A nicer funner CAPTCHA

Captcha is that technology used when you are logging in to a website that requires you to type in obscured letters or words to make sure you aren’t a computer robot trying to break in. I came across a different take on this technology which I think is awesome.  You just have to assemble a very easy puzzle.  Here is a screenshot:

Own your own Blog

Scott encourages folks to start their own blog, especially developers:

“You are not blogging enough. You are pouring your words into increasingly closed and often walled gardens. You are giving control – and sometimes ownership – of your content to social media companies that will SURELY fail. These companies are profoundly overvalued, don’t care about permalinks, don’t make your content portable, and have terms of service that are so complex and obtuse that there are entire websites dedicate to explaining them.”

It’s true that the world today is about social networks such as Twitter (ugh) and Facebook so to reach more folks, I simply post to my blog and then link to it on my Facebook wall.  Best of both worlds!

My 3 Monitor Development Workstation

I’ve been working at home with my new company DigitalHarmonyGames.  I picked up a 2nd 23in monitor adding to my work Macbook Pro 17in I now have a triple monitor setup.  I have Unity3d running on one external, MonoDevelop on the other external and I do mail, skype and web surfing on the Laptop screen.  The 2nd external monitor was made possible by the $50 Cirago USB Display Adapter.  The USB adapter works great.  As long as I don’t run full-screen video or run anything that is too demanding on the usb connected monitor the setup works perfectly.

Chrome browser

My browser of choice is Google Chrome.  I like the bookmark syncing so no matter where I use it my bookmarks are there.  I like the support for multiple users which allows me to login to different Google Accounts.

Tips:

Use the built in PDF reader.  You can make sure it is enabled by typing chrome://plugins in the addressbar

Which iPad is better? iPad 2 or the New iPad?

The iPad 2 may be a better choice than the new iPad according to Dave Winer

Interview Questions

I have never taken a job at a place that included tests during the interview process.  The last time I interviewed someone I did it through Skype and they shared their desktop,  brought up their development environment and explained some code they wrote.

There are only 3 true job interview questions

Why we don’t hire programmers based on puzzles, API quizzes, math riddles, or other parlor tricks

Hateful Hiring

Getting answers to questions on the Internet

I participate in a few sites that exist to help people find answers to questions.  Some software developers that I follow started a site called StackOverflow for programmers which is perhaps the #1 source of useful information for programmers.  You earn points on the site for asking good questions and providing useful answers.  People vote for questions and answers and you are awarded badges like in Call of Duty! They made the technology used on the site available for others to start their own Q&A areas for various topics.  Only those topics that can prove themselves as legit are accepted at StackExchange.

I participate in the following sites:

StackOverflow – Programming questions
AskDifferent – For Apple/Mac questions
Web Applications – Gmail, Facebook, etc
Pro Webmasters – Website managers

The awarding of badges on these sites is a great idea and one that my new company Qliq uses for their Couponing/Social Networking smartphone app.

Windows Explorer Command Window

There are some PowerToys or registry settings you can make to add a context menu in Windows Explorer to open up a command window for the selected folder.  Two built in methods in Windows 7 are:

1. <Shift>Right-click to bring up a more detailed context menu containing “open command window here”
2. Edit the address path in a Windows Explorer window and enter “cmd”

WordPress plugins

I love WordPress.  I use it for all my web sites.  Most hosting services offer it for free.  I manage three  primary Wordpress sites.  My own blog, laketravislacrosse, and laketravisparents.

Below are plugins I recommend for WordPress

Members highly recommended for collaboration.
NextGen Gallary for simple photo management.  Can be used to rotate through images.  I use it to highlight VIP sponsors.
iFrame. Wordpress doesn’t allow iFrames for security reasons.  This plugin supports iFrames which are necessary for embedding things such as a Google Form or PayPal buttons.
AWPCP for Classified Ads
Exclude Pages From Navigation.  I found this plugin searching how to remove pages that showed up in the Classifieds Menu created by the AWPCP plugin.   Previously, I had made pages private to keep them from showing up in the menu which is related to the theme I am using.  Now with this plugin I have better control of whether a page should be on a menu or not.

Why use Android?

This is why Dave uses it.

I use it to test our Android version of TabbedOut.  I was able to buy a no contract phone for about $150 and sign up for a 200mb data plan for $15/month.  That compares to $200 for an iPhone and about $90/month total plan.  I don’t use my phone as a computer so 200mb is actually plenty.