blog.emerick.org

Here is a cool ad. It takes a manhole cover that leaks some steam and turn it into a hot steaming cup of coffee.

http://www.therawfeed.com/2006/04/nyc-manholes-turned-into-coffee-for.html

Pretty cool…

–Jason

Found this cool package tracking site awhile back and finally got to use it to track my new hockey bag i got… it is pretty sweet…

You input your package id and it creates a google map with the path of your package as well as an RSS feed… The best part is the RSS feed as i check them quite frequently and it makes it easy to track the package…

It works with UPS, FedEx, USPS, or DHL/AirBorne so give it a try next time you buy something online and want to track it…

–Jason

I have updated the MMS RSS feed to handle videos now so you just wont see a garbled mess of characters which is the video…

–Jason

Changed the formating of the date and time on the pictures to make it more user friendly (ie i just learned how to convert a MySQL datetime format to a readable format…)

Check it out, let me know if there is a better format that you would like or what not…

–Jason

I have been working a little bit on the new MMS site for a few days on and off… and i have got a rough layout and features…

You can view the site here: http://blogbase10.no-ip.org/mms/mmsdev/

Here are some features:

• new layout with the possibility of a new one when i rewrite the style for the blog this summer…
• RSS feed of the pictures, which is valid btw…
• Lightbox effect for viewing full pictures
• phpthumb for generating thumbnails on the index page
• load video into page without refreshing using javascript
• MySQL used as storage for filenames

PHPthumb really helped the load time as the file sizes on the index page are knocked down to like 5kb instead of 128kb…

Other than working on the MMS site, i haven’t really done much besides hockey and homework/class…

Going home the weekend of the 22nd for BGW orientation… That should be fun…

Well i am going to go find some dinner…

–Jason

Just ran an apache benchmark on my MMS server codes and good news!

The new implementation is WAY faster than the old…

Here are the two links i am comparing… both show the last 5 pictures…

http://blogbase10.no-ip.org/mms/latest.php

http://blogbase10.no-ip.org/mms/mmsdev/last5.php

The old site:

• Avgerage Time per request: 134 ms
• Total time for 100 page loads: 13.4 seconds
• Size: 1624 bytes

The new site:

• Avgerage Time per request: 8.63 ms
• Total time for 100 page loads: 0.8639 seconds
• Size: 1426 bytes

Performance was the one think i was worried about when switching over to the MySQL database, but my fears have all been eliminated and it appears that MySQL is the way to go…

Ok now i really have to finish this circuits homework, later…

–Jason

I have created a very crude proof of concept kinda for my MMS server re-coding…

Here it is…

Its just a simple script that displays the last 5 images sent from my mobile phone… When you click on an image, a javascript effect will take place, enlarging the image without refreshing the browser window… You can then either click close, or hover near the top right and click the next to go to the next image or hover near the top left for previous if available…

Let me know if you have any questions and what not and what you think of the effect…

The next step will be to add more to it, including a layout as well as more pictures… so look for more mobile pictures being sent on both the new site and old one…

now i must go finish this circuits homework…

–Jason

For CSS, HTML, XSL, XSD, PHP, MySQL, Java, J2EE, Struts, DITA and other technologies…

Pretty nice reference…

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MMS Server todo list:

• Convert over to MySQL database (about 75% done, just need to add support for audio/video)
• Write script for wordpress to show last X pictures posted
• RSS feed
• Create layout for the new site to tie into the other sites
• Add log in to delete pictures (AJAX if possible)
• Thumbnail system?
• Lightbox effects for pictures

Thats all I can think of for right now…

These probably wont get done until sometime this summer when I go begin development on my whole new website which will implement a Wiki, Wordpress (blog), Photo site (currently coppermine, but might look into other F/OS implementations including those that implement AJAX effects), and the MMS site… The MMS site and the redesign of my blog are at the top of the list… The integration of the photo site into the layout i have not looked into yet so i do not know what all is involved with that… and the wiki will most likely be its own entity…

I had to get that list of ideas out of my head and into something before i forget them… Now its time to focus on the test tomorrow morning in computer architecture/organization… as well as the Lab in a Box and circuits homework… Oh and a hockey game at 8… So tomorrow is going to be one busy day…

And it doesnt stop there as i have a lot of homework to do over the weekend including a large project due on tuesday… Oh the joys… but on the upside, only about 5 more weeks before i am back home for the summer…

gotta go study…

–Jason

Its 123456… as in 1:02:03AM on 4/5/06 (wordpress doesnt do seconds, so you will just have to believe me there…)

And guess what it will be on june 6th, 2006…

–Jason