Open Source CakePHP Components

I am getting more focused in my engineering career. Lately I have been feeling a strong desire to contribute to the open source community. Of course by open source community I mean contributing code and making it available to anyone who wants to use it… for free. As such, I decided to pick something I am passionate about. I have decided to create components, helpers, and other bits of code that are usable with the CakePHP framework. I have also decided to make these snippets of code available on GitHub.
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Job Interviews: Fair Question?

A few days ago I read a blog about job interviews. The way I found it was by glancing through a LinkedIn summary email I get frequently. The email contained a snippet about how to answer the question, “Why do you want to work here?” I followed the link to the blog, read the article, and watched the video as to how to respond. I must say, it’s a huge steamy crock of crap! Their response as to how to answer this question is similar to saying, “I have read your profile on FaceBook. I talked to other people who have dated you. I have read your blog. I want to marry you.” What!? Are you kidding me?
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Domain Validation Class Updated

Around three weeks ago, I sent an email to iana.org about their TLD file. (http://data.iana.org/TLD/tlds-alpha-by-domain.txt) This is the file that contains a list of all the valid top level domains (TLDs) on the Internet.  Here is a snippet from the email I sent requesting how to best access this file for my domains class:
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AJAX Loading Image Generation Web 2.0

Have you ever wanted to create an animated .gif for your Ajax enabled lightbox? Or any other Ajax/Processing screen where you want to give the user the impression something is actually happening in the background? Well, now you can and you barely have to life a finger! I found this new website that will not only allow you to pick the style, but you can also pick the colors; foreground and background! Just zip over to to http://ajaxload.info/ and get yours today!

Apple Introduces the iPad

So you have heard of the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iTouch. Well, Apple is at it yet again with the introduction of their newest hybrid of Mac and iTouch rolled into one. Introducing the new iPad! Shipping in March, this unit is supposed to have 3G technology (wireless anywhere) and will handle the latest apps from the app store. What’s more, is Apple has simultaneously released an SDK (Software Developers Kit) with it. This means we will be seeing new applications developed specifically for the iPad.

The iPad will be built with WiFi so it will make for a great media device around the house or office. Maybe even your favorite hot spot where WiFi is available. Since they are touting it as the “best way to experience the web, email, photos, and video. Hands down.”

Price starts at $499. It comes in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models. It also appears to have the ability to connect an external keyboard. Want to learn more, you can visit the Apple website to find out all the details.

Hidding Table Row While Preserving Colspan

Someone asked me today how to write the CSS for a <TR> so that the <TD colspan”2″> would still maintain the colspan when the display was changed from none to show. It turns out the solution is easier than you might think. He actually came up with the solution, but I took it a step further and updated it so include a toggle. Now you can repeatedly change the row from hidden to visible. Keep reading to see the solution.
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Source Code Management with Git

Linus Torvalds is the man who started Linux. Known in it’s early stages as the Open Source Unix. Since then, it has evolved into something even bigger than I think he even imagined. Maintaining the source for a project that large can be time consuming and difficult. Linus said that he would maintain revision control with tar balls and it was easier than using CVS. But he needed something that would work in a distributed fashion and allowed for easy merging. But there were no open source options available.

This, GIT was created. It is designed from the ground up to be a true distributed repository. Think of torrent source coding. There is no one central location, but everyone has the master branch at any one time.

I have been a big fan of subversion, but after listening to this talk, given by Linus at Google, I am considering switching to GIT. And to think, I recently paid $60 for a Subversion application to run on my mac. Ouch!

Facebook vs Gmail – Winner? Both!

Do you ever get an email that looks legitimate, only to find out later that it wasn’t? I hate that! Just like this email I received from someone I THOUGHT was facebook.Just by looking at the email itself, you cannot determine that it is in fact NOT from facebook. Aside from the red warning label that gmail attached across the top.

Good thing I was using gmail as my provider. One of the great benefits of using gmail is they filter your mail for spam and imposters (aka phishers)to protect you from potential harm. If I would have clicked through to this website and entered my login information, the phisher would instantly have access to my facebook account to do whatever they wanted. Could you imaging the destruction they could do? Not only to your information but to your reputation and relationships with everyone connected to you.
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Real World Email Validation for PHP

Have you ever gone to a website that asks for your email? You really want to get in to the portion of their website that has the information you want, but the only way they let you in is by giving them an email address. So you are faced with a moral dilemma. Do you give them your real email address, do you give them your friends email address, or do you make one up? If you are like me, you probably make one up like a@b.com or noway@example.com. Most of the time this will get you in where you want to go without the hassle of being bombarded with all of their junk mail. Now I don’t worry about giving them my really email since I use gmail. I can just filter it. usually google filters it for me, so I am good.
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Hosting At Home on DHCP with Comcast

So you have a Comcast connection as home and you want to run a server? The problem is your IP Address is  DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) assigned so it is constantly changing. In order to do this I will be assuming two things: 1) you are using linux on the server you want to setup as your local web server and 2) you already have your domain name registered from somewhere like godaddy.com. Once your domain is registered, you will also need to make sure to set your DNS records to point to ns1.everydns.net, ns2.everydns.net, ns3.everydns.net, and ns4.everydns.net.

If you have these in place, we are ready to move on.
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