Personal
It’s pretty widely accepted (and common sense) that if you’re putting a site out into the wild – such a simple task as minifying CSS and JavaScript files can save a bunch of load time, especially on mobile devices. I’ve been playing about with this today and was quite happily using jsmin as described here until I noticed that in IE 7 and IE 8 the minified CSS didn’t work. The problem seems to be when using a background style, it takes out the space between the image url close bracket and the next...
Hey, I need some advice/help, now I’ve been writing on this blog for a few years, I don’t blog a great deal in comparison to many of my peers and my blog doesn’t get a massive number of hits, BUT I seem to get a fair share of comment spammers!! I have image verification on the comments and I have put an Akismet API key into the Geekswithblogs settings, but I still get a bunch of spam comments. They could almost be real, until you see the link going off to some dating site or casino crap. What does...
OK, so its Sport Relief time and I going to run…it’s no marathon, but if you know me, you would know that’s out of the question…so I’m doing this!!! Sponsor me…just a few quid is all i ask!!! http://www.mysportrelief.co
I am both a Google docs and Windows SkyDrive user, one thing however that I am always thought would help, especially with SkyDrive, as its essentially a backup tool for me is being able to access through Windows explorer (or FTP would suffice!). Well I have found a little app that does just that!! It’s from Gladinet and the catch line is “Delivering cloud services to your desktop and operating system”, it does connect to other things like Azure blob store and Amazon. You can download a free version...
I had a little mishap last night at the driving range... Needless to say I am now in the market for a new driver...I never liked the sound of that one anyway!! Technorati Tags: golf,driver...
Its my birthday in a couple of weeks and as a present my girlfriend bought me an iPhone...its an early present, but she's been going to the o2 shop for the last couple of weeks and this is the first time they have been in stock. Anyway, she is a gem, because she used her contract so I could get it! I had too long remaining on mine! (Which means for the first time in about 5 years my mobile number has changed, which is probably a good thing, anyway, if you haven't got my new number and want it, contact...
Check out my new live search component to the right here -> I came across this on Heather Solomon's blog, thought it was cool so had a play and set one up for my blog. To start with get yourself over to http://search.live.com/site... select the advanced option. I think it only works if you have your blog on a custom domain like blog.steveclements.net as www.geekswithblogs.net/stev... doesn't work. I also created a live search macro for geekwithblogs.net and used and existing one for msdn...
I mentioned a while back that I had something I was working on that involved a change in language, actually a pretty radical change. I have been working on vocational project written in VB.net and made heavy use of LINQ to SQL. I wasn't sure of LINQ to SQL for anything else other than RAD and to be honest I'm still not. Anyway, I'm not getting into that debate. Needless to say I went all the way and don't use a single sproc in this project. Some of you will know I play cricket every Saturday for...
My first trip to the new Wembley stadium was to watch the Foo Fighters gig on Saturday night, who as far as I am concerned are the best band on the planet right now. They did well to beat Oasis to that accolade, but heh, Oasis haven't done anything for quite a while now!! For those that don't know Wembley is a 90K seater stadium in London and the Foo's sold out in about 15 mins back in December, typical to big show form they promptly announced a second night (which was Friday), and that promptly...
I would love to hear thoughts on this. At my new place of work they have a "swear pot" and in this pot goes 20p for every overheard swear words, now I'm not talking about only the good stuff, the rule is apparently if you wouldn't say it in front of an 8 year old, then it counts. This is going to cost me a fortune, its not that I am a potty mouth, but I am of the opinion that swear words, as they are branded, are a part of the much loved English language and at times, quite simply nothing else will...
I have been running Google Analytics on my site for while now, cant remember exactly how long! Its pretty good I guess, I haven't really looked at any others!! What I did find interesting was looking at the number of hits from the US - I get more from the US, which is obvious seeing the GWB is a US based concern and well, it's not exactly a small place!! The UK is second though! woot woot!! clearly the highest concentration of geeks, I haven't met either of them mind! :) I almost have a 100% of the...
Recently I have been working on different machines in different locations I have been using foldershare more and more. It's nothing new, basically you configure a folder as shared on the foldershare web site, then install foldershare on another machine and configure a location on that machine you want to sync the files too. Then changes to either location are synced either automatically or on demand. Something to note is that the files are NOT stored online anywhere, so I have found it useful to...
On my new Dell XPS M1330 there is a finger print reader, now I have had a load of problems getting it to work on x64 Vista, well the driver was there, but the associated software is not supplied by dell in an x64 version. I did however find the full retail version from the Upek website, that thankfully is 64 bit and considering it cost <£10, I didn't think twice about the investment. I am totally loving it, no more typing anything to login, I simply swipe my thumb across the reader and bingo!...
This is basically a note for myself as I have come up against this problem three times now and each time had to work it out! (which I put down the bodies natural reaction of forgetting pain!) If you experience the same as me you will find that wireless connections are fine and MSN connects no problem but with wired connections, wether direct or through another switch wont and throw the error 81000306, troubleshooting with Messenger all passes and specific connection tests (like TCP and HTTP from...
I have just built a new PC, nothing super special, but pretty nifty. I have gone for a core 2 duo E8200 2.66Ghz with the new Wolfdale 45nm architecture (w'eva!), 4GB corsair ram, Nvidia 8600GT Gfx, WD Raptor 150GB drive and a Gigabyte board. I have read bits here and there about overclocking, but have never really been bothered to take to much of a look into it. Seeing I had some time this week and I had been prompted by a mate to do so I though I would. I started taking a look around the web and...
I just noticed that my last post was my 100th since starting this blog! I started back in August 2006 so its been a pretty steady climb to the century. I don't plan on ramping up the post count any time soon! I still enjoy the writing the blog and more recently having fun on twitter, met some cool people from Kansas along the way! They have some funny expressions, but It's all good!! I'm waiting for the GWB sponsored "booze up in Bristol"...hehe! Technorati Tags: Steve Clements,Blog century...
Last Wednesday was my last day at the university, where I have been working. I am starting a new job for a law firm, taking a little twist in technology as I move from mainly doing back-end development to a far more user centric environment on a large MOSS 2007 project, which is my preferred space. I have enjoyed my time at the uni, but among other things I will NOT miss the nightmare commute everyday. This is the leaving card I was presented with ;-) And a couple bottles of wine, one being my favourite...
I know, its on everyone's lips!! If you don't know what www.tinyurl.com or www.shrinkster.com are, they take long URL's and shrink them down into a more memorable/manageable length. It's perfect for things like Twitter where character count is important. Something you may not know, Carl Franklin of .NetRocks stardom runs Shrinkster. It did go down and he decided to take it on... To choose between the two is a matter of choice, but I personally like Shrinkster and here's why: 1. Tinyurl's, tiny url's...
For about 8 months I have been running, mainly at the gym on the treadmill. I've been clocking up about 9 miles a week, not normally running more than 3 miles in one go. I'm not running for anything other than for a bit of fitness - I certainly enjoy it and have some cool gadgets like a heart rate monitor and that nike plus thing that goes on my foot and in my iPod to give some nice feedback and track how much I do, gives me inspiration. Anyway, this Sunday I am running outside for Sport Relief....
If your into running, walking etc you may have come across this site, I think its fantastic. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/ It enables you to plot your run, walk or whatever and gives you the distance travelled and shows you the elevation of your route. Once your done you can save the url, like this ( http://www.gmap-pedometer.c... ) which was what I did tonight, and keep as bookmarks! Enjoy! Technorati Tags: gmap-pedometer, google maps...
Toshiba have already announced they will no longer be making HD DVD units and Microsoft have now announced they will no longer me making the HD DVD drive. Guess it was only a matter of time after Warner Brothers decided that Blu-ray was the way for them. Bit of a bugger for those who forked out on a HD DVD unit, but at least we now know the way its going. I have been holding off to see which way it goes. Just wait and hope that MS make a blu-ray drive now :) Technorati Tags: blu-ray, hd dvd...
Maybe I am just being slow here, but I didn't know it was possible to get a live.com email address, I suppose I've never really thought about it and I'm not exactly sure I came by it today, but there you go... Anyway, I thought it was cool, get yourself a live.com email address here UPDATE: The link is now sorted! Technorati Tags: live.com, email address...
Having just finished my masters exams for semester 1, I am planning to blog a little more! I am only doing the masters part time over two years so a fair way to go yet but none the less, it's one of my points for being a better developer in done. The semester 1 modules of OO Design and development (Java and UML) and Software engineering concepts threw up some interesting hurdles, like Netbeans and Java (I hope to get back to learn more about Java, but perhaps away from Netbeans!), SE concepts really...
I seem to be working more and more my lappy these days...still always on the my PC at the office but when at home the laptop has taken over from my machine of choice...strange really because I love having two monitors and find it a fantastic way to work but I guess the freedom a laptop has to offer wins the day. Anyway, I digress...seeing I was working on it more and more I decided to get myself a Christmas present in the guise of a specialist notebook mouse, I looked at several offerings from Microsoft...
I saw the other day that zune had released the new "Zune nano 8GB" type version...perfect for me as I only want a small MP3 player for the gym...looking deeper into it - downloading music/podcasts to the zune from Zune Marketplace i discovered this and how shite it is too... Microsoft are you kidding...I'm in the UK! Stick with my iPod and iTunes then, stuff ya. Technorati Tags: Zune 8GB...
Is it just me or is Safari for windows creeping in as the browser of choice?? I still find a fair few sites, especially banking ones that warn that I am using a "non supported" browser but I find it just renders the page better. Font smoothing is better and the graphics just seem sharper... Its not perfect and lacks a few of the features I know and love in IE but for "leisure surfing" its great! Technorati Tags: Safari for Windows...
To celebrate the release of the iPhone in the UK today, I got a new Nokia N95. Why? Well I have read some shocking reviews of the iPhone from people in the US and many have returned the phone. Also, in my opinion the N95 looks to be a better phone. There is of course the ridiculous cost of an iPhone here in the UK it's £269 which you in the US that keep track of the exchange rate will know its nearly $550. Then there's the available tariffs...£35 a month with only 200mins...what a joke, I get 400mins,...
I'm sure that some of you will be aware that the first regular season NFL game to be played outside the US is being played today at the new Wembley in London. Check this out for more. Having not grown up with American Football I just don't get it. 4 downs to make 10 yards, pass forward, blocking and pads, pads and more pads. Guys jumping all over the place in celebration for just making a tackle, I wonder how many Americans have seen Rugby or even Rugby league (which is closer to American Football...
I have recently bought myself an XBOX 360 Elite and today bought Live subscription!! I know, I know where have i been for the past couple of years - well, working! :( I have only played PGR4 and been whipped a few times! I have my headset on but to be honest I don't really know what the deal is with that!! I can, every so often here someone clear as day, he appears to be having a conversation with someone but I cant here them?? So, do GWB have any team games/matches? I will be trying out Halo3 and...
http://www.engadget.com/200... @ £269 ($540) might be worth waiting to see if it drops in price after a month or so :) Technorati Tags: iPhone UK...
Day one is over at MIX UK. As my first experience of a Microsoft conference I must say I was not disappointed :) The conference opened with a keynote from George Moore and Scott Guthrie and lots of small demos from third party companies and the little apps they have developed using MS technologies, mainly Silverlight, which is the main theme of the conference, well day one at least!! In the first and second session I stayed with ScottGu and watched as he ripped through the power of silverlight, present...
Does anyone know where (if at all) I can get free sharepoint hosting? I'm looking for a very basic service, its for personal use :) Thx Technorati Tags: Sharepoint...
One of the biggest draw backs of using Live Mail versus Gmail, in my opinion, is that you cant use Outlook for Live Mail unless you pay for the premium services and paying for an email service seems nuts to me. This morning I was greeted with an email from Live Mail which had this in it... Update to Windows Live Hotmail and you can manage your Hotmail account in Outlook – for free! With Outlook Connector, you can easily manage your Hotmail messages, folders, and contacts alongside your other e-mail...
BT (British Telecom) have got to be the worst company I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with. Recently I moved house and had to transfer the number and services etc, simple enough you might think. Make the call, give them my new postcode, no problem they say it'll be active on the day I move in. Tick the box on that job and move on. Moving Day: Shit, the new house has no physical line. Call BT, another huge wait in the queue (on average a BT queue seems to be 20-30 mins - they will say less...