoft, Internet Explorer, browser, css, standards
For a few weeks now I’ve been trying out the Winzy search engine [referral]. Thanks to my friend at makeyougohmm.com. It’s a search ’site’ I’ll call it, powered by ask.com. The search is not very powerful, but the site awards you points for searching. The points can earn you an ipod, or a chance at winning money.
This morning on the drive to work I heard the owner of yet another search engine that’s out there.ChaCha Search(Beta). After a few rounds with it, I’d have to say it’s not too shabby. The returned search results are more than what ask would offer with an added side bonus. You can chat with a ’search specialist’ who will help return more relevant results for your search. They’re called ChaCha guides.
According to the ChaCha guide on becoming a guide, you must be invited by a master ChaCha guide. The page also states “Our Guides earn between $5-10 per search hour based on performance.” Wow! They even have a flexible schedule….
”
- Get deep access to the ChaCha Underground community to meet other ChaCha Guides like you!
- Get paid to do something you like (help people in areas that interest you).
- Participate whenever you want. Your ChaCha Guide schedule is flexible – it’s 100% up to you.
- Be a celebrity! Share your knowledge with the world and be recognized.
- Climb to the top of the ChaCha Guide rankings and build your ChaCha Network to maximize your success.
”
I’m not quite sure of the ‘celebrity’ role. I tried out the chat option while searching for something that returned many possible different results. I chatted with a guide who hung with me while she popped relevant results into my canvas. Along the way she asked me if the results were relevant. Basically she was checking to see if she was warmer or colder. She pretty much got the results I was looking for.
I’m quite pleased with both the results the engine returns on it’s own as well as the chat option. It’s nice when you arent sure what your looking for and can’t get your query just right. Although I must say that I’m pretty savvy myself. I’m a bit curious if I could become a guide and I’m looking more into it.
Search Engine, Search, ChaCha, Internet, Beta
In the past I’ve purchased several types of DVD-R’s. Some have worked, and for some strange reason other DVD-R’s haven’t performed the same. Some wouldn’t get read by my recorder at all. In a hurry to keep the part number for future reference, I accidently grabbed just the UPC code and nothing else.
Upon searching for this part I came across Internet UPC Database. The site is actually a hobby of it’s creator. It allows users to register, logon, and add UPC’s all the time to it’s database. The site claims to have begun it’s work in 1999 so it’s database is pretty full. As of this entry the total items entered were at 839,904. You can view the rest of the stats at their site.
Sure enough I found the product’s information I was looking for right away. What I wonder is how the information is validated. Since there is only a guideline on the data entry.
upc
I’ve recently reformatted my computer and started missing my favorite dev tools. In an attempt to record them, I can also share them with others.
A list of my current favorite web tools…
Text Editor:
Compression Utility:
- IZARC – IMO, better than winzip
Localhost Server (Apache/mySQL):
- Wamp – Run an Apache web server on your PC. You can configure it to run or not run on startup. It also includes mySQl and a few php extensions.
Firefox extensions:
- measureit – Measure pixels right on your screen.
- colorzilla – Grab colors off of web pages, zoom, and built in color picker.
- web developer – CSS, XHTML, Screen resize, line guides, disable styles and much much more.
- firebug – A great tool especially for pages created in php. You may have 100 lines of code before the html begins. This helps you debug xhtml issues on “line 12″ which is actually line 112. Works well with included php files as well.
IE Explorer Add On:
- IE Dev Toolbar(For IE Similar to Firebug)
Tools, Dev, Developer, Dev Tools
I had recently been peeking into a SQL database via Microsoft Access. I got quite used to browsing all the tables and fields, seeing their data types, and visually seeing their relationships. I’ve just began a project that connects to a proprietary(aged) database that uses ODBC to connect to it. Access would not allow me to view this the same (At least I couldn’t figure it out).
After a quick search I found a freeware application called passportODBC(You can download from other locations/ sites). It does require some information from you to register it. Some basic info like your name, and email and a phone number.
It’s not as fast as access and SQL server 2005, but I’m suspecting a lot of that has to do that it is ODBC. It’s really quite simple to use. Choose your data source, enter some credentials and go. You can view tables, all the fields, and the field attributes.
ODBC, programming, database
Update 2/28/07 1:20PM
Embassy Software offers the download direct from their site.
Update 5/16/07
I found a more simple tool for viewing via ODBC. You can compose queries and the likes. It’s much more simple to use (for me anyways) ODBC View can be downloaded from sliksoftware.co.nz
