Ben Kahn http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog Thoughts Wed, 31 Mar 2010 19:03:54 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Mediawiki Acronyms http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2010/03/31/mediawiki-acronyms/ http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2010/03/31/mediawiki-acronyms/#comments Wed, 31 Mar 2010 19:03:54 +0000 admin http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/?p=64 I was working on a project that used a lot acronyms and terminology that I didn’t know yet. It was making me crazy, so eventually I created a Terminology extension for media wiki.

You can see a demo of it on CyanogenMod’s Wiki. And see the Terminology source page. (and contribute to it!)

Anyway, hope it helps someone else.

]]> http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2010/03/31/mediawiki-acronyms/feed/ 2 Twisty 3: Simple and lightweight Disclosure Triangles for the web http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2010/03/31/twisty-3-simple-and-lightweight-disclosure-triangles-for-the-web/ http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2010/03/31/twisty-3-simple-and-lightweight-disclosure-triangles-for-the-web/#comments Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:15:13 +0000 admin http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/?p=49 Twisties, otherwise known as “Disclosure Triangles” are little triangles (►) that twist (▼) when clicked to hide or show content on the page. I’m working on a web page that has a lot of content, but didn’t want it all displayed all the time. I searched around for a little while trying to find a nice example written by someone else, but came up empty. Probably other people thought this was too simple, or my searching skills failed me. Either way, I ended up writing this myself. These were my requirements:

  • Cross-platform:  It should work on my cell phone, on IE6, and real web browsers
  • Robust: If things go wrong, it shouldn’t break. If the user doesn’t have JavaScript enabled, it should work. No CSS? It should still work. A user script which hides or shows nodes out from under us? It should still work
  • Understandable: It should be easy for web developers to understand and add to their existing pages
  • Small: If this adds lots of code to a web site, it won’t be used and will slow downloads down
  • Attractive: It should “feel” nice. Lots of feedback to the user, and maybe some animation if appropriate. It shouldn’t seem different from twisties the user has seen before
  • Accessible: Should work with the keyboard and with the mouse; printed pages should do the right thing

First, a demo:

Click this title to hide and show a portion of the page

Don’t open me!

Hey! I told you not to open this section!

Name My numbers My letters
Beth 65, 5, 1, 6 y
Andy 21, 12 k,f,s
Fred 9 k
Mary 100,000 r, w, e

To get started, you can simply download the code:

Set Up

If you want the smooth animation, seen above, put the following into your <head>:

<script type="text/javascript" src="twisty3/twisty.js"></script>
<script src="prototype.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="scriptaculous.js?load=effects" type="text/javascript"></script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="twisty.css" type="text/css" media="screen"></link>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="twisty-print.css" type="text/css" media="print"></link>

If you want a smaller footprint, or don’t like the exposure animation, put the following into your <head> tag instead:

<script type="text/javascript" src="twisty3/twisty.js"></script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="twisty.css" type="text/css" media="screen"></link>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="twisty-print.css" type="text/css" media="print"></link>

Defining a section to be hidden

Each section needs a unique id, a title, and the content of the section to be hidden. Then, format that section like this:

<div class="collapsible">
  <a href="javascript:toggleTwisty('uniqueid');">
    The Section Title
    <img class="twisty" src="twisty-down.gif">
  </a>
  <div id="uniqueid">
    <div>
      Section Content
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

Hiding sections by default

If you want a section to be hidden by default, add after the section’s <div>:

<script type="text/javascript">
  hideTwisty('uniqueid');
<script>
]]> http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2010/03/31/twisty-3-simple-and-lightweight-disclosure-triangles-for-the-web/feed/ 2 Managing Certificate Authorities in Adobe Flash on Fedora/RHEL http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2010/03/10/managing-certificate-authorities-in-adobe-flash-on-fedorarhel/ http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2010/03/10/managing-certificate-authorities-in-adobe-flash-on-fedorarhel/#comments Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:52:57 +0000 admin http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/?p=45 or: making your file uploads work over HTTPS when you are using a self-signed certificate or an authority Flash decides it doesn’t like.

Flash is a popular way to upload files to web sites. This is because you can have multiple files upload at once, give pretty progress bars, and can control the file upload UI. There are some alternatives that don’t appear to be cross-platform, but that seems self-defeating.

But there is a problem; if you are using a certificate that Flash doesn’t like, it doesn’t work at all.  And you don’t get an error message.  In Windows this is solved pretty well.  If Internet Explorer trusts a certificate, so does Flash.  But on Linux, flash only checks the system certificate store.  And on Fedora, it doesn’t even do that.

To fix it until Adobe fixes the bug, run as root:

mkdir /etc/ssl && ln -sf /etc/pki/tls/certs /etc/ssl/certs

Come to think of it, is there a way to tell where the system certs should be found?

]]> http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2010/03/10/managing-certificate-authorities-in-adobe-flash-on-fedorarhel/feed/ 6 I just stole $5 from Amazon http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2009/06/22/i-just-stole-5-from-amazon/ http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2009/06/22/i-just-stole-5-from-amazon/#comments Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:11:22 +0000 admin http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/?p=43 Amazon MP3 on the Android

Amazon MP3 on the Android

Amazon claims “We’re Building Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company” and they deliver.  Every time I have had a problem, they jump through hoops to resolve it immediately.

Unfortunately,  I am unable to make myself understood by the Amazon tech support team, which leads to lots of problems.

This weekend I purchased about $6 worth of music downloads from my phone.  (3 tracks, and a CD)  One of the tracks didn’t download correctly, and Amazon incorrectly charged my credit card  and not my gift certificate balance.  I sent this message:

I just ordered a CD and 3 tracks through my T-Mobile Android G1 phone.  The third song, “Crazy Love” did not download.  (The CD was purchased while not on a wi-fi network, so I’m not sure if it worked yet.)

My second problem is a billing issue.  My account has a gift card balance of $29.01, but my credit card was charged.  Please refund my card and remove the balance from my gift certificate.  I would like future purchases to come out of that balance as well.

So what did they do?  They refunded me the full $6 and told me to re-download.  Nice, but not quite right…

]]> http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2009/06/22/i-just-stole-5-from-amazon/feed/ 4 New Phone http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2009/03/13/new-phone/ http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2009/03/13/new-phone/#comments Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:25:19 +0000 admin http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/?p=39 Android G1 by Michael Oryl. This file is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License

Android G1 by Michael Oryl. This file is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License

I have a new T-Mobile G1 running Android from Google.  It’s an awesome upgrade from the Sidekick II I had been using.  Although it still feels very “rough” around the edges, I can see a lot of reasons why it’s exciting.

The architecture is pretty cool — applications are a bundle of entry points called “intents.”  An intent is roughly like a task:  make a phone call, change a ring tone, share a photo.  Any application can trigger an intent (within a permission system) or provide an action on an intent.

The phone itself feels solid, but has some problems.  Battery life is terrible.  The first day I had it, I had to recharge it 3 times.  Seriously.  Since then I’ve installed Power Manager to keep it charged the whole (or most of the) day.  I paid for the application although there is a free version as well.  Frankly, its amazing that this phone was released with battery life this poor.

The phone can be very sluggish.  There are two things that always need to work quickly:  the phone and the home screen.  The phone is obvious; when someone calls you, you need to be able to answer.  Although rare, you can’t always.  The home screen frequently takes 10 or more seconds to appear.  Since that’s how you launch applications, you’re just staring at your wallpaper or worse, a blank screen

No light sensor.  You can set the screen brightness, but since the phone doesn’t know when it is direct sunlight, it can suddenly be too dim.  I installed a application called FastBright which makes it easy to change the brightness, but doesn’t solve the problem

On the other hand, I’ve been very surprised by how many applications are available.  The Market has thousands and thousands list — many of them for free.  And there are even alternate Markets you can install and use.  Crazy.  Interestingly, there are reports that many of these applications are Open Source, but I can’t seem to find a way to list applications by license.  Or even a place collecting Open Source Android applications.  Does anyone know where this might exist?

]]> http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2009/03/13/new-phone/feed/ 10 I voted! http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2008/11/04/i-voted/ http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2008/11/04/i-voted/#comments Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:43:16 +0000 admin http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/?p=36 I took this picture of a voting sign near where I work in Westford.

I took this picture of a voting sign near where I work in Westford.

]]> http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2008/11/04/i-voted/feed/ 2 Spiders http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2008/09/15/spiders/ http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2008/09/15/spiders/#comments Tue, 16 Sep 2008 03:21:24 +0000 admin http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/?p=31 Every once in a while you look around and realize that you’re falling behind on life when you weren’t looking.  Maybe your universal all in one remote doesn’t work anymore.  Maybe you broke the counter-weight off one of the windows in your house and it slammed into your hand.  Or maybe the hinge on your gate broke letting your children wander in and out of the backyard and into traffic.  Or maybe you have black widow spiders in your basement.

Black Widow Spider

Black Widow Spider

Now.  I know what you are thinking:  that’s brown.  It doesn’t have an hourglass shape on it.  Here’s a professional photo:

Professional Black Widow Photo

Professional Black Widow Photo. Image By Sturgis McKeever, Georgia Southern University, United States

You can find more information at: http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=1485040

If you think I’m wrong, I welcome other theories.

]]> http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2008/09/15/spiders/feed/ 2 Thinking about the TiVoHD http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2008/02/08/thinking-about-the-tivohd/ http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2008/02/08/thinking-about-the-tivohd/#comments Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:38:41 +0000 xkahn http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2008/02/08/thinking-about-the-tivohd/ Well, as my last two posts implied, I own a TiVo again.  In fact, I own a TiVoHD.  Pay per view on the TiVo works through Amazon, so they have the best price.  I’ve been playing with it for 2 days now and I have some thoughts, comments, and a small review.

The TiVoHD is a much different device from the Series 1 TiVo I received 7 years ago. The Series 1 was intended to be connected to your cable box as a pure DVR addition.  The TiVoHD becomes your cable box and your Internet/TV media center.  It’s hard to compare them since they are very different devices.

The Verizon FiOS cable box with DVR is a lot closer, and the TiVo is worse in some ways:

  • you don’t get On Demand or Verizon’s pay per view: This is working with Comcast now if you live in the Boston area.  I shed no tears for pay per view, but On Demand had a lot of free content.
  • the TiVo interface is almost unacceptably slow: When you press a button on the remote, it takes anywhere from a half second to a full second for the device to register it.  To make matters worse, with a Dolby receiver, the TiVo sometimes doesn’t make a confirmation sound.  This problem makes the device feel cheap and hard to use.  I’m amazed that they released it without solving this problem.  Other people think so too.
  • entering text using the remote (for searches) is much, much harder:  Verizon had the ability to use the letter substitutions on the number keys to enter text.  So 228 matched CAT and BAT, but searching was easier and faster.
  • the guide doesn’t show which shows will be recorded already: this didn’t work reliably on the Verizon DVR, but it was nice to look through the list of shows and see that The Daily Show was going to be recorded.

It’s better in a number of ways too: the channel guides are much much nicer; scheduling shows is easier and more understandable; fewer bugs; the TV picture seems better somehow (maybe a better MPEG decoder?); easier to use; expandable storage; ability to record shows to DVD or VCR; closed caption support; a better remote; swivel search; and Guru Guides which help you find interesting things to watch.

But the most interesting thing about the new TiVoHD happens when you give it a broadband connection.  TiVo seems to be trying to make their device a full media center.  You can listen to Internet radio stations, (on your stereo!) log into online photo sites and view them on your TV, purchase and play movies from Amazon, etc., etc.  It will also allow you to download recorded shows and movies to your computer, (and then to your iPod, etc) stream photos and music from your computer, and transfer videos from your computer to your TiVo.

And finally, TiVo has released an API to design new applications and do cool and interesting things. And here again things fall down.  There are some developers creating interesting things, but development seems to be slowing or stopping.  A grand community doesn’t seem to have formed.  In fact, the forum is fairly quiet.  Obvious ideas like Youtube videos, Facebook monitors, or networked games aren’t even being discussed.

So, what’s going on?  Is TiVo too hard to obtain now?  Is there not enough of an audience?  Are the hackers all using the open source equivalents?   Is it too hard to install and use third-party software?  Or is this just a community management or advertising problem?  Or am I missing a vibrant community of people? Does it cost too much for developers?  (The monthly price seems to be much cheaper than renting the Verizon box…)

]]> http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2008/02/08/thinking-about-the-tivohd/feed/ 8 Verizon Customer Service is a little off too http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2008/02/01/verizon-customer-service-is-a-little-off-too/ http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2008/02/01/verizon-customer-service-is-a-little-off-too/#comments Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:08:18 +0000 xkahn http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2008/02/01/verizon-customer-service-is-a-little-off-too/ So in the long trip to get a working TiVo with FiOS service, I’ve hit another snag.  Verizon insists on sending someone to my house to install the cable cards.  Why, I ask?  Because they are fragile.  (It costs $100 to replace them if they break.)  Yikes.

So after UPS (and I hate UPS) screwed up the TiVo delivery (and Amazon refunded 10% of the purchase price to ease the pain of that) I had to reschedule the technician visit.  That Friday, I reschedule for next Friday, which was the first possible day available.  *grumble*

On Monday, the technician showed up, of course.  So we sent him away, and I called Verizon again.  They showed no record of the cancellation or the reschedule.  So I scheduled Friday again, which was hard since Friday was actually full now.

Today, of course, no technician is coming.  I just called.  No record of my call.

Now, it’s scheduled for Wednesday the 6th.  But they gave me a confirmation # this time, so I guess it’s really true.

But, at least I’m not as bad off as this guy.

]]> http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2008/02/01/verizon-customer-service-is-a-little-off-too/feed/ 0 I ☹ (hate) you, UPS http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2008/01/25/i-%e2%98%b9-hate-you-ups/ http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2008/01/25/i-%e2%98%b9-hate-you-ups/#comments Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:23:48 +0000 xkahn http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2008/01/25/i-%e2%98%b9-hate-you-ups/ I ordered a TiVO on Tuesday night from Amazon with 2 day shipping.  It was too late in the day, so it counted as being ordered on Wednesday.  Estimated delivery?  Friday.  So, I called up Verizon to order cable cards for it.  They quickly scheduled a technician to come out (?!) and deliver them and install them Monday morning.  Perfect.

Then, UPS got involved.  Check out the shipping history of this package:

US 01/23/2008 @ 10:32 A.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED Okay. Perfect.
EAST PETERSBURG, PA, US 01/24/2008 @ 5:15 A.M. AN INCORRECT ROUTING AT A UPS FACILITY CAUSED THIS DELAY / THE PACKAGE WAS MISSORTED AT THE HUB. IT HAS BEEN REROUTED TO THE CORRECT DESTINATION SITE Wait. What? At this point, this is 14 hours later and the first comment I get is something went wrong? Alright, but the expected arrival date is still correct. I bet they’re going to fix this screw up.
EAST PETERSBURG, PA, US 01/24/2008 11:59 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN Wow. Uh… 18+ hours before it starts moving again? That seems bad.
HORSHAM, PA, US 01/25/2008 6:30 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN Okay. So more than 6 hours travel time. Let’s check the map and see how far away these two places are. Hmm… 90 minutes away. That’s not good…
HORSHAM, PA, US 01/25/2008 7:46 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN Well, that’s a little better… But now the expected arrival date is Monday! Unless I can fix something, I’m going to have to cancel Verizon
SADDLE BROOK, NJ, US 01/25/2008 @ 10:05 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN Getting closer, but still Monday delivery.

This is a UPS screw up.  It happens sometimes, right?  Nothing to worry about.  I’ve seen their ads where you can fix problems and they’ll help out!  So I call them and detail the problem.  I need the shipment before Monday. (the customer service rep mentions the package won’t arrive until the end of day on Monday)

“I need this before Monday, can you change it to Saturday delivery?”

“No, it’s on a truck right now with 5000 other packages.  We can’t pull just one package off, we don’t know where it is.”

“I need this before Monday.  This is your error, I paid for delivery to be on Friday, what can you do?”

“Call Amazon and have them pay for a package intercept back to them.  When it arrives (!) have them ship it again next day air with Saturday delivery.”

So, they can’t find the package unless Amazon (I can’t do it) pays them to find it.  In which case they can get it back to Amazon in time to reship it to me at GREAT expense for Saturday delivery.  Yes, that’s the case, although the original delivery charge would be refunded.

Awesome.

I hate you, UPS.

(Yes, I called Amazon to suggest this insane scheme, and they refused for some strange reason.)

]]> http://xkahn.zoned.net/blog/2008/01/25/i-%e2%98%b9-hate-you-ups/feed/ 12