PHP5 References Explained Visually

If you are having trouble wrapping your head around PHP5 References, especially how objects are now handled, have a look at this handy guide.

PHP 5 References Explained Visually

Compress/GZip CSS the easy way with Apache and PHP

So you need a way to automatically compress CSS and GZIP to the browser without any complicated work on the development end? This script is for you.

http://www.ohrt.com/download/compress.php.txt

Just access the .css files from the browser as per usual.

First thoughts on Droid

So my wife got a Droid. Not because she even wanted one, but because she was tired of messaging on her ancient Motorola Razor. She was going to get a non-droid phone on the cheapo data plan, but she eventually settled on a Droid, mainly for me to tinker with.

Well, my first impressions are not so good. I've been using the iPhone for a few years, and the inconsistency on this phone just baffles me. The first thing I wanted to do was unlock the phone. I couldn't even figure that out, until I saw the sales guy slide his finger over the green button on the screen. There was absolutely no visual cue of how that worked. Then as I started browsing through the pages of icons, it really reminded me of the smartphones I tried before the iPhone was around: inconsistent and clumsy.

I'm not even going to discuss features, because to me they really don't matter as much as the user experience. Bottom line, the user experience has to be good, and Apple has nailed that down. I could go on, but I found a good article that pretty much sums it all up.

http://scottworldblog.wordpress.com/2010/03/12/iphone-vs-droid/

Remove the google background image

It seems Google has decided to put a background image on its home page, without your consent. It will probably go away by tomorrow, but you can get rid of it by using the secure version of the google site (and consequently, get your search results securely.)

Visit here: https://www.google.com/

That will get rid of the annoying background image, at least for now.

Everything-in-a-box MAME Arcade Cabinet

This is a project started around 2004, and sat for 5 years, then I finally finished up the cabinet this past year. So what is it? MAME (Multi Arcade Machine Emulator) is an arcade emulation system. The machine can play over 6,000 old-school arcade games (Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Centipede... yeah all of them) true to their original form, and also many retro game consoles such as Atari 2600, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, SEGA Genesis, Playstation, etc.

This is a custom built cabinet (started with a plan found on the internet, I forget where) and custom design control panel. Wells Garner 27" monitor with VGA out, trackball/spinner, 4 8-way joys. Happ arcade controls, spinner, keyboard, trackball boards and Ultimarc Opti-PAC, ArcadeVGA, IPac 4 Interface, LED Harness, HAPP 3" trackball. The joy in the middle is 4-way, with asteroid button layout around it. Buttons on the sides for pinball simulators. It's a beast, and a blast to play. Panel disconnects with a couple latches. Everything starts up/shuts down with one button (computer, marquee, monitor, etc.)

iPad sales on Amazon

So do you think we'll be seeing this? (take note of the text below the kindle)

Where the iPad is going

I think this guy sums it up nicely.

I need to talk to you about computers.