If you didn’t know already, you can insert variables into your issues with Bonfire. It comes with four default variables: cookies, useragent, title, url. You insert them into your issue summary like so {useragent}, and Bonfire will replace it with something like this:
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64)….
Or for the pictorially inclined:
You can read more about it here. What I’m more interested in is creating custom variables. These vanilla variables are fine indeed, but often you need more debugging information before you can proceed to fix the issue. After the break I will show you how to create your own Ajax requests in Bonfire to get more complex information about your users (in particular session variables!)
I was interested in the performance of PHP’s APC cache vs the new Wincache touted by Microsoft. Essentially Wincache is APC for Windows (no duh!). I am only interested in their performance at storing variables and arrays in memory, and not any of the OPCODE stuff. Part of the reason is because I think they would be equally performant, and another part is that I have no f’ing idea about OPCODEs. Another thing is that I am not testing on server farms, so I was only evaluating single-server solutions (i.e. ignoring memcache) Enough with the hors d’oeuvres, let’s get to the meat of it.
Here’s a fun little plugin I wrote. I wanted some really neat syntax to display little coloured bars that go from 0% to 100% width and as they grow they change colour from say red to green.
It’s very tiny, and easy to use.
Here’s all the syntax you need on your page to make it work (Note 0.2 is the percentage of the bar that is complete):
$('.default').jColourStrip(); <div class="default" title="0.2"></div>
I've done a fair bit of changes here at mikemurko.com.
- Visual refresh: Darker theme fits more with the winter I think.
- New comment engine: powered by Disqus. Should allow easier commenting and make the comments more portable to other platforms
- More focused on coding/server stuff namely: codeigniter, jquery, classic ASP, ubuntu server maintenance, and windows server as well
Hope you like it!
The market for tablets, e-readers, and mobile devices is booming and the lines separating once discrete devices is becoming blurry. When there's any explosion of technological devices there is always a struggle to find appropriate names for the devices that will inform customers what they are purchasing, and ensure their product "fits in" with other devices in the market.
The latest release of the Kobo Vox here in Canada is hailed as a "colour e-reader" and that's what got me off my ass to write this article. The Vox is not an e-reader. Under my nomenclature it is a Android-based tablet device with a (power hungry) LCD screen and custom applications to talk to an Indigo online store. I guess that's a mouthful … but it most definitely is not an "e-reader"!
Let me try and clear some air and hopefully someone at one of these companies will take heed and call their devices what they actually are and stop confusing customers!
I was instantly frustrated by the amount of padding on the new Gmail look (released to me on Nov 2nd, 2011). Turns out it's quite easy to fix. Just click the "Gear" button (the lower one, not the top right corner). And choose from the fuzzily named Comfortable, Cozy, or Compact. Personally I prefer Cozy or Compact, but Comfortable is probably only suited if you either have a 40 inch monitor or are legally blind.
Remember to check out my post about cool shortcuts in Gmail and Google!
Tired of ads? After a little experimenting I found I could easily disable ads in all games that I downloaded. This isn’t as useful in actual apps that need the internet to function, but works perfectly well for things like Angry Birds, Moonchaser, Yooninja, and more. Obviously you won’t be able to upload scores and such using Feint, but you’ll be happy and ad-free!
I generally see K-cups as the anti-earth with their devilishly tempting ease-of-use and really wasteful and non-degradeable plastic packaging, all for just a single cup of coffee. I do however really enjoy the concept of a single cup coffee maker, so imagine my caffeinated joy when I saw the “My K-Cup Reusable Coffee Filter“! Read more after the break!
On almost all Google products my favourite keyboard shortcuts: ‘j’ to progress forward and ‘k’ to go backward in a list. It’s fantastic, saves you time, and stops you from cumbersomely grasping at the mouse. Long live the Home Row! Read more for one awesome voice activated shortcut.
Five tobacco companies in America are suing the FDA over a new law that forces them to slap graphic warnings on their cigarette packages. The companies state this law is in direct contraction of their first amendment right to free speech because, “they can’t require a cigarette pack to serve as a mini-billboard for the government’s anti-smoking campaign” [Floyd Abrams, lawyer]. The opposing side states that “the new labels could deter young people from starting to smoke and give adult smokers a new incentive to quit.” [Kathleen Sebelius, Health Secretary]. The question I had was: do these labels have proven, scientific efficacy in stopping smoking or detering it? I set to find just what the link is between pictures of gnarly medical abominations and people not sucking on a stick all day.
