Google Insights reveals that Utah searches the most for “adobe flex,” “flex 3,” “flex 2,” and “flex builder.”
My buddy Bryce Barrand found that Orem is the Flex Capitol of Utah
My buddy John Anderson discovered that Utah is also #1 in search for web technologies such as PHP, CakePHP, MySQL, and Linux.
Utah is definately one of the tech capitols of the United States.
Today I paid the $150 and took the Flex 2 certification test. I passed and am now an ACP - Adobe Certified Professional (add that to my Flash MX 2004 Certified Developer, MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional) and MOUS (Microsoft Office User Specialist) certifications).
Overall I found the test to be challenging. I wouldn’t take it without sufficient preparation. Here are my Flex 2 study preparation tips:
Obviously use the flex documentation as a reference over concepts that you are unfamiliar with.
Topics founds on the test that I rarely used include: IViewCursor, Flex Data Services.
Good luck.
At work we ordered a Inspiron 530S as an upgrade to my previous machine. Dell tech support stated that the system would be able to support dual monitors with an extended desktop.
Here’s what happened:
Once the Inspiron arrived, we purchased a PCI Nvidia 5500 GeForce MX card. This NVidia card overpowered the ATI Radeon 2400 Pro due to a setting in the bios that gives preference to PCI over PCIe. So in short, I could never get both video cards to play together. Once I removed the NVidia card from my computer, the ATI Radeon 2400 started functioning properly for the first time. (Dell Tech Support took over my computer and they couldn’t figure out why).
Next, talked to Dell Tech Support on the phone. Their sales rep claimed that a DVI Splitter cable would support dual monitors with extended desktop. We ordered two of them. There is no setting on the ATI drivers to support a DVI Splitter cable with extended desktop. Don’t have faith in Dell Sales Reps. Do your homework before you purchase something from them.
After this failed, I noticed a black cap on a VGA port. I took it off and tried plugging in my second monitor into it and rebooted. At start up an warning message displayed stating that my video card configuration wasn’t supported and I had to press F1 to continue. I continued. The integraded graphics card on the motherboard took control over my PCIe ATI Radeon 2400. I couldn’t even get the PCIe card to show up in device manager.
I talked to a senior tech support over at dell, let’s call him, Rasheem, and after dissecting what he was saying, he stated that the only way to get dual monitors with extended desktop was to purchase a video card with a DMS-59 connector. This DMS-59 connector outputs two DVI outputs to a dongle which you can connect two DVI cables to, to support two monitors. Some even support up to four monitors.
Solution:
Purchased an ATI Radeon X1300 PCIe card that comes with a dongle for $125.
Shoot me an email if you come up with a better solution or if this saved you a few hours.
For anyone that is confused about whether or not it is legal to use your neighbor’s wireless internet access point (router), please read this. It is illegal. After being annoyed out of my mind by an acquaintance claiming that it is legal to use your neighbor’s wireless access point if it is unsecured, I did one google search to find this:
Is It Legal to Use Open Access Wi-Fi Internet Connections?
He claimed that the “Internet Privacy Act” made it legal to use your neighbor’s wireless access point if it wasn’t secured. Too bad the “Internet Privacy Act” was a hoax.
Just because your neighbor’s front yard isn’t being used, it doesn’t mean you can go play football on it.
Before you go on educating the general public about topics like this, please do one google search.
If google wasn’t google, they’d have to do this in order to show up on their searches. Enjoy.
Site: www.NeighborCity.com
Looking for a new home, condo, or townhouse? Use NeighborCity.com to search MLS listings without having to go through a realtor. I highly recommend using this to find listings that fit your needs.
I was frustrated with the limited results that various real estate agents would provide me. One would have one set, the other would have another set in the exact same area. NeighborCity.com just shows you all the results in your area that you want.
NeighborCity.com allows you to specify beds, baths, price range, square feet, year built to filter your search results.
Try it out today, you will be surprised.
Tonight I needed a fast php google sitemap created for my site. Here’s how I did it.
Sitemap it up.
I converted to a Mac G5 for 2 days, then I had to get back to my PC. I did enjoy Quicksilver, which is a application launcher where you press ctr-space and the name of the program and it finds the program on your computer. I did a quick google search and found AppRocket which is similar to Quicksilver on the Mac. Press alt-space and you can launch any program or find any file, very handy.
Enjoy.
On April 26, Adobe announced strategic plans to move the development of Flex to an open source model.
Adobe is announcing plans to open source Flex under the Mozilla Public License (MPL). This includes not only the source to the ActionScript components from the Flex SDK, which have been available in source code form with the SDK since Flex 2 was released, but also includes the Java source code for the ActionScript and MXML compilers, the ActionScript debugger and the core ActionScript libraries from the SDK. The Flex SDK includes all of the components needed to create Flex applications that run in any browser – on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux and on now on the desktop using “Apollo”.
BoomYeah.com is the new social media search engine which allows you to find and rank local restaurants and local businesses. Great idea to allow the community to rank which restaurants or businesses they recommend.
Going on vacation? Use BoomYeah.com to find out which restaurants are the best to eat at. It’s like asking someone thats lived there forever where to go and what to eat without knowing anyone in the town!
Unlike other directories that are heavily text-based, BoomYEAH™ is a visual online directory that helps people find local and national business information. BoomYEAH™ offers more than just an address and a phone number. Once you find your listing, BoomYEAH™ shows you pictures, videos, special promotions, and other services offered by that business. Not to mention, you can find out what other people in your community are saying by reading online reviews and recommendations.
Good Crap!
For 2 years I leave, and come back, and wham! All these social media sites have popped up without me knowing about it. I’m on a social media extravaganza right now.
Tonight I just found:
Flixster.com – Movies! Actors! Movies! – Everything I’ve ever wanted in a movie site!
iLike.com - Find Music!
Recently I just registered for:
Facebook.com – An Upgraded MySpace!
Linkedin.com – Professional Community
Other social media sites I enjoy:
YouTube.com
43things.com
Other Fun Sites I enjoy:
Pandora.com
LastFM.com
Threadless.com
Textual Analysis of Inventing the Unversity by David Bartholomae
Your standard success seeking college student walks into class on the first day. He scans the environment of his new fellow classmates and realizes his competition. New scribbles of dry erase marker dance on the white board as he critiques every move that his new professor is making. In order for this student to pass this class, he has to play this professor’s game. He has to invent the university. Chemistry is a new concept to this college student, but he acts like he’s been doing it since second grade. Whenever an assignment is made, he takes on the characteristics of a scientist with a PhD. The writing style he chooses persuades his audience of fellow scientists that he is knowledgeable and credible.
A college student switches from a scientist to a fitness expert to an English professor all within a matter of a few hours. Professors expect it, and the student plays their game. According to David Bartholomae, “He must dare to speak it or to carry off the bluff, since speaking and writing will most certainly be required long before the skill is ‘learned.’” Bartholomae suggests that a student must invent himself into the subject that he is currently studying.
Professors love it when a student invents their specific university discipline, because they want their students to become what they are. The professor finds delight when his students act and sound like their profession. The students are rewarded for carrying out the bluff and continue their path to the ‘A’. Playing the professor’s game is what college students are best at.
A common problem is that the student often slips out of stance or character and becomes less than they claim. Bartholomae outlines specific occasions when basic writers, college students, slip out of character and are caught red handed. On one instance the setting is wrong and on another instance the writer fails to conclude what he introduces.
Let us imagine this college chemistry student beginning his first chemistry paper. His first step is to analyze his audience. According to Bartholomae, it is a catch 22 because it is impossible for him to accurately analyze his audience. How can he know exactly what the reader knows or their life experience? All they can do is guess and assume what his reader knows. He thinks to himself, “Am I more powerful than my audience, or equal to them?” Decisions like this need to be made while planning in order for this paper to be successful.
On the other hand, some college students do not fit into this category of ‘jumping through the hoops’ to get an ‘A’. They feel they do not need to be something they are not. They argue to ‘accept reality’ and ‘stop trying to be something they are not.’ What if the college student’s priority isn’t playing the teacher’s game? This college student doesn’t care what grade they get. Learning the content of the subject is what intrigues them and motivates them. This type of college student is definitely the easiest route to take. It doesn’t require you to fake who you are. By simply writing, you display who you are and what you know. Simple as this seems, the downfall that is created is the lack of challenge and improvement.
Bartholomae seems to land himself right in the middle of both these types of college students. He argues that, “There is, to be sure, an important distinction to be made between learning history, say, and learning to write as an historian.” The difference is expanding the student’s mind beyond himself and challenging himself to think like the historian. Bartholomae suggested, “I expect my students to be, themselves, invented as literary critics by approximating the language of a literary critic.”
Using a personal history while writing is important in certain areas. Using the term ‘I’ is what can make or break the paper. Authority is instantly criticized by the reader when an opinion is stated instead of assumed fact. Bartholomae suggests that if the author, themselves are already credible, the opinion’s force is very great. Whereas if the author has no authority, the opinion has the weight of a feather.
Personally, I have used this technique of inventing myself into a professional of subjects that I study. It is similar to the conceptual idea of “Act as if, and then you will become.” When I study public speaking, I am the best public speaker there is. When I study object oriented programming, I know exactly how to write code. At work I become a technical scope document expert.
Should a college student invent themselves into what their professor wants? Or should the college student just be themselves? Balance needs to be created between these two types of students. When that balance is mastered, the student does more than invent themselves and is more than who they are. The student becomes the professional of that discipline. Do more than invent yourself and become.
Wondering what to get Brady for birthdays and other things… this is what I would love…
Amazon.com Wish List
This list will always be changing… so keep coming back!
Weblogs, blogs for short, are an oncoming fad in our society. The ability for anyone to post their thoughts and have it published to a worldwide audience has never been possible until this day and age. Credibility is the number one issue that comes with this phenomenon. What can we trust online as truth and what is just a farce?
A high school student down the street from you or a distinguished college professor could each have their own blog. How does one decipher what is credible and what is not? That is the predicament we are in. What are the standards that we must use to determine their credibility.
Whenever I need to research a topic, whether it be for class, work, or my own enjoyment, I open up google.com and perform a search. Results appear on the web site and nine times out of ten it is exactly what I want. College English classes won’t let us use many online resources as resources even though their accuracy could be better than the New York Times. The difference between a blog and a credited newspaper is the publishing process. Journalists must have a college education and a high level of skill in order to even write for a credible publishing.
The process to create a blog is very easy. Simply go to a popular blogging site such as Blogger.com and sign up. Within five minutes you have your own domain, bradysblog.blogger.com. You are now an author, a publisher, a writer within minutes. The whole world is your audience. Compare that to the rigorous task of an author attempting to write for a major magazine such as Newsweek. Intense college education, years of experience, and very good talent are a requirement to be a part of such a publication.
Can blogs be recognized as a credible source? Anyone can write truth. Not only distinguished journalists but also the college student. Each of us are professionals in our own area and should be able to write about it. Web developers or Botanists. Fast food workers or custodians. High school students or mothers. Each us of has a right to publish the truth and have it recognized.
Truth eventually weeds itself into the popular eye. A simple google search will return the best results on a few keywords. This search is all based on popularity. Popularity online becomes truth. Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that is open source, is a great case study to look at. Anyone can edit an article if they have more truth on the subject. Will this style of accumulated writing eventually circumscribe itself to near perfection?
Though anyone can post information online, a user can use standards to determine if the information is accurate. More often then not, the information will prove itself to be truth and worth your time. We need to determine what these standards are to develop online credibility.
Reference List:
MacKinnon, Rebecca (2005). “Blogging, Journalism, & Credibility. Battleground and Common Ground”. Source: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/webcred/wp-content/webcredfinalpdf_01.pdf
Jstor: Using weblogs in the classroom
Edward, Steven (2005, 26 Apr). “Evaluating Blog Credibility.” Source:http://blogcorevalues.blogspot.com/2005/04/evaluating-blog-credibility.html
Harvard Law School:
Site: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/webcred/
PDF: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/webcred/wp-content/webcredfinalpdf_01.pdf
Jstor: Using weblogs in the classroom
Online Credibility.
Weblogs
Forums
Expertexchange.com
Magazines online
Online newspapers
So there I was, sitting at my computer, when one of my good friends, Eric Torrie, signed on and started hagling me to help him understand web trafficing so he can get people out to his site, (www.eat5hams.blogspot.com) so he can make a million dollars for absolutely no reason at all. What a wierdo. Oh well. More power to him.
I also was reading about getting videos off YouTube.com, and found a cool little site, www.vixy.net that willgrab the .flv files, convert them to a format of your choosing, and let you download them. Pretty sweet.
Hi. My name is Brady White. I took a break from college for two years to serve an LDS mission in Washington state. I’m back now. My job at MediaRain as a web developer has fought for my time in getting my degree in Information Systems. I enjoy school, especially college. Academically I’ve always done well because I make time for school.
My wide variety of hobbies keep me entertained during my free time. On the tennis court I enjoy myself serving aces to my opponents. On the basketball court they call me ‘Spider’ because of my ability to rebound and block shots. Broadway musicals sound fantastic when I play them on the piano. My walls are decorated with photography that I have done myself. A shiny blue first place ribbon hangs next to one of my color photos. I won first place in the Orem High School photography competition.
I have my own website, BradyWhite.net, where I write about my life, my work, and what I’m up to. I attract at least 30 new people a day by entertaining them with my articles, tutorials, and stories.
Being the youngest of six kids has had many benefits. Jessica, my only sister, thinks I’m spoiled. I’m just well taken care of. Golf and basketball are what I enjoy playing with my four brothers. My family has called Orem home for the last 29 years.
As you can tell, I’m well rounded and enjoy life. Work, school, hobbies, church, and my family keep me going from day to day.
Hostgator offers hosting of unlimited domains for only $9.99 a month. If you are a web developer and have clients, they have reseller accounts for only $25.00 a month. You can then bill each of your clients separately.
After trying out 2advanced.net’s web hosting and the foobah that happened there, I will never, ever go back to them. Their server uploads speeds were slow. Uploads were continually interrupted. They didn’t even have MySQL 4.0 nor did they intend on upgrading (so much for having Wordpress 2.0). They never responded to my ticket requests. They refused to give me a refund on my money even though they offered a 30 day money back guarantee. Don’t get 2advanced.net hosting.
Go check them out:
http://www.hostgator.com
In all my nerdery, I have never built a computer from complete scratch. I am back from my mission, and my computer is four years old. I need a new computer. I got a new computer. After deciding what I wanted, and $846.56 dollars later, I returned with my precious.
My intent on publishing this article is so that history does not repeat itself. Please educate yourself and learn from me. It was a great learning experience, and I’m now hardware competent.
The Specs:
Motherboard: ASUS P5N-E SLI
CPU: Intel 775 Core2 Duo 6300
RAM: 1 GB DDR2 800 MHz
Video Card: nVidia e-Geforce 600GS 256 MB
DVD-Rom: Pioneer 18x DVDRW
Case: AZZA Xion 4 Black 450 Watt
BlueTooth USB
Mmmmm… Tastey.
I encountered 3 distinct problems, here they are, and here is how I solved them.
#1: Motherboard wouldn’t turn on (or boot up).
After installing everything properly and connecting all the power cables and the CPU, etc, my computer simply wouldn’t turn on. I messed with the frontside power cables to the case. I started taking everything apart one at a time and trying to turn it on, simply to find that nothing worked. Something kept prompting me (in my religion, I refer to this as the Holy Ghost), to LOOSEN THE SCREWS! So I did. And….. It Worked! My Computer actually turned on, the blue lights lit up, a smile came across my face.
#2: After being on for three minutes, my computer would simply shut off on its own.
I tried taking everything off, one at a time, again. Simply to find that this didn’t work either. I tried taking out the ram and repositioning it (many forums suggested this, it didn’t work in my instance.) I finally read and realized the my CPU was overheating and as a defense mechanism, it was turning itself off so that I wouldn’t waste $200 on my brand new Intel Dual Core cpu. I like my computer. So in the 3 minutes I had after boot up, I went in the BIOS and located the Hardware Observer that allows you to view the temperature of your CPU. My CPU was starting at 30 degrees Celsius and would climb to 68 degrees and then shut off. I found the problem. To solve it, I took off my heat sync, rotated it 45 degrees (so that the INTEL faced East), popped it in. Solved. My CPU now stays at 30 degrees Celsius.
#3: My Motherboard wouldn’t detect my DVD-Rom.
I switched the IDE cable to the secondary IDE position on the motherboard. Started up my computer. My motherboard loves my DVD-Rom now.
So here I wait while my 320 GB hard drive is being formatted so I can install XP. Please take notes, and let me know if this saved you some frustration. I do this simply to help others.
Upon returning home, I recently purchased a 30 GB video iPod. One of the best purchases I’ve ever made. I then discovered youtube.com. I then wanted some videos I found on youtube.com to go on my iPod. So a simple google search and this is how you do it.
Option #1:
Update: Thanks to my buddy Eric Torrie, I found a free online converter at http://vixy.net/. You still need firefox extension to figure out the location of the FLV.
Option #2:
How To:
Is it Legal?
Yes. Yes it is. Try me. I mean, let’s try YouTube.com’s privacy statement.
Any personal information or video content that you voluntarily disclose online (on discussion boards, in messages and chat areas, within your public profile page, etc.) becomes publicly available and can be collected and used by others. Your account name (not your email address) is displayed to other Users when you upload videos or send messages through the YouTube Sites and other Users can contact you through messages and comments. Any videos that you submit to the YouTube Sites may be redistributed through the internet and other media channels, and may be viewed by the general public.
I’ve returned from the Washington Kennewick Mission after 2 years of serving the lord. What a good two Years. I spoke in church today and it was great to see my friends, family, and ward members.
I opened up my mission call last night! I’m going to the Kennewick Washington Mission! I report to the MTC Jan. 26, 2005. I will be serving for 2 years teaching in english for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! After waiting long enough I’m excited to finally have the opportunity to get out! I’m thankful that all my family and friends could be there to support me when I opened my call! I am humbled to think that I will be a representative of Christ for two years as I teach his gospel to the people in Kennewick. 9 more weeks and I will be out there!
Pics from last night:
For all mission call photos, go to my photo gallery.
I sit here, in bland constant pain due to my tooth, wondering why in the crap it still hurts. I’ve hit the recommended usage of ibuprofen and tylenol for the day, still wondering why I can’t close my mouth. On a happier note, I hit the Good Charlotte / Sum 41 concert at the McKay Events Center at UVSC last wednesday. It was an amazing show. Good Charlotte put up a good performance… right next to zebrahead, but still not as good. We hit IHOP afterwards and had some fun chillin there.
I sit and wait for my call, hoping it comes tomorrow. One letter will tell me where I will be serving for two years of my life, I bet you’d be nervous too.
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