Late Night Fiction

It’s been a while since I last used AOL Instant Messenger, but after downloading it today I was reminded of why I had stopped. The latest version of AIM, version 6.8, is more loaded with ads than the last version I regularly used: version 4.3 or so. Back then, when the only ad in the program was at the top of the buddy list, I could carry out my conversations with the least amount of unrelated, obtrusive advertising in my way.

Now, it seems like the folks in charge of AIM are too busy trying to support the immense number of people who have an ungodly amount of screennames to be able to have quality, usable software. Sure, it has a lot more features than previous versions (especially compared to the 4.0-days), but now I’m too busy avoiding the “tummy tuck” advertisements at the bottom of every window to even care what my buddy’s profile info is. If I was planning on using AIM more, I’d rather have an older version and lose all the fancy new features that the newer version sports. And luckily there are options like OldVersions.com, which hosts a whole collection of old versions of software like AIM.

There is a new version coming out that is supposed to be more “light weight” (version 6.9, currently in beta) and the screenshots look a little better than the current layout of the program (and, in fact, light-weight). I’ve yet to give the beta a try, but hopefully the changes made will redeem what used to be a very usable and not-so-annoying program.

Software reviews, usability, Websites

I’ve spent a few years accumulating digital pictures on my computer and over the past two finally started to organize them. With the introduction of Windows Vista it made this process a little easier through the use of tags and ratings.

Folder Structure
I keep all my pictures under my personal Pictures folder in Vista. Below that, my file structure consists of the following format: /year/month-date - description/event/ where year is in a four-digit format (e.g. 2008), month and date are in a two-digit format (including leading-zeros), and description is simply a description about the event, subjects, or location of the pictures in general. Being more general allows for there to be multiple events or other sub-divisions within that date’s folder, if needed: the event subfolder.

So an example of the folder structure might look like this:
/2008/
/2008/02-20 - Visiting at mom's house/
/2008/02-20 - Visiting at mom's house/Dinner/

Keeping a leading zero before both the month and date will allow for the folders to be sorted in chronological order.

Tags (Vista)

I’ve started using the tags feature of Vista to tag my pictures with the name of anyone in it, or the subject matter. I may also tag photos with additional information, such as black and white photos with “Black and White,” allowing me to do a search only on pictures I’ve taken in black and white.

The image to the left is tagged with People, Black and White, Lake, and Gabby, my friend who was in this picture. This way, through Vista’s search feature, I can easily search for pictures of a particular person or just of people in general. Saving one of these searches (for people, etc.) also allows me to easily access these pictures in the future and automatically updates the Search Folder to include newly-tagged photos.

Ratings are also a good way to keep track of favorite photos. I generally assign four-stars as really good pictures, and save the fifth star for only the best pictures I take. But I also have a search folder named “Good Pictures” with the query “rating: >= 3 stars.”

So there you have it. Hopefully this helps anyone who has ever had problems organizing their photo collection. Remember this system can always be changed to adapt to your own needs–between tags and your file structure, organizing your photos can be very flexible. Play around and see what works best for you!

Organization Vista

I wanted to share the kind of setup I have between the internet devices I own that allows me to stay so connected in a wireless world.

I have three main internet-enabled devices that I use regularly: my Motorola Q, my iPod Touch, and of course my laptop. These all have a few things in common with their online-capabilities: they can browse the web, receive email, and also allow me to manage my contacts and calendar. Combining these things with the power of a Microsoft Exchange server (courtesy of my school), all of this information is in sync with the devices that I carry around alternatively.

For example, when I’m at my computer, I’ll check my email on there as opposed to my phone or iPod. However, if I’m in my car, I’ll use my phone. And if I’m walking around campus listening to music or sitting in a coffee shop browsing the web on my iPod, I’ll use that. This also applies for, say, if I meet someone and get their phone number. I can enter it in any of my three devices and have it almost-instantly sync with the other two. I might find out the date of my exam (this occured yesterday) while taking notes on my laptop, enter it in Outlook, and later recall the date and time on my iPod’s calendar after sitting around, watching a YouTube video on it.

The point is that with simple things such as this, and the growing amount of support devices are having for all-in-one connectivity suites, it’s hard to ever be disconnected from the world and so easy to have consistent and easily-updatable information at your fingertips–all the time, anytime, anywhere.

Technology mobile

Blogging is a great thing. And with the increase in mobile device use, faster wireless network speeds, and new technologies in recent times, it makes sense that blogging has moved to the mobile scene. When I started “moblogging” I was simply using email on my phone to compose a post, email it to my blog, and have it show up on the site that way. When I got an internet-enabled iPod Touch I used the same technique.

This was simply because the blogging interface used by WordPress does not display or function correctly in Windows Mobile’s IE or the iPod Touch’s Safari browser, respectively. However, with the wonderfully expandable WordPress system, three plugins will make your blog “mobile ready” for all the major web devices out there.

Administration (Back-end)

• WPhone - Creates a “Use mobile admin interface” checkbox when logging in through a mobile phone or iPod Touch/iPhone. Solves all your mobile blog-managing problems, although a bit glitchy on the Touch’s browser when editing large articles. However, this will remedy your managing needs for everything the less-featured iPhone app doesn’t cover.

Display (Front-end)

• WordPress Mobile plugin - Allows your blog to easily (and attractively) display on mobile devices, such as the aforementioned Pocket IE. The only downside to this plugin is the more commercial nature of it that requires you to pay to have ads removed. If you don’t mind a little text-ad or have limited mobile visitors, this will do the trick.
• WPtouch - Creates a great interface for iPod Touch/iPhone users. If you download one of these plugins, this should be the one you use. The interface is incredible, allows a good amount of customization (including your own icons), and works great on the Touch/iPhone’s browser–portrait or landscape.

To really see what these all do, try them out on your own blog or view this site on a mobile device: all three plugins are currently used. This should give you a good idea of the good these plugins can do for your blog.

Internet blogging, iPod, mobile

Running PHP5 with 1 and 1 web hosting is quite simple. All it requires is creating a new (or editing an existing) .htaccess file.

Create a .htaccess file (if one doesn’t exist) in the directory you’d like to run PHP5. Add the following lines:

AddType x-mapp-php5 .php
AddHandler x-mapp-php5 .php

This will automatically tell the server to run .php files with PHP5 and won’t require any file-renaming.

If you don’t know about .htaccess files, they only affect the directory they are in and all subdirectories. So, for example, if you put the previous .htaccess file in a new directory under the root called phpfive, all files and folders in that directory with a .php extension will run PHP5. However, files in the root and any other folder that lacks the .htaccess file will run the default PHP4 instead. Therefore, to run PHP5 on your entire site, place the .htaccess file in the root of your site.

The other way to run PHP5 is by renaming all desired PHP5 pages to include the extension .php5. Apache automatically assigns the .php extension to PHP4, so this will manually (and repetitively) tell the server to use PHP5 on a file-by-file basis. I recommend you use .htaccess as it still offers quite a bit of control over which files use PHP5 and won’t give you an unattractive 5 at the end of all your URLs.

Internet htaccess, PHP, web hosting

The winds have shifted once again. I’ve decided to move “Late Night Fiction” (just the name) to a blog on a different domain where it can concentrate on the many various things I write about, like projects I’m working on and such–basically half of the other arbitrary things I write about here. This site (blog.chicken-cheese.com) will stay as it is, probably with a new name, and just posts about the internet, web development, and things along those lines (my expertise) as the main focus.

This was my first official blog and, as such, it was a bit more difficult to pick a focus and stick with it. So splitting between where I want this blog to go and the rest of what I’ve written should take us in the right direction. I am open to suggestions about a possible name or even if you think the split will be good, as this is for you, the reader.

Internet blogging

Most remember a few months ago when the ones in charge of Facebook were forcing us all to go along with the drastic design and functionality changes they were making to the site. There were those who liked it, and those who strongly resisted it (myself included). Us members even went so far as to dig and find the few work-arounds to get to the old Facebook (note: they don’t work anymore!). But it seems there has been less commotion nowadays, now that we’ve all settled in with the new Facebook environment that we were so lovingly forced to live with.

So, as some predicted and some refused to believe, we have all grown accustomed to the new changes and still use the wonderful social-networking giant that is Facebook. I know there were threats, but did anyone follow through and actually leave Facebook when the changes were forced upon them? That’s a good question..

Internet facebook, People

Late Night Fiction is now on Twitter! If you use it, you can follow us over there and stay updated on the latest posts, etc.

Internet

Hulu is a site that lets you watch TV shows, movies, and clips from them both online for free. As I write this I’m getting caught up on the latest Simpsons episodes and yesterday I watched Liar Liar for the first time in years (it made more sense now). If you have a good internet connection, you can even watch videos in Hi-Def. The great thing about this service is that although ad-driven (ads play at regular times during the movie or episode), they are much shorter than episodes on TV, and there’s only one played at each “commercial break.”

As you can see, you can even embed the movie player on your site. Here’s a clip from Family Guy.

So the next time I need to watch a movie, a simple cable-cord from TV to laptop and I’ll watch my next movie on Hulu for free. You gotta love it.

Websites media

I recently stumbled across the browser Flock. They call it the “social browser” and it really is. Built upon the Firefox framework, it integrates your entire social internet life right into your browser. Want to check up on your friends’ latest status updates from Facebook? Pull up the “People” sidebar and you will see the latest updates from not only Facebook but Myspace, Youtube, Twitter, and Flickr all as you browse the web. You can update your status and even drag-and-drop photos to upload to the web right from the sidebar.

If you’ve ever or still use Firefox 3, you’ll be right at home with the basic features such as one-click bookmarking and re-opening accidentally closed tabs (again, it was built on the Firefox framework). Most Firefox add-ons will even work with Flock. But most of all it is the new features that integrate your social life into the browser that really sets this browser apart.

It’s a great convenience. I don’t have to visit my regular sites like Facebook just to check if I have anything new or see what my friends are up to. I can see my email and even post to this blog straight from the browser. And even though it requires a bit of a learning curve because of the amount of new features, a good amount of button-clicking will help you solve most of that and figure out what all you can do.

Despite the new features Flock brings to the table, for me it couldn’t replace Firefox. This is solely because I use Firefox for a lot of development work and the lack of extra buttons and clean toolbar keeps my browsing simple and to the point. Instead I use the browsers together. I might chat with friends in Flock and play games on FlashStuf in Firefox. However, for anyone who is a regular Facebook, Myspace, Youtube, etc. user, Flock may be the only browser you’ll ever need.

Software facebook, reviews