Getting answers to questions on the Internet

Getting answers to questions on the Internet

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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.

We’re (mostly) an Android Family

We’re (mostly) an Android Family

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Cassidy and I have been out of contract on our T-mobile phones for half a year.  We were waiting for the right time to extend our contract.  Cassidy has also been wanting an iPhone which of course T-mobile does not offer.  Earlier we were waiting to see if we could stay with T-mobile and maybe wait for AT&T to buy T-mobile and make iPhones available.

This weekend I picked up 3 new phones and extended Cassidy, David and my contract for 2 years.  The time was right because T-mobile was offering all their phones free with a 2-year committment.  T-mobile makes you jump through some hoops, however, asking for the cost of the phones up front and requiring you to send in rebate forms for each phone.  Rebates are such a cheezy business practice! Anybody that uses them I automatically think less of.  As much as Cassidy wanted an iPhone I convinced her to give the HTC Android a try. I’m hoping the speed of 4G and all the cool features of this phone will make her forget the iPhone.  She has an iPod Touch and an iPad!  And Jane has an iPhone.

We didn’t get the highest end Samsung Galaxy S II or HTC Maze 4G (normally each $230 with 2-yr) because they required the most expensive plans which we didn’t need.  We settled on the HTC Sensation (normally $199) which is a beautiful phone.

There is something to be said for having the same phones in the family.  We can share discoveries, accessories, and experiences. We each have 2Gig unlimited data plans which means we get up to 2Gig at 4G speeds and don’t get charged for going over, but the speed drops.  It has a 8MP camera and can take 1080p video.  It came with an 8gig SD card and a nice stereo headphone with volume controls.

So far, we are all very pleased with the phone.

There wasn’t a specific driver to get my laptop to recognize the phone for Android development; I had to download the HTC sync software.  I got it Here

Just discovered a killer app that I’ve missed on the iPhone.  Maps street view!  It’s a free plugin on the Android!

Windows Explorer Command Window

Windows Explorer Command Window

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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

WordPress plugins

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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?

Why use Android?

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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.

Let it crash programming

Let it crash programming

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Let it crash can be a good thing, especially if the alternative is empty catch blocks, or generally failing silently.  If you can provide an equally attention grabbing alternative to crashing, like logging an error that also sends a critical message/email/event that could work if you can gaurantee not leaving the app in an unknown state.

Crash early and crash often for more reliable software

The only error checking a program needs are for errors that can actually happen during normal control flow.

Here are more posts on the subject.

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