You are currently browsing the My Web Information Blog Site weblog archives for July, 2008.
07-21-2008 by Tons.
Your credit score is a number that is calculated from information on you credit report. It rates the risk of extending credit to you. Some factors your credit score takes into account are your payment history, amounts owed, and the length of your credit history.
Posted in Credit Card Issue | Print | 3 Comments »
07-20-2008 by Tons.
Looking for a place to park in San Francisco, California is a hassle and a huge gas-waster, but thanks to a system developed by Streetline, finding an empty spot on the street will no longer require luck.According to the New York Times, over 6,000 parking spots across the city are being converted into smart spots with the help of wireless street sensors that determine if a parking space is occupied or vacant.
Drivers can access SFPark’s up-to-date information via their cell phone, but to keep everyone safe on the road, the city also plans to install battery-operated street signs that display the number of empty spots available in nearby streets.
Apparently, these 4-inch-by- 4-inch plastic sensors not only determine when vehicles are parked, but also when they depart, and a when a new one replaces it, which has city officials thinking of ways drivers could feed the parking meter without returning to their car.
The New York Times says the sensors will also be used to relay congestion information to city planners, but in the future, they may be used to monitor air quality and deploy noise sensors when the sound of a car crash or gun shot is detected.
Posted in Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »
07-18-2008 by Tons.
Ever since the early 90’s, computers have been an important part in people’s lives.
Computers allow us to perform tasks much easier, process documents which are more presentable than those done in a typewriter or handwritten, relax with music, play games, watch movies, etc.
The modern home sees the computer as the “central hub” or the “all-around machine.”
However, like every machine, a computer isn’t forever. It needs to be a long lifespan.
Proper use, system upgrades and the like are essential, but what most people overlook is the cleanliness and hygiene of their “super machines.”
A recent report states that the majority of computer parts (especially keyboards) accumulated an average of 0.3 ton of dirt and gunk inside them each year. This means your PC is more at risk from food particles under the keys than a hacker or virus.
To help clean your computer and keep it in top condition, here are few tips:
Posted in Tech News, Technology | Print | No Comments »
07-18-2008 by Tons.
First it was drinking. Then it was cell phones. Now text-messaging is the latest behind-the-wheel activity lawmakers are trying to curb. A Nationwide Insurance survey found that 18% of cell phone owners text and drive and that drivers between the ages of 16 and 30 are the most frequent texters. Young adults have even posted videos of themselves texting while driving on YouTube, and nearly 600 people have joined a Facebook group called “I Text Message People While Driving And I Haven’t Crashed Yet!” Washington, New Jersey, Minnesota and the District of Columbia already prohibit texting while driving. And Louisiana is poised to follow suit, with similar legislation awaiting the governor’s signature. On June 16, Alaska’s governor signed a law that prohibits drivers from texting or watching videos. (It’s still okay, however, to stare at a GPS device and talk on a cell phone.)
But these laws may not do much to curb texting while driving. A texting ban is difficult to enforce because, unlike cell phones that drivers hold up to their ear, texting is often done with the phone held lower down on or propped on drivers’ laps. “I have a hard time determining whether or not they are using the speaker phone feature or whether or not they are actually texting,” says Christopher Hopf, a police officer in Mendham Borough, N.J.
Given the challenges police face in trying to enforce cell-phone restrictions, it’s no wonder that a study released this month by the non-profit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that North Carolina’s cell-phone ban for drivers under 18 did not deter them from talking or texting. In fact, cell phone use actually increased slightly after the law took effect on December 1, 2006, from 11% to 11.8% about five months later.
One state where a lot of public attention is being paid to texting while driving is New York. After several fatal accidents there involving text messaging, State Assemblyman Felix Ortiz says constituents began calling his office to demand action. He is now sponsoring a text message ban in the state assembly; the state senate has already passed a similar bill.
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07-18-2008 by Tons.
If you’re one of those annoying motorists with his hand cupped to his ear yakking away on a cell phone - and you know who you are - better be careful where you’re driving. This month, California and Washington State joined Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and the District of Columbia in enacting laws prohibiting driving while talking on a handheld cell phone. Motorists who want to gab on the phone in those states are required to use a hands-free device - a wired headset, wireless earpiece or speakerphone - that lets them keep both hands on the wheel.
Already, more than 1,000 California motorists have been issued citations since the hands-free law went into effect, according to the California Highway Patrol. The base fine for the first offense in California is $20, and subsequent convictions are $50. With the addition of penalty assessments, the fines can more than triple.
Prohibiting a single act like talking on a handheld cell phone may sound simple enough. But keeping track of the confusing patchwork of cell phone laws around the country is enough to drive motorists to distraction. For example, if you’re driving by the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., you’re required by law to use a hands-free device while talking on your cell phone. A minute later, as you cross the Memorial Bridge into Virginia, you’re free to put the phone back up to your ear. In New York, an officer can pull you over simply for talking on a handheld cell phone. But in Washington State, you can’t be cited solely for a cell phone violation; there has to be another traffic offense taking place at the same time.
In California, the new hands-free law contains several surprising loopholes. The statute doesn’t explicitly prohibit drivers from dialing a cell phone, although motorists are strongly urged not to dial while driving. Of course, dialing while driving is even more dangerous than talking, since you have to take your eyes off the road to look at the keypad.
The California statute also lets drivers use a standard handheld cell phone to make an emergency call. The law lists emergency calls as those to a law enforcement agency, medical provider, fire department or other emergency services agency. But some motorists pulled over by the highway patrol have their own notions of what constitutes an emergency.
“I’ve already heard a lot of excuses,” says officer Allyn Ball of the California Highway Patrol, who has issued about 15 citations since the hands-free law went into effect. “Some people have said, ‘I really needed to take this call for my business.’ I tell them, ‘Sorry.’”
Even more astounding, the California law does not specifically prohibit text messaging while driving, although an officer can issue a citation if he believes the driver is not operating the vehicle safely. When the California law was first proposed in 2001, texting wasn’t nearly as popular as it is now, and the language of the law never caught up with the times. Another bill has been introduced in the state legislature that covers texting, but until then, drivers in the Golden State are free to barrel down the freeway while manically thumbing their keypads. But don’t get too cocky with your on-the-road texting. Drivers in four states - Alaska, Minnesota, New Jersey and Washington - can be cited for an infraction that in many ways defines the age of multitasking: DWT, or driving while texting.
Until recently, the cell phone industry has opposed hands-free laws, vigorously defending the right of Americans to drive with only one hand on the wheel while jabbering on the phone. California state senator Joe Simitian, author of the state’s hands-free law, spent six years trying to get the bill passed against heavy lobbying by wireless firms. Every major phone carrier except Verizon initially opposed the bill, arguing that it unfairly singled out cell phones from a range of driver distractions; by the time the bill was signed last year, only Sprint was still against it, and even they have since changed their stance.
“Every single one of the cell phone companies that opposed the bill also published consumer brochures that said very explicitly, ‘You should never drive while holding a cell phone to your ear,’” says Simitian.
The hands-free laws are based on what seems like no-brainer logic: a driver with two hands on the wheel is a safer driver. A study released earlier this year by the Public Policy Institute of California estimated that 300 fewer people a year will die in traffic accidents in California as a result of the new law.
But it’s unclear whether hands-free laws alone will make the roads safer. Numerous studies have concluded that any type of cell phone use - hands-free or not - can distract a driver enough to increase the likelihood of an accident. According to research conducted by Carnegie Mellon University neuroscientist Marcel Just, simply listening intently to a cell phone conversation is enough to impair driving. And a 2004 study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that drivers using hand-free cell phones had to redial calls 40% of the time, compared with 18% for drivers using handheld sets, suggesting that hands-free devices may in some cases lead to more distraction.
So far, there’s only one surefire way for motorists to stay safe and alert and to comply with all existing laws: hang up and drive.
& pls no txtng.
Posted in Tech News, Technology | Print | No Comments »
07-18-2008 by Tons.
The most obvious way to blow your credit score is to make a late payment. Even if your credit score is solid, a single missed payment could cost you as much as 100 points, say many financial advisers. According to the Fair Isaac, the company that calculates your FICO score, payment history accounts for 35 percent of your total score. And that credit score will help determine what kind of rates you can score when applying for home or car loans. So first things first: Figure out your credit score.
Your FICO score, a number between 300 and 850, is based on five criteria:
You can find out yours at myfico.com. According to Experian National Score Index, one of the major credit bureau companies, the average credit score in America is currently 692. Those with scores well above 700 will qualify for the best interest rates out there.
But even if you pay your bills on time religiously, your credit score may be endangered. Here are ways charge card sins could cost you some precious credit score points.
1. Not asking for what you want
Don’t accept everything your credit card company offers as written in stone. If you don’t want that credit line increase, ask them to reduce it back to your old one. Had one late payment? If your record is squeaky clean, ask them nicely to remove the blemish from your credit history (which, remember, could cost you up to 100 points on your credit score). They could say no, but they could very well say yes because they value you as a customer. Ask anyway. Your credit score will thank you.
2. Accepting credit line increases
Being the responsible, on-time bill-payer that you are, your credit card company rewards you by upping your credit line. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but remember how much you can afford to reasonably charge. Resist the urge to spend more or risk being unable to meet your new minimum payments.
3. Consolidating your accounts
So you’re considering transferring all your credit card balances to one card so you’re only dealing with one bill every month. It sounds sensible, right? A big no-no, according to the keepers of the credit score. Think of it this way: One big balance looks a whole lot worse than multiple low balances. Appearances are everything.
Posted in Credit Card Issue | Print | No Comments »
07-08-2008 by Tons.
Article: When I surf the Net, I often see web sites filled with beautiful graphics that strive to capture my attention. Well, they do so for an instant, however I click away when I don’t immediately find relevant content. The content you add to your web site needs to attract both visitors and search engines.
Part I - How to add content to your web site to attract visitors
Part 11 - How to add content to your web site to attract the search engines
14 ways to add content to your web site and attract visitors
1. Get into the mind of your visitor. Brainstorm all the ways your visitor would think of your product. Write your content as if you are sitting next to him/her explaining your product. Don’t write in the 3rd person ie we, they, but use I, you, or your. This makes it more personal.
2. Keep it simple - write as if explaining your web site material to a 7th grader (12-13 year old). Don’t use complicated words that people would have to look up in the dictionary. You want them to understand clearly what your site is about.
3. Convey emotion - people on the Web are often in a great hurry, so you need to appeal to their emotions to stop them clicking away to the next site. Use stories, convey your experiences or include testimonies from others. This adds to your credibility and trust, 2 essential factors for doing business online.
4. Communicate quickly and efficiently - people online tend to scan rather than read everything on the page. Therefore use single lines of text for your headings and sub headings. Catch your visitor’s eye with lists, bullet points and use short, snappy, active (not passive) words in your sentences. Your paragraphs should only consist of 2-5 sentences. Long paragraphs make it hard to read (scan) your page quickly.
5. Create white space - the layout of your web page should include plenty of white space. Don’t lean text hard up against your graphics. Include white space between headings, sub headings and paragraphs.
6. Use graphics sparingly - you have heard it said, “a picture is worth a 1000 words.” That’s true but only if the picture supports your content. Don’t overdo the graphics. You may impress your visitors initially, however to keep them interested in your site, you need high quality content.
7. Create high quality content - make clear points with each paragraph you write. Each paragraph should build on the previous one, so that you are pulling your visitor through your page naturally. You are trying to pre sell the product or service to your visitor. This puts them in a natural frame of mind to buy (unlike many sites which may just have pictures of the products and a shopping cart).
8. Web page background - a colorful or busy background can make your text hard to read and may give the impression of an inexperienced webmaster. If you do use a background image make sure it complements your site’s theme, fits with your visitors experience and will increase your credibility.
9. Use the correct fonts - the offline world primarily uses “Times New Roman”. This works well in print but not online. Sans Serif fonts, such as Arial, Verdana and Helvetica are the best fonts for easy online scanning.
10. Font colors - the best colors for reading online are black text on a white or off-white background. If you want to use multiple colors only use a maximum of 3. Too many text colors on a web page make it hard on the eyes and spell inexperience. To emphasize text you can use the bold tag (<B>this text will appear bold</B>) or italic tag (<I>this text will appear in italics</I>).
11. Check spelling and grammar - run your page through spell check in your word processor. It won’t pick up all the mistakes, so make sure you read it through yourself to find other errors. Spelling and grammar mistakes convey an unprofessional impression.
12. Simple navigation - the main purpose of the navigation bar is to make it easy for your visitor to find his way around your site. Place your navigation bar on the left side or top of your page (or both). Repeat the bar at the bottom of the page so your visitor does not have to scroll back up to move on to another section. ( Read my article “How to Create an Effective Web Site Navigation Structure” http://www.isitebuild.com/navigation).
13. Get a critique - don’t fall in love with your writing and leave it there. Yes, it’s hard to listen to someone criticizing your beautiful piece of work, but swallow your pride and get your friends or family members to do a review of your web page. This will help you to refine what you have written and make it appeal to a wider audience.
14. Use specific keywords - weave targeted keywords into your web page as you write your web page content. I’ll cover “How to Write for the Search Engines” in Part II of this article.
Posted in Programming | Print | No Comments »
07-08-2008 by Tons.
First, I’d like to give credit to my co-author, Mundi King. I’ve mentioned him before — he’s the PHP guru who can wite code with both hands tied behind his back (well, almost!!) Thanks, Mundi, for great work on this! And now to it……
There are entire shelves of books dedicated to tackling the question “how should one write a program?”. It is a difficult question and you will invariably get a different answer depending on the programmer you ask.
One of the harder tasks to writing a PHP application (or any program) is to know how to break down the processes into smaller, more manageable pieces.
Many PHP files start out as simple little scripts, but after time (and many feature requests) they tend to grow into very long, complicated programs. It may even become difficult to determine exactly what the program is doing at any given point. It is at this point where breaking it down will add a bit of clarity to the program flow.
Fortunately, PHP provides a few simple, yet elegant methods for breaking out code into separate pieces. The first one we will concentrate on is PHP’s very powerful include() statement.
Let us start with an often requested web application that will allow an end user to upload an image file to the web server and then give them a list of the images they have uploaded in the past.
Starting with first things first, we know that we will need a web form that has a file upload field and a submit button. And we know we will need some php code to actually handle the upload. Here is an example.
<?
//print_r($_POST);
if($_POST[”action”] == “Upload Image”)
{
unset($imagename);
if(!isset($_FILES) && isset($HTTP_POST_FILES))
$_FILES = $HTTP_POST_FILES;
if(!isset($_FILES[’image_file’]))
$error[”image_file”] = “An image was not found.”;
$imagename = basename($_FILES[’image_file’][’name’]);
//echo $imagename;
if(empty($imagename))
$error[”imagename”] = “The name of the image was not found.”;
if(empty($error))
{
$newimage = “images/” . $imagename;
//echo $newimage;
$result = @move_uploaded_file($_FILES[’image_file’][’tmp_name’], $newimage);
if(empty($result))
$error[”result”] = “There was an error moving the uploaded file.”;
}
}
?>
<form method=”POST” enctype=”multipart/form-data” name=”image_upload_form” action=”<?$_SERVER[”PHP_SELF”];?>”>
<p><input type=”file” name=”image_file” size=”20″></p>
<p><input type=”submit” value=”Upload Image” name=”action”></p>
</form>
<?
if(is_array($error))
{
while(list($key, $val) = each($error))
{
echo $val;
echo “<br>\n”;
}
}
?>
Without going into great detail, here is the basic low-down of the up-load.
The bulk of the php code only get activated if $_POST[”submit”] is “Upload Image” and this only occurs if someone has pressed the submit button. The form actually submits back to itself by using the <?$_SERVER[”PHP_SELF”];?>. Inside the HTML of the form, we will print out any error messages that may have occurred. This script also assumes that there exists a directory named “images” that is writable by the web server. You can usually accomplish this by ftping into your website and making a folder named “images” and changing the permissions of the folder to 777 or xxx or execute execute execute.
You may want to take a look at this tutorial about uploading files.
http://www.htmlgoodies.com/beyond/php/article.php/3472551
Now that we have our uploading script, it is time to take a step back and see if there is a way that we can make it more modular. Imagine a scenario where you are working with a team, and a designer who only knows HTML wants to modify the form. This could lead to a dangerous situation where he inadvertently changes some php code when he just wants to change some HTML.
Here is where php’s include() comes in handy. include() lets you grab other files and php will automatically insert everything from that file at the exact place you invoke the include() statement. To accomplish this, one only has to type the file name in-between the parentheses of the statement. For example, include(”myfile.txt”);
If we separate out our one giant php script so that the html part is in another file and leave most of the php in the original script, the HTML designer can go into that file and not have to worry about changing code.
After putting in our include, the main file would appear like this…
<?
//print_r($_POST);
if($_POST[”action”] == “Upload Image”)
{
unset($imagename);
if(!isset($_FILES) && isset($HTTP_POST_FILES))
$_FILES = $HTTP_POST_FILES;
if(!isset($_FILES[’image_file’]))
$error[”image_file”] = “An image was not found.”;
$imagename = basename($_FILES[’image_file’][’name’]);
//echo $imagename;
if(empty($imagename))
$error[”imagename”] = “The name of the image was not found.”;
if(empty($error))
{
$newimage = “images/” . $imagename;
//echo $newimage;
$result = @move_uploaded_file($_FILES[’image_file’][’tmp_name’], $newimage);
if(empty($result))
$error[”result”] = “There was an error moving the uploaded file.”;
}
}
include(”upload_form.php”);
if(is_array($error))
{
while(list($key, $val) = each($error))
{
echo $val;
echo “<br>\n”;
}
}
?>
and our mostly HTML file would be this…
<form method=”POST” enctype=”multipart/form-data” name=”image_upload_form” action=”<?$_SERVER[”PHP_SELF”];?>”>
<p><input type=”file” name=”image_file” size=”20″></p>
<p><input type=”submit” value=”Upload Image” name=”action”></p>
</form>
The next step is to have something that actually shows what images are in the directory. We can write a quick script that will iteratively go through images directory and echo out what is there like this…
<?
$handle = @opendir(”images”);
if(!empty($handle))
{
while(false !== ($file = readdir($handle)))
{
if(is_file(”images/” . $file))
echo ‘<img src=”images/’ . $file . ‘”><br><br>’;
}
}
closedir($handle);
?>
Again, here is where the power of include comes in handy. We can provide a direct link to our list_images.php, but we can also just include it in our original upload.php This saves us from having to write it twice!
So at the bottom of our upload.php we can just include the include like this…
<?
//print_r($_POST);
if($_POST[”action”] == “Upload Image”)
{
unset($imagename);
if(!isset($_FILES) && isset($HTTP_POST_FILES))
$_FILES = $HTTP_POST_FILES;
if(!isset($_FILES[’image_file’]))
$error[”image_file”] = “An image was not found.”;
$imagename = basename($_FILES[’image_file’][’name’]);
//echo $imagename;
if(empty($imagename))
$error[”imagename”] = “The name of the image was not found.”;
if(empty($error))
{
$newimage = “images/” . $imagename;
//echo $newimage;
$result = @move_uploaded_file($_FILES[’image_file’][’tmp_name’], $newimage);
if(empty($result))
$error[”result”] = “There was an error moving the uploaded file.”;
}
}
include(”upload_form.php”);
if(is_array($error))
{
while(list($key, $val) = each($error))
{
echo $val;
echo “<br>\n”;
}
}
include(”list_images.php”);
?>
So far, our little application has been kept basic to emphasize the program flow and not get bogged down in the details. But our next step is to enhance the functionality of our gallery.
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07-08-2008 by Tons.
The single most important thing I tell people who use PHP is to turn error reporting to its maximum level. Why would I want to do this? Generally the error reporting is set at a level that will hide many little things like:
These factors might not seem like that big a deal — until you develop structured or object oriented programs with functions and classes. Too often, writing code with the error reporting turned up high would cost your hours as you scoured long functions that didn’t work because a variable was misspelled or not accessible.
PHP won’t tell you anything in that case – it’ll just create the new variable for you and initialize it to zero. The remedy is to put the following line at the top of every PHP document as you develop:
error_reporting(E_ALL);
It simply forces the error reporting to be at its highest level. Try putting this line in other PHP programs, and more often than not you’ll receive a barrage of warning messages that identify all the potentially wrong elements of the code.
I never recommend using ” (double quotes) when programming with PHP. Always use ‘ (single quotes) unless you need the features of ” (double quotes). You might think it’s much easier to write code as:
echo "Today is the $day of $month";
However, using single quotes forces variables to be outside the quotes; instead, you must use the period (.) to combine strings. It makes for faster coding but can be more difficult for other programmers to read. Let’s look at what would happen if we put an associative array value in the previous code:
echo "Today is the $date[‘day’] of $date[‘month’]";
You would receive a parse error and it would be harder for another team member to read. Two correct ways to write that line of code would be:
echo 'Today is the ' . $date[‘day’] . ' of ' . $date['month'];
and
echo "Today is the {$date['day']} of {$date['month']}";
These might not look as pretty as the original code, but syntactically they are both correct. Additionally, I believe the first method, with single quotes, is easier to read.
The use of single and double quotes also applies to associative arrays. Consider this code:
$SESSION[team] = $SESSION["old_team"];
One main problem exists in that line of code. The associative entry team on the left side needs to have single quotes around it; otherwise, PHP will think it’s a define and give you a warning message (only if error reporting is at maximum). I would recommend that the code should look like this:
$SESSION['team'] = $SESSION['old_team'];
I wish I’d known the difference between single and double quotes as they pertain to strings when I first learned PHP.
Getting Syntax Highlighting for PHP with Dreamweaver 4
As I was programming in PHP using Dreamweaver 4 as my text editor, I came across a handy little trick. You can fool Dreamweaver into thinking that code on the page is JavaScript, so that it applies the same syntax highlighting rules to your PHP as it would to JavaScript.
JavaScript and PHP both draw from the same languages, including C and Java, and therefore have many aspects in common. Try it out and see for yourself. Add this code to the top of a PHP document, open it in Dreamweaver 4, and go to the text editor (you can click Ctrl-Tab on your keyboard to switch views):
/* >The code to get PHP syntax highlighting with Dreamweaver
What the code does is close out the most recent left bracket on the page (typically from
<script language=”JavaScript”> (courtesy of david@superupdate.com) */<?php) and sets the script language to JavaScript for the remainder of the page. The code itself doesn’t affect PHP because it is commented out using the /*…*/ commenting system.
I hope these little PHP coding tips make your development time more efficient, and your resulting code more effective!
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